(a life behind the lines.)
Monologues for women over 40
Characters with a past. Written for women in their forties and up, across classical and contemporary sources, so the age is in the text and not only in the casting note.
- 1
Eleanor of Aquitaine from The Lion in Winter
Anthony Harvey · film · dramatic · 0:46 min
- 2
Emilia from The Comedy of Errors
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:12 min
And thereof came it that the man was mad. The venom clamours of a jealous woman Poisons more deadly than a mad dog's tooth. It seems his sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing, And…
- 3
Nurse from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 2:29 min
Even or odd, of all days in the year, Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen. Susan and she,—God rest all Christian souls!— Were of an age. Well, Susan is with God; She…
- 4
Nurse from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:02 min
Faith, here it is. Romeo is banished; and all the world to nothing That he dares ne’er come back to challenge you. Or if he do, it needs must be by stealth. Then, since the case…
- 5
Nurse from Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:22 min
Mistress! What, mistress! Juliet! Fast, I warrant her, she. Why, lamb, why, lady, fie, you slug-abed! Why, love, I say! Madam! Sweetheart! Why, bride! What, not a word? You take…
- 6
Hecate from Macbeth
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:59 min
Have I not reason, beldams as you are, Saucy and overbold? How did you dare To trade and traffic with Macbeth In riddles and affairs of death; And I, the mistress of your charms,…
- 7
Goneril from King Lear
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:23 min
Did my father strike my gentleman for chiding of his fool? (OSWALD: Ay, madam.) By day and night, he wrongs me; every hour He flashes into one gross crime or other, That sets us…
- 8
Queen Margaret from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:55 min
What, were you snarling all before I came, Ready to catch each other by the throat, And turn you all your hatred now on me? Did York’s dread curse prevail so much with heaven That…
- 9
Queen Margaret from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 0:50 min
And leave out thee? Stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me. If heaven have any grievous plague in store Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee, O, let them keep it till thy sins be…
- 10
Duchess from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:02 min
Ah, so much interest have I in thy sorrow As I had title in thy noble husband. I have bewept a worthy husband’s death, And lived by looking on his images; But now two mirrors of…
- 11
Queen Margaret from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 0:52 min
Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard killed him. From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death: That dog, that had his teeth before…
- 12
Queen Margaret from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · dark · 1:13 min
Bear with me. I am hungry for revenge, And now I cloy me with beholding it. Thy Edward he is dead, that killed my Edward; The other Edward dead, to quit my Edward; Young York, he…
- 13
Queen Margaret from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 2:28 min
I called thee then, vain flourish of my fortune; I called thee then, poor shadow, painted queen, The presentation of but what I was, The flattering index of a direful pageant; One…
- 14
Duchess from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 0:50 min
Either thou wilt die by God’s just ordinance Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror, Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish And never more behold thy face again. Therefore…
- 15
Queen Elizabeth from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 0:54 min
Cousins, indeed, and by their uncle cozened Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life. Whose hand soever lanced their tender hearts, Thy head, all indirectly, gave direction. No…
- 16
Queen Elizabeth from Richard III
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 0:53 min
Send to her, by the man that slew her brothers, A pair of bleeding hearts; thereon engrave “Edward” and “York.” Then haply will she weep. Therefore present to her—as sometimes…
- 17
Duchess from Richard II
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:11 min
Yet one word more. Grief boundeth where it falls, Not with the empty hollowness, but weight. I take my leave before I have begun, For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done. Commend…
- 18
Volumnia from Coriolanus
William Shakespeare · play · inspirational · 1:52 min
I pray you, daughter, sing, or express yourself in a more comfortable sort. If my son were my husband, I should freelier rejoice in that absence wherein he won honour than in the…
- 19
Volumnia from Coriolanus
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:13 min
Indeed you shall not. Methinks I hear hither your husband’s drum, See him pluck Aufidius down by th’ hair; As children from a bear, the Volsces shunning him. Methinks I see him…
- 20
Volumnia from Coriolanus
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:35 min
If it be honour in your wars to seem The same you are not, which for your best ends You adopt your policy, how is it less or worse That it shall hold companionship in peace With…
- 21
Volumnia from Coriolanus
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:00 min
I prithee now, my son, Go to them with this bonnet in thy hand, And thus far having stretched it—here be with them— Thy knee bussing the stones—for in such busines Action is…
- 22
Volumnia from Coriolanus
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 2:36 min
O, no more, no more! You have said you will not grant us anything; For we have nothing else to ask but that Which you deny already. Yet we will ask, That if you fail in our…
- 23
Volumnia from Coriolanus
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 3:40 min
Nay, go not from us thus. If it were so, that our request did tend To save the Romans, thereby to destroy The Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us As poisonous of your…
- 24
Countess from All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare · play · contemplative · 1:09 min
You have discharg’d this honestly; keep it to yourself; many likelihoods inform’d me of this before, which hung so tottering in the balance that I could neither believe nor…
- 25
Countess from All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:00 min
Nay, a mother. Why not a mother? When I said a mother, Methought you saw a serpent. What’s in mother, That you start at it? I say I am your mother, And put you in the catalogue of…
- 26
Countess from All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare · play · dramatic · 1:20 min
Yes, Helen, you might be my daughter-in-law. God shield you mean it not! daughter and mother So strive upon your pulse. What! pale again? My fear hath catch’d your fondness; now I…
- 27
Countess from All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 0:53 min
(Reads.) I have sent you a daughter-in-law; she hath recovered the king and undone me. I have wedded her, not bedded her, and sworn to make the “not” eternal. You shall hear I am…
- 28
Countess from All's Well That Ends Well
William Shakespeare · play · anguished · 1:12 min
What angel shall Bless this unworthy husband? He cannot thrive, Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to hear And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath Of greatest…
- 29
Eleanor from Henry VI
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:07 min
Why droops my lord, like over-ripened corn Hanging the head at Ceres’ plenteous load? Why doth the great Duke Humphrey knit his brows, As frowning at the favours of the world? Why…
- 30
Queen Margaret from Henry VI
William Shakespeare · play · defiant · 1:28 min
My Lord of Suffolk, say, is this the guise, Is this the fashion in the court of England? Is this the government of Britain’s isle, And this the royalty of Albion’s king? What,…
Length is estimated at a spoken pace of about 150 words a minute. Public-domain pieces are printed in full on their own page; copyrighted ones list the character and the source.
Related: classical monologues for women · contemporary dramatic monologues for women · dramatic monologues for women under 2 minutes
Not the one yet?
Describe the piece the way you would to a coach and the search reads the whole corpus, not this shelf. Free to start, no credit card.