Turn of The Century Monologues

The Seagull Checkov 1895
Nina
Why do you say that you kissed the ground on which I walked? You should kill me. Im
exhausted. If only I could restrest! I am a seagullthats not right. I am an actress. Yes!
(Hearing Arkadina) And hes hereYesIt doesnt matterYesHe didnt believe in the
theatre, he went on mocking my dreams, and little by little I too stopped believing and lost
heartAnd then came the troubles of love, jealousy, the constant fear for my childI became
petty, worthless, I acted mindlesslyI didnt know what to do with my hand, didnt know how to
stand on the stage, wasnt in control of my voice. You cant understand what its like to feel youre
acting terribly. I am a seagull. No, thats not rightDo you remember, you shot a seagull? A man
just came along, saw it and killed it from having nothing to doA plot for a short story. Thats not
right. What was I? I was talking about the stage. Now I am not soI am now a real actress, I
act with enjoyment, with ecstasy, I get intoxicated on the stage and feel that Im beautiful. And
now, while Ive been staying here, Ive walked everywhere, I walk and walk, and think, think and
feel how everyday my spiritual powers growKostya, I know now, I understand. In what we do
whether we act on the stage or write the most important thing isnt fame or glory or anything I
used to dream about but the ability to endure. To know how to bear your cross and have faith. I
have faith, and my pain is less, and when I think about my vocation Im not afraid of life.
The Web Eugene ONeill 1913
ROSE(despondently) Its easy to say: Why dont I beat it? I cant. I never have
enough coin to make a good break and git out of town. He takes it all away from me.
And if I went to some other part of this burg hed find me and kill me. Even if he didnt kill
me hed have me pinched and whereud the kid be then? (grimly) Oh, hes got me where
he wants me all right, all right. Oh, hes got a drag somewhere. He squares it with the
cops so they dont hold me up for walkin the streets. Yuh ought to be wise enough to
know all of his kind stand in. If he tipped them off to do it theyd pinch me before Id gone
a block. Then itud be the Island fur mine. (scornfully) Dyuh suppose theyd keep me
any place if they knew what I was? And dyuh suppose he wouldnt tell them or have
some one else tell them? Yuh dont know the game Im up against. (bitterly) Ive tried
that job thing. Ive looked fur decent work and Ive starved at it. A year after I first hit this
town I quit and tried to be on the level. I got a job at houseworkworkin twelve hours a
day for twenty-five dollars a month. And I worked like a dog, too, and never left the
house I was so scared of seein some one who knew me. But what was the use? One
night they have a guy to dinner whos seen me some place when I was on the town. He
tells the ladyhis duty he said it wasand she fires me right off the reel. I tried the
same thing a lot of times. But there was always some one whod drag me back. And
then I quit tryin. There didnt seem to be no use. Theyall the good peoplethey got
me where I am and theyre goin to keep me there. Reform? Take it from me it cant be
done. They wont let yuh do it, and thats Gawds truth.
Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1912
My aunt died of influenza: so they said. But its my belief they done the old woman in. Ye-e-e-es, Lord love you! Why should she die of influenza? She come through diphtheria
right enough the year before. I saw her with my own eyes. Fairly blue with it, she was.
They all thought she was dead; but my father he kept ladling gin down her throat til she
came to so sudden that she bit the bowl off the spoon. What call would a woman with
that strength in her have to die of influenza? What become of her new straw hat that
should have come to me? Somebody pinched it; and what I say is, them as pinched it
done her in. Oh, thats the new small talk. To do a person in means to kill
them. Them she lived with would have killed her for a hat-pin, let alone a hat. The gin
would not have killed her. Not her. Gin was mothers milk to her. Besides, hed poured
so much down his own throat that he knew the good of it. It never did him no harm what
I could see. But then he did not keep it up regular. [Cheerfully] On the burst, as you
might say, from time to time. And always more agreeable when he had a drop in. When
he was out of work, my mother used to give him fourpence and tell him to go out and not
come back until hed drunk himself cheerful and loving-like. Theres lots of women has to
make their husbands drunk to make them fit to live with. [Now quite at her ease] You
see, its like this. If a man has a bit of a conscience, it always takes him when hes sober;
and then it makes him low-spirited. A drop of booze just takes that off and makes him
happy. [To Freddy, who is in convulsions of suppressed laughter] Here! what are you
sniggering at?
An Ideal husband Oscar Wilde 1895
MABEL CHILTERN: Well, Tommy has proposed to me again. Tommy really does
nothing but propose to me. He proposed to me last night in the music-room,
when I was quite unprotected, as there was an elaborate trio going on. I didn't
dare to make the smallest repartee, I need hardly tell you. If I had, it would have
stopped the music at once. Musical people are so absurdly unreasonable. They
always want one to be perfectly dumb at the very moment when one is longing to
be absolutely deaf. Then he proposed to me in broad daylight this morning, in
front of that dreadful statue of Achilles. Really, the things that go on in front of
that work of art are quite appalling. The police should interfere. At luncheon I saw
by the glare in his eye that he was going to propose again, and I just managed to
check him in time by assuring him that I was a bimetallist. Fortunately I don't
know what bimetallism means. And I don't believe anybody else does either. But
the observation crushed Tommy for ten minutes. He looked quite shocked. And
then Tommy is so annoying in the way he proposes. If he proposed at the top of
his voice, I should not mind so much. That might produce some effect on the
public. But he does it in a horrid confidential way. When Tommy wants to be
romantic he talks to one just like a doctor. I am very fond of Tommy, but his
methods of proposing are quite out of date. I wish, Gertrude, you would speak to
him, and tell him that once a week is quite often enough to propose to any one,
and that it should always be done in a manner that attracts some attention.
The importance of being Ernest Oscar Wilde 1895

Gwendolen: Oh! It is strange he never mentioned to me that he had a ward. How secretive of
him! He grows more interesting hourly. I am not sure, however, that the news inspires me with
feelings of unmixed delight. I am very fond of you, Cecily: I have liked you ever since I met you!
But I am bound to state that now that I know that you are Mr. Worthings ward, I cannot help
expressing a wish you were well, just a little older than you seem to be and not quite so very
alluring in appearance. In fact, if I may speak candidly, I wish that you were fully forty-two, and
more than usually plain for your age. Ernest has a strong upright nature. He is the very soul of
truth and honour. Disloyalty would be as impossible to him as deception. But even men of the
noblest possible moral character are extremely susceptible to the influence of the physical
charms of others. Modern, no less than Ancient History, supplies us with many most painful
examples of what I refer to. If it were not so, indeed, History would be quite unreadable.
Marriage Nikolai gogal 1842

Agafya: Honestly, this choosing business is so difficult. If there were just one or two, but four!
Take your pick. Mr Anuchkin isnt bad-looking, but hes a bit skinny, of course. And Mr
Podkolyosin isnt too bad, either. And truth to tell, though hes rather stout, Mr Omelets still a fine
figure of a man. So what am I to do, if you please? Mr Zhevakins also a man of distinction. It
really is difficult to decide, you cant begin to describe it. Now, if you could attach Mr Anuchkins
lips to Mr Podkolyosins nose, and take some of Mr Zhevakins easy manner, and perhaps add
Mr Omelets solid build, I could decide on the spot. But now Ive got to rack my brains! And its
giving me a fearsome headache. I think itd be best to draw lots. Turn the whole matter over to
Gods will, and whichever one comes out, thatll be my husband. Ill write all their names on a bit
of paper, roll them up tight, then so be it. (She goes to her desk, gets some paper and writes the
names on them.) Lifes so trying for a girl, especially when shes in love. Its something no man
will ever understand, and anyway they just dont want to. Now, thats them ready! All that remains
is to put them in my purse, shut my eyes, and thats it what will be, will be. (She places papers
in her purse and give it a shake.) This is dreadful oh God, please make it Anuchkin! No, why
him? Better Mr Podkolyosin. But why Mr Podkolyosin? In what way are the others worse? No,
no, I wont whichever comes out, so be it. (She rummages in her purse and pulls them all out
instead of one.) Oh! All of them! Theyve all come out! And my hearts pounding. No, no, its got
to be one! (She puts the papers back in her purse.) Oh, if only I could draw out Baltazar no,
what am I saying? I mean Mr Anuchkinno, I wont, I wont. Let fate decide.

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Turn of The Century Monologues

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The Seagull Checkov 1895

The Web Eugene ONeill 1913

Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1912

An Ideal husband Oscar Wilde 1895

The importance of being Ernest Oscar Wilde 1895

Marriage Nikolai gogal 1842

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