My Monologue

         We had to find a monologue from the Classical era of theatre - between Classical Greek, to The Restoration. 

The monologue I chose is from Two Gentlemen of Verona, which was written by Shakespeare somewhere around 1590-1591. I decided to use Launce's Monologue from the play because it was a comedic role and suited me more than a simple Romeo role.

 The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a play that focusses on the relationship between friendship and love. Two friends fall in love with the same woman, even though one has already left a lover behind awaiting his return. The play centres on the foolishness between the two friends who are in love with the same woman and the lengths to which they go to win her favour. The two main characters, Proteus and Valentine, both try to woo Silvia, and are often mocked by their servants, Speed and Launce along the way. Proteus betrays Valentine by telling Silvia’s father the plans of their escaping away to elope and thus Valentine is exiled by the Duke.

 The main concept is the idea that friendship ought to come before a woman, or more recently regarded as ‘Bro’s before hoes’.

 My monologue is about Launce, the servant of Proteus and his dog, Crab. He re-enacts a short scene where he shows how his family all reacted to a recent parting and how his dog didn’t react at all. He uses shoes, sticks and hats to represent different family members and often confuses himself. It is a comedic piece and is written in prose, which was the mark of a commoner in Shakespeare’s works.

With the play being one of Shakespeare’s earliest works and possibly his very first play, it is not as successful, and many would argue that it was more a stepping stone for his later works. It lacked his craftsmanship that he gained later in his career and has often been described as his weakest play.