Shakespeare's Greatest Monologues: Volume I
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About this listen
William Shakespeare, long hailed as history's greatest dramatic writer, has been lauded for his mastery of poetic expression, his insight into the human condition, and his deep exploration into the psyche and motivations of his characters.
These skills are perhaps best encapsulated in the monologues he gives his various protagonists, villains, and bit players. From the murderous Lady Macbeth, planning to assassinate the king to advance her husband's career, to the droll, melancholy Jacques from As You Like It ticking off the Seven Ages of Man, to Edmund the Bastard in King Lear, bemoaning his second-class status as an illegitimate child to the young lover Helena, railing against the seeming cruelty of her bewitched friends in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare's monologues are short distillations of his larger themes - love and loss, fairness and inequity, power and envy, lust and purity.
Fort Raphael Publishing is proud to present, in this first volume, some of Shakespeare's greatest monologues, each of which captures a shining, brilliant moment from his plays that gives us a deeper understanding of each character, whether flattering, damning, or inspiring. Enjoy this collection of monologues - performed by some of the finest classical actors in the world - from the greatest theatrical writer in the English language, William Shakespeare.
©2021 Fort Raphael Publishing Company (P)2021 Kevin TheisListeners also enjoyed...
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Honorificabilitudinitatibus!
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Much Ado about Nothing
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Abridged
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Henry V
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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The Best Version of the Best Thing Ever Written
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Related to this topic
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King Lear
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Overall
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Performance
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I am a man more sinned against than sinning.
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A true classic
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King John: The Arkangel Shakespeare
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Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale
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Lear
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NOT unabridged
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I am a man more sinned against than sinning.
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-
-
Bloom being Bloom
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Falstaff
- Give Me Life
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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-
-
Falstaff brooks no rebuttal.
- By Darwin8u on 02-06-20
By: Harold Bloom
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Shakespeare for Children
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- Narrated by: Josephine Bailey
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- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Introduce your children to the magic of Shakespeare with these 20 favorite tales. Although simplified, these lively stories don't underestimate young readers; they keep the complexity, twists of plot, and turns of fate found in the originals.
-
-
NOT unabridged
- By Erica on 11-06-07
By: Charles Lamb, and others
-
Tales from Shakespeare
- The Lambs' Tales (Puffin Classics)
- By: Charles Lamb, Mary Lamb, William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming, Nigel Davenport, Andrew Sachs, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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-
-
Not all of the stories
- By GPH on 08-22-18
By: Charles Lamb, and others
-
Tales from Shakespeare
- By: Charles Lamb, Mary Lamb
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb is a retelling of 20 of Shakespeare’s most beloved stories. Within the pages of this book, the 19th-century authors bring to life the Shakespearean plots and characters of another age in an easy-to-understand prose of a newer generation.
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A classic
- By Jacque Eddy on 10-07-19
By: Charles Lamb, and others
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Medea
- By: Euripides
- Narrated by: Jonathan Waters
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the "barbarian" kingdom of Colchis, and the wife of Jason; she finds her position in the Greek world threatened as Jason leaves her for a Greek princess of Corinth. Medea takes vengeance on Jason by murdering Jason's new wife as well as her own children, after which she escapes to Athens to start a new life.
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Great Narrator makes this story work
- By cosmitron on 08-02-18
By: Euripides
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The Plays of Sophocles
- Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone
- By: Sophocles
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Sophocles was born at Colonus, near Athens in about 496 BC and is considered to be one of the premier playwrights of Greek tragedy. His stories may have been filled with strife, but Sophocles himself was prosperous and came from a good family. It is said that he was handsome, wealthy, and a highly respected citizen of Athens. During his life, he wrote over 120 plays and was instrumental in how plays would eventually be performed, including the addition of stage props.
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Bad Dialogue
- By Zoe Olvera on 08-12-18
By: Sophocles
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Oedipus the King
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus discovers that he has been caught in his terrible destiny, unknowingly murdering his father and marrying his mother.
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Superb
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The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling
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Performance
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Author Peter Ackroyd has won the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Novel of the Year, and the Guardian Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Based on Geoffrey Chaucer’s immortal work, this retelling of The Canterbury Tales follows a party of travelers as they tell stories amongst themselves about love and chivalry, saints and legends, travel and adventure. Through allegory, satire, and humor, the tales help pass the time during their journey.
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WOW
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By: Peter Ackroyd
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The Decameron
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Overall
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Performance
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The Decameron is one of the greatest literary works of the Middle Ages. Ten young people have fled the terrible effects of the Black Death in Florence and, in an idyllic setting, tell a series of brilliant stories, by turns humorous, bawdy, tragic and provocative. This celebration of physical and sexual vitality is Boccaccio's answer to the sublime other-worldliness of Dante's Divine Comedy.
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Not Up to the Usual Naxos Standard
- By John on 11-15-17
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Samson Agonistes
- By: John Milton
- Narrated by: David de Keyser, Philip Madoc, Matthew Morgan, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Original Recording
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Samson Agonistes, the 'dramatic poem' by John Milton, was published in 1671, three years before the poet's death. Written in the form of a Greek tragedy, with the Chorus commenting on the action, it follows the biblical story of the blind Samson as he wreaks his revenge on the Philistines who have imprisoned him. A powerful subject, with a personal resonance for the blind Milton, it is a perfect work for the medium of audiobook where poetry and drama can be balanced equally.
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Unbelievable
- By Anonymous User on 11-06-20
By: John Milton
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The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights
- By: James Knowles
- Narrated by: Eric Brooks
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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King Arthur was a legendary British leader of the late fifth and early sixth century who, according to the medieval histories and romances, led the defense of the Romano-Celtic British against the Saxon invaders in the early sixth century. This book gives an account of the life of this great legend of all times.
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This was painful!
- By T. Rod on 09-05-14
By: James Knowles
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The Arabian Nights
- By: Andrew Lang - translator
- Narrated by: Suehyla El Attar
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Full of mischief, valor, ribaldry, and romance, The Arabian Nights has enthralled readers for centuries. These are the tales that saved the life of Scheherazade, whose husband, the king, executed each of his wives after a single night of marriage. Beginning an enchanting story each evening, Scheherazade always withheld the ending: A thousand and one nights later, her life was spared forever.
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Not unabridged Burton--this is Lang
- By Richard and Diana Chicago on 06-25-12
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Le Morte D'Arthur
- By: Sir Thomas Malory
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 37 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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To the modern eye, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table have many similarities to our own contemporary super-heroes. Equipped with magical powers, enchanted swords, super-strength, and countless villains to take on, they protect the weak and innocent and adhere to their own code of honor. Comparing Batman, Superman, and Captain America to Sir Launcelot, Sir Tristram, and Sir Galahad isn't a huge leap of the imagination.
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This is my go-to audio version of Malory
- By Arthurian Tapestry on 03-16-19
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Faust
- By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is a poem, translated by Bayard Taylor, which tells the beautiful and emotional story of a man who has seen and done it all. However, despite all of his learning and education, his life still feels empty and unaccomplished. He believes wholeheartedly that there is something else out there. Faust, having exhausted all other fields of study, turns to magic for fulfillment. He summons the devil and makes a pact - that if the devil can show him something rewarding and fulfilling, he will give the devil his soul.
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Misleading
- By Grant Pajak on 03-29-17
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Shakespeare by Another Name
- The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man who Was Shakespeare
- By: Mark Anderson
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Abridged
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Actor William Shaksper of Stratford had little education, never left England, and apparently owned no books. How could he have written the great plays and poetry attributed to him? Journalist Mark Anderson's biography offers tantalizing proof that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, courtier, spendthrift, scholar, traveler, soldier, scoundrel, and writer, was the real "Shakespeare".
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Brings the period to life
- By Dan on 01-15-06
By: Mark Anderson