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Julius Caesar · Act 2, Scene 1

Portia monologue from Julius Caesar

Portia’s monologue from the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (Act 2, Scene 1). A classical piece for women with a playing age of 20s–50s, running about 1:00.

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The full speech. Read it out loud twice before you start working it.

Portia’s monologue

Is Brutus sick? and is it physical

To walk unbraced and suck up the humours

Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick,

And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,

To dare the vile contagion of the night

And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air

To add unto his sickness? No, my Brutus;

You have some sick offence within your mind,

Which, by the right and virtue of my place,

I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,

I charm you, by my once-commended beauty,

By all your vows of love and that great vow

Which did incorporate and make us one,

That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,

Why you are heavy, and what men to-night

Have had to resort to you: for here have been

Some six or seven, who did hide their faces

Even from darkness.

Public domain text.

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About Julius Caesar

Play by William Shakespeare · 1599

  • Julius Caesar was one of the first plays staged at the new Globe Theatre, in 1599.
  • Shakespeare drew on Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans.
  • Caesar is killed in Act 3; Brutus has the most lines in the play.

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