What Makes a Great Monologue? 10 Great Monologues Screenwriters Can Learn From

In film and TV, great monologues have the power to hit an audience more than any other moment in a story. They can be gut-wrenching emotional confessions, pivotal moments of characterisation or grand thematic statements.

Audiences remember monologues for these reasons. And great monologues are ones that condense and encapsulate a key part of a story.

In this article we’ll look at:

• What is a Monologue?
• How Long is a Monologue?
• How Do You Write a Monologue?
• What Makes a Great Monologue?
• 10 Great Monologues.

What is a Monologue?

A monologue is a long speech delivered by one character.

Sounds pretty simple. But there is a shorthand that comes with monologues that audiences have come to implicitly understand.

Monologues originally come from theatre, where a character will typically deliver a speech to either another character or as an aside to the audience. However, it’s important to note that usually a speech delivered to the audience will be considered a soliloquy rather than a monologue.

From this ancient form, the tradition of monologues has formed. And we, as hardened audiences, understand the shorthand of this format. When a character embarks on a long speech we don’t see it as odd or out of keeping with the drama. Instead, we understand this is a moment for us to listen to, an important reveal on the character’s part and a potentially crucial bit of information about the story’s theme.