What's a good piece of literature (drama/prose/poems) that I could use?

I need to perform an oratory of 5-8 minutes of some piece of literature. I'm having trouble coming to something brilliant that lends itself to coming to life though... I would absolutely love to do something to the effect of a strong female stage role such as Lady Macbeth (but someone else is already doing it, and I refuse to be a thief). When I've had to do this before, I've done Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" and Daniel Keyes "Flowers for Algernon" (abriged, of course). Any good ideas of a powerful chracter to perform?