The Dramatic Monologue

Its Characteristics:

The dramatic monologue is not strictly a dramatic art-form. It is not intended for presentation on the stage. It is a poetic form but has dramatic qualities. The chief exponent of this form is Robert Browning. Tennyson also used it with masterly skill as in “Ulysses”.  Dramatic monologue is cast in the form of speech addressed to a silent listener. Its aim is character study or ‘psycho-analysis’. The person who speaks is made to reveal himself, his mind and the persons whom he introduces. He may speak in self-justification or in  a mood of detached self-explanation.

Nature of Dramatic Monologue:

The Dramatic Monologue:

The dramatic Monologue is part drama, part poetry. It is a speech in the poetic medium with a dominant dramatic note. It is a speech intended for someone should hear. So it is recited on the stage before an audience, with or without costume and scenic background. Moreover, it is a study in character, which is one of the main features of drama. But it differs from drama for it completely lacks action and dialogue or speech. It has soliloquy but it is addressed to a passive listener whose reaction is also told by the speaker now and then. The soliloquy is an actor’s private thoughts uttered aloud for the audience to understand what is going on in the mind of the actor. Sometimes it is not uttered in speech, if the dramatist uses some other method to reveal the mind of the actor. The soliloquy is not supposed to be heard, the Dramatic Monologue is meant to be.

Browning’s Contribution to the Form:

Much of Browning’s finest poetry is in the form of the dramatic monologue. He amazingly captured personality of a figure, historical or imaginary incidents beyond his time. Occasionally, Browing uttered his own thought not revealing his identity and so he uses imagination and outlook which he never uses in other poems. His masterpiece, “The Ring and the Book” is a series of ten lengthy monologues of this kind, in each the story of a famous trail in Italian history is told from a different point of view with a prologue and an epilogue. His “Mr. Sludge the Medium” is the self-vindication of a contemporary American spiritualist. His other important dramatic monologues are “Bishop Blougram’s Apology” “Andrea del Sarto” and “The Epistle of Karshish” Browning raised it to the rank of major poetic form through his ripest experience and profoundest reflection. It embodied not only striking revelations of human passions and aspirations, but also valuable passages of ethical teaching, which still make him, for many readers a potent and inspiring force. In fact, dramatic monologue is drama, poetry and philosophy all in one form.

Another Sense of the Form:

On the contemporary stage in England the term Dramatic Monologue is sometimes used to describe the performance of a scene from a famous novel by an actor dressed as one of the characters in the book, or for the recitation of a stirring or amusing narrative in verse. There a few actors who alone appear and delight a whole audience with a series of impersonations of various characters. For example, an old soldier recalling the bygone days;  a peasant woman in church; a lady showing a visitor round her garden  and so on. These too, are often called Dramatic Monologue.