What is dramatic monologue?

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar…”

Strong and hard-hitting, you’re probably familiar with these lines from William Shakespeare’s well-known play, “Julius Caesar”. But did you know that this famous address by Marc Antony to the people of Rome is known as a monologue?

Dramatic monologues are popular literary devices. They are long speeches delivered by a single character on stage in a theatre production or on camera in a film. Monologues can be traced back to ancient Greek theatre. The term itself is derived from the Greek words monos (single) and legein (to speak).

Monologues offer a peek into the backstory of the character spoken about. Since a monologue turns the spotlight on a particular character, it offers that actor a unique opportunity to display his acting prowess.

But monologues are not to be confused with soliloquies, which are often internal reflections of a character on stage when alone. While a monologue is addressed to other characters and the audience, soliloquy as a device is employed when a character is talking to itself I and when it’s not meant to be heard by the other characters in the production. Soliloquy is a form of internal monologue. The “To Be or Not to Be” speech from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is arguably the best example of a soliloquy monologue.

 

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