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Dramatic monologue is a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character. M.H. Abrams notes the following three features of the dramatic monologue as it applies to poetry: The single person, who is patently not the poet, utters the speech that makes up the whole of the poem, in a specific situation at a critical moment
Actor Christopher Walken performing a monologue in the 1984 stage play Hurlyburly. In theatre, a monologue (from Greek: μονόλογος, from μόνος mónos, "alone, solitary" and λόγος lógos, "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience.
Shakespeare combined the two throughout his career, with Romeo and Juliet perhaps the best example of the mixing of the styles. [6] By the time of Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, and A Midsummer Night's Dream in the mid-1590s, Shakespeare had begun to write a more natural poetry. He increasingly tuned his metaphors and images to the needs of the ...
In Verona, Italy, two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are in the midst of a bloody feud. Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, fall in love and struggle to maintain their relationship in the face of familial hatred. After Romeo kills Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a fit of passion, things fall apart.
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare employs several dramatic techniques that have garnered praise from critics, most notably the abrupt shifts from comedy to tragedy (an example is the punning exchange between Benvolio and Mercutio just before Tybalt arrives).
The phrase is spoken in Act 3, Scene 1 of the tragedy. Tybalt, a kinsman of the Capulets and cousin to Juliet, is dueling with Mercutio, a friend of Romeo from the Montague family. Romeo and Benvolio attempt to break up the fight. Mercutio, distracted, does not see his opponent and is fatally wounded by Tybalt under Romeo's arm.
Romeo subsequently declares his love for Juliet to her, making it a declaration of mutual consent—an accepted love declaration—where both partners are in love. An example of a less-successful declaration of love can be found in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice where Darcy declares his love for Elisabeth: "In vain have I struggled. It will ...
The term "dramatic monologue" came to be applied to such works, although the term "monodrama" remained in critical currency. Half a century later Tennyson himself referred to his Maud (1855) as a monodrama, [ 4 ] and William Lancaster ( John Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley ) published a verse collection titled Eclogues and Monodramas in 1864.