Literary notes about Monologue (AI summary)
In literature the term "monologue" refers to an extended, uninterrupted speech by a single character—often used to reveal inner thoughts or to advance the narrative. It can serve as a dramatic device, as seen in Browning’s model where it becomes a vehicle for self-analysis and apologetics [1], or function as a reflective soliloquy that exposes a character’s internal conflict, like Hamlet’s introspective address [2, 3]. Moreover, the monologue appears in diverse contexts: as interludes before acts [4], as humorous or narrative commentary in prose [5, 6, 7, 8], and even as a stylistic marker distinguishing solitary discourse from dialogue [9, 10]. This multifaceted use underscores its value in offering insight into a character’s psyche and adding depth to the literary work [11, 12].
- "St. Simeon Stylites" is a dramatic monologue more upon Browning's model, i.e. , a piece of apologetics and self-analysis.
— from A History of English Romanticism in the Nineteenth Century by Henry A. (Henry Augustin) Beers - This monologue, in which Hamlet gives expression to his feelings and thoughts, is only in the quarto of 1604.
— from Shakspere and Montaigne An Endeavour to Explain the Tendency of 'Hamlet' from Allusions in Contemporary Works by Jacob Feis - Is Hamlet's monologue the meditation of a criminal?
— from Essays of Schopenhauer by Arthur Schopenhauer - Before a new act an interlude (called vishkambha or praveçaka ), consisting of a monologue or dialogue, is often introduced.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell - The Professor, with scarcely a pause in his monologue, signalled back, “Then sit on it.”
— from The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G. K. Chesterton - I waited till his monologue paused again.
— from Dubliners by James Joyce - Sometimes he would crane up his head in the air and utter a long monologue.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - I have known him to hold entire dinner parties spellbound, from cocktails to finger bowls, with his monologue.
— from Men I'm Not Married To; Women I'm Not Married To by Dorothy Parker - The differences between the dialogue and the monologue are the chief differences between the monologue and the play.
— from Browning and the Dramatic Monologue by S. S. (Samuel Silas) Curry - It was not a conversation so much as a monologue to which he listened.
— from The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Volume III by Alexander Wheelock Thayer - “The Ring and the Book” affords perhaps the highest example of the value of the monologue as a form of art.
— from Browning and the Dramatic Monologue by S. S. (Samuel Silas) Curry - Burns’s poems often contain dramatic elements peculiar to the monologue and must be rendered with an imaginary speaker and an imaginary listener.
— from Browning and the Dramatic Monologue by S. S. (Samuel Silas) Curry
