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Monologue purpose in drama
Dramatic monologue and uses
Essay on dramatic monologue
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A dramatic monologue is defined as a poem in which a single character is speaking to a person or persons- usually about an important topic. The purpose of most dramatic monologues is to provide the reader with an overall or intimate view of the character’s personality. A great poet can use punctuation and rhythm to make the poem appear as if it were an actual conversation. Robert Browning, known as the father of the dramatic monologue, does this in his poem, “My Last Duchess.'; The Duke of Ferrara, the speaker in “My Last Duchess,'; is portrayed as a jealous, arrogant man who is very controlling over his wife.
The Duke of Ferrara was made jealous by everything the duchess did, no matter how unimportant it was. He was especially jealous of Fra Pandolf, the man who painted the duchess in the poem. A woman should be pleased only by her husband, as was not the case with the duchess and Fra Pandolf. She was “too easily impressed'; by the painter (line 23). Fra Pandolf was not the only man that made the duke jealous. Everyone who passed the duchess received “much the same smile'; as the duke (line 44). The duke expected to be the only man to receive a smile from his wife.
Another aspect of the duke’s character addressed in the poem is his condescending attitude. Two times in the poem the duke needlessly told the names of the artists who created the masterpieces that he owned (lines 3 & 56). He felt superiority over the emissary he was speaking to by dropping these names. The duke addressed the emissary as a “never read stranger'; (line 6). Not only was it patronizing for the duke to call him a stranger, but he called him unintelligent too.
The third character trait of the duke is his controlling behavior. In lines nine and ten he told the emissary that no one “puts by the curtain'; that he had drawn for him but the duke himself. He felt the need to control who ever looked at the painting of the duchess. The main evidence of his dominating behavior is in line 46. The line reads, “…then all smiles stopped together.'; The line is ambiguous, but the most likely interpretation is that the duke had his wife killed. The poem can be interpreted in several different ways, but in all cases the duke is a very controlling man.
Initially, both speakers in the literary texts are similar because they killed their lovers. In Duchess, the duke that is the speaker says blatantly that he killed his last wife. As the speaker says in lines 45-46, “I gave commands; then the smiling stopped all together.” These lines mean that he told her to stop smiling, but she didn’t listen to him, so therefore he killed her, thus the smiles stopped all together. He explained that he did this such action because she smiled too much. In the same way, the speaker of Lover explained that he killed his lover too. The speaker grabbed his woman’s hair, and wrapped it around her neck three times, and strangled her to death! “I found a thing to do, and all her hair in one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her” (Lines 37-41).
Dramatic monologue often pertains to the narrator talking to and addressing the audience (1063). Fife uses dramatic monologue form, without any particular rhyme schemes, as well as no typical line or stanza count ordinarily given for regular verse poetry. Along with not using rhyme or line count norms, Fife has a lack of grammatical use throughout her poems. There is no punctuation or capital letters
It’s regularly known that Immigrants leave their motherland in search for a better life elsewhere, yet an immigrant’s ability to be happy and successful in America largely depends on the opportunity to remain connected to the culture of their native country or embrace
Mehreen Tai 2 White TONE: In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning portrays the tone as Incensed and proprietorial by showing possesive behavior and anger towards the Duchess. Throughout the poem the narrator’s actions and words show how possesive he is of the Duchess. He gets angry if she is polite to anyone but him. The narrator, after he learned that the Duchess encountered with other men, got jealous and couldn’t control his emotins.
Often times when we think about the dramatic monologue the thing that might come to mind are monologues that are often seen in Shakespeare’s work whether that be Hamlet’s monologue To Be or Not to Be. Or the dramatic monologue that is echoed in Romeo and Juliet when Juliet cries out, Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore Art Thou Romeo? The dramatic monologue is defined as a type of poem where the speaker is talking directly to a person or addressing another person. Normally in these types of works the speaker speaks alone which is known as a one-way conversation. The setting is typically dramatic, in the sense that they have a theatrical feel to them, but also its intended to be read to an audience.
Fanthrope takes the liberty of explaining the poem through the eyes and mind of the three characters: the dragon, the maiden, and the knight. These dramatic monologues are an effective poetic device for Fanthrope to express ideas that she doesn’t necessarily want to be associated as her own. By speaking through persona, the expression of her feelings is not accepted as hers, but as the character’s feelings. In “Not my best Side,” Fanthrope proceeds to write about challenging old stereotypes by creating new ones. This is expressed through the monologues of her characters.
After the depression of the 1880s, the number of immigrants quickly rose. It then dropped again due to the war in 1914 and, later, fell again because of immigration restrictions – the Chinese Exclusion Act – imposed in the 1920s. The reasons for these new immigrants to make their journey to America included: escaping religious, racial, and political persecution; seeking the relief of a lack of economic opportunity; or famine had pushed them out of their homelands. As immigrants started flooding in, valuable resources such as food, jobs, and housing had become a scarce necessity. Second generation Americans – people born into the United States of America but had immigrant parents – naturally blamed all the incoming immigrants for their problems.
This poem describes a palace, once-great, fallen into disrepair. The palace, once vibrant, ages into an abandoned desolate place, haunted by “evil things in robes of sorrow” (line 33). This poem is allegory for the descent of a man, possibly Poe himself. That this poem is an allegory for a man is well supported in numerous texts, not the least of these being The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: 9th Edition (685), as well as by a careful examination of the text. Combining the theme of descent and decline with what is known of Poe himself, one can conclude: Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Haunted Palace” is an allegory that alludes to his own perceived decay and descent into madness.
insight into his life and personality that he is not aware of giving. While the poet uses his
On the other hand, on “My Last Duchess”, the speaker is a Duke who is going to be remarried. As the speaker shows his new wife’s father a painting of his previous wife he describes how she was like. Unlike the previous poem, this one clearly depicts the speaker as a monster. He had his wife murdered for what comes across as fairly innocent crimes. In the following lines he states;
A common technique of Byron in this piece is to insert himself within the story and speak directly to the reader (see poem). He includes many tangents, on which he either makes a sneering, yet humorous comment (see poem), or adds in his own experiences or feelings about the topic at hand (see poem). Many times these tangents seem unrelated to the text, (line 1700ish) and only serve as a chance for Byron to say his piece on something he finds interesting or relevant in placing himself as distinct from the rest (line 697). These lines of humor are made more apparent through the rhythmic nature of his rhymes, and the placement of the individual lines (line 320-2). He tends to follow up a serious event or thought by a more trivial and light comment, making the first serious thing seem less heavy (line 752).
Browning’s works were the primary model for the basic form of the standard Victorian dramatic monologue which was based around a speaker, listener, and a reader. Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” became a model for the dramatic monologue form primarily because of the strict approach he took while developing the poem. One of the aspects characteristic of this work is the authors level of consciousness. Each element in “My Last Duchess” is thoughtfully constructed with form and structure in mind. This poem is filled with dramatic principle that satisfied the Victorian period’s demand for an action and drama that were not overtly apparent in the work. In the case of “My Last Duchess” the drama of the poem is how his character, the Duke, is introduced. In dramatic monologues the character’s self is revealed through thoug...
Beauty’s sisters marry rich men, who seemingly have acceptably desirable attributes as husbands. One man is detailed as a man of good looks. The other man is noted for having great wit. The two possess qualities most women seek in a husband, but it is indicated in descriptions that the two sisters are both unhappy in their marriages. Although the first husband is handsome, this serves him as a drawback, for he is a narcissist, only concerned with himself. The second husband’s wit is also a severe disadvantage due to the fact he uses his wit to torment other people, including his wife. It is when Beauty reviews her sisters’ marriages and the unhappiness her sisters experience in relation to their husbands that helps Beauty realize The Beast’s true worth and her love for him: “I should be happier with the monster than my sisters are with their husbands; it is neither wit, nor a fine person, in a husband, that makes a woman happy, but virtue, sweetness of temper and complaisance and Beast has all these valuable qualifications.” (9). The juxtaposition made between the husbands and The Beast create the disclosure of the appropriate masculine qualities a man should encompass. De Beaumont presents the contrast of characters to the reader as a method of emphasizing the
Robert Browning frequently wrote dramatic monologues to enhance the dark and avaricious qualities in his works. Browning's use of this particular style is to "evoke the unconstrained reaction of a person in aparticular situation or crisis" (Napierkowski 170). A poem may say one thing, but when mixed with dramatic monologue, it may "present a meaning at odds with the speaker's intention"(Napierkowski 170). This change may show the reader more insight into the poem without directly stating the underlying facts. The reader is allowed to "isolate a single moment in which the character reveals himself more starkly" (Napierkowski 171). Browning's use of dramatic monologue "disposes the reader to suspend moral judgement" (Napierkowski 171) causing a haughtiness to hover over many of his works.
Duke’s language showed me the power he possesses; his words in this poem were vague, which showed me the Duke is hiding something. A line which