por What is the dramatic monologue?
He dramatic monologue It is a dramatic genre in which a character talks to himself or reflects on important themes within a play. The author’s goal is for the reader to become familiar with this character and generate an emotional response. This speech, in the form of reflections, is addressed to a specific audience or interlocutor.
Regarding its historical origin, literary criticism has held two positions. Some argue that it dates back to the wounded from Ovid (1st century AD), or to the medieval French theatrical genre, and in this case, it would be a comic poem to declaim before an audience. Others postulate that it appeared in England during the Victorian era as an evolution of different genres.
From this last position, two pioneers within the dramatic genre are recognized: the English poet Robert Browning (1812-1889) and the also English poet Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892). Both published the first such monologues in the 1840s.
However, literary criticism begins to recognize it as part of English poetry at the end of the 19th century. In the course of the 20th century, this poetic modality is recognized among the Anglo-Saxons.
In modern poetry, it is a genre that is used in abundance, especially in the English and North American tradition. In Spanish, Luis Cernuda used it extensively.
Characteristics of the dramatic monologue
The speaker as the only voice: eIn the dramatic monologue, the speaker represents the only voice to which the reader has access. Although he speaks in the first person, the voice comes from an enunciator who displays his own speech in a direct style. This speaker is psychologically outlined by the way in which he faces the situations that he describes and evaluates in said discourse. The speaker is not necessarily the author of the work. In some cases, he may be a recognizable character from history or culture who, when not identified by name in the work, is easily identified by the reader or viewer through characterization.
Recipient or implicit interlocutor: lMost of the time, the addressee or interlocutor of a dramatic monologue is implicit. In these monologues, conversations are simulated, and the interlocutor appears to be having a conversation with the speaker. His words or ideas are indirectly expressed through the speaker, who reproduces them through questions, observations, or comments.
Anxious relationship between the participants: the The relationship exposed in the dramatic monologue between the speaker, his interlocutor and the exchange between them is distressing. This, having as its central purpose to achieve the objectification of the poet in the voice of a character, suggests a quite marked dramatic situation.
The reader as part of the creative process: pOrdinarily, a dramatic monologue takes on an assertive or argumentative tone. This allows the reader to delve into the emotions of the character. In addition, the reader can openly interpret the words of the character. Since the use of the word is not strict and concrete, the reader becomes part of the creative process.
The monologue provides important information: dramatic monologues, and in general, all monologues, blurt out highly relevant information for the reader or viewer, who will learn details of the conflicts through the character’s own mouth.
Examples of dramatic monologue
Fragment of Lazaro, by Luis Cernuda
It was early morning.
After the stone was removed with labor,
Because not matter but time
It weighed on her
They heard a quiet voice
Calling me, like a friend calls
When someone is left behind
Tired of the day and the shadow falls.
There was a long silence.
This is how they say it who saw it.
I don’t remember but the cold
strange that gushed
From the deep earth, with anguish
Half-dreamed, and slowly I was going
to wake up the chest,
Where he insisted with a few light blows,
Eager to become warmblood.
in my body it hurt
A living pain or a dream pain.
It was life again.
when i opened my eyes
It was the pale dawn that said
The truth. because those
Hungry faces, above me they were mute,
Biting into a vain dream less than a miracle,
like surly herd
That does not attend to the voice but to the stone,
And the sweat of their brows
I heard a heavy fall in the grass…
Luis Cernuda’s dramatic monologue is a meditation on the Biblical story of the raising of Lazarus. This does not express the joy of new life, but shows the hopelessness of a man who has returned to a world without meaning. The first stanza tells of the miracle of the resurrection.
However, as the reading unfolds it becomes clear that the purpose of the text is to detract from this miracle. In the same first lines reference is made to how heavy time can be, «not matter».
In the end, the author manages to clearly expose Lazaro’s emotions. He half-heartedly comes back to life from the peaceful oblivion of the grave. There he had been free from the pain and torment of existence.
Fragment of Conjectural Poem, by Jorge Luis Borges
Doctor Francisco Laprida, assassinated on September 22, 1829
by the montoneros of Aldao, think before you die:
The bullets buzz in the late afternoon.
There is wind and there are ashes in the wind,
the day and the battle disperse
deformed, and victory belongs to others.
Win the barbarians, the gauchos win.
I, who studied the laws and canons,
I, Francisco Narciso de Laprida,
whose voice declared independence
Of these cruel provinces, defeated,
blood and sweat stained the face,
without hope or fear, lost,
I fled to the South through the last suburbs.
Like that captain of Purgatory
who, fleeing on foot and bloodying the plain,
was blinded and laid down by death
where a dark river loses its name,
so I will fall Today is the term.
The night side of the swamps
stalks me and delays me…
This dramatic monologue by Jorge Luis Borges is a fictitious reflection, inspired by the death of one of his ancestors. In this poem, Borges presents Laprida evoking her death at the hands of rebels. In turn, he contrasts her fate as an academic with his savage end.
References
Dramatic monologue. Recovered from britannica.com.
Byron, G. Dramatic Monologue. New York: Routledge.