What is the definition of monologue?
The definition of a monologue is a passage in a literary work in which a solitary character speaks.
Monologue
A monologue is a text or passage of a text which solely conveys the speech of a single character or speaker.
A monologue differs from a soliloquy in that soliloquies occur when a character is voicing their thoughts alone. In contrast, a monologue is spoken directly to other characters. For example, a monologue can take the form of a particularly long speech by one character within a conversation they are having with another character.
Monologue derives from the Greek word monologos, meaning “speaking alone, speaking to oneself,” from monos (“alone”) and logos (“word, speech”).
Here is a good example of a monologue from T.S. Eliot's “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:”
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
see: interior monologue, soliloquy
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