What is the definition of monologue?
The definition of monologue is a passage in a literary work in which a solitary character speaks.
Monologue
Last Updated on December 2, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 131
Monologue - refers to a speech by one person in a drama, a form of entertainment by a single speaker, or an extended part of the text of a play uttered by an actor.
The term is taken directly from the Greek monologos, meaning “speaking alone.”
An example is...
(The entire section contains 131 words.)
Unlock This Study Guide Now
Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this Guide to Literary Terms study guide. You'll get access to all of the Guide to Literary Terms content, as well as access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts.
- Introduction
- Complete Index
Already a member? Log in here.
Monologue - refers to a speech by one person in a drama, a form of entertainment by a single speaker, or an extended part of the text of a play uttered by an actor.
The term is taken directly from the Greek monologos, meaning “speaking alone.”
An example is Macbeth’s questioning of his own sanity in Shakespeare’s Macbeth:
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee!
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
Act II, scene i : lines 42 – 48
see: dialogue, interior monologue, soliloquy
Explore all literary terms.
