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Literature vocabulary · Drama and Theatre

Monologue

Meaning in literature, with examples

/ˈmɒnəlɒɡ/nounCommon term

In literature, monologue means: A long speech by one character, either spoken to other characters who listen or to the audience, in a play, film or story.

In Turkish: monolog, tek kişilik konuşma

How it is used

Actors prepare monologues for auditions; critics praise a powerful or moving monologue. In poetry, a dramatic monologue is a poem spoken by one character to a silent listener, as in Robert Browning's My Last Duchess. 'Interior monologue' presents a character's thoughts.

Example sentences

  1. The father's monologue at the dinner table is the emotional center of the play.

  2. For the audition, please prepare a two-minute monologue from a modern play.

Common collocations

  • dramatic monologue
  • interior monologue
  • deliver a monologue
  • opening monologue
  • soliloquyA speech in a play in which a character, alone on stage, speaks his or her thoughts aloud so that the audience learns what the character really feels.
  • dialogueThe words that characters speak to each other in a story, play or film; in prose it is usually shown in quotation marks.
  • stream of consciousnessA narrative technique that presents a character's thoughts, feelings and memories as a continuous, often unpunctuated flow, the way they pass through the mind.
  • dramaLiterature written to be performed by actors on a stage, telling a story through dialogue and action; also a single serious play.

More terms: Drama and Theatre

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