Dramatic Monologue Overview

Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek; perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say, 'Her mantle laps
Over my lady's wrist too much,' or 'Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat.' Such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

Near the end of the poem, it becomes clear that the Duke murdered his wife. He does not say so explicitly, but it is implied. He goes on to mention that his guest works for a Count whose daughter is set to become the Duke's next wife; might she meet the same fate as her predecessor?

Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretense
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object.

This poem is a masterful example of a poet providing important information about a character through his own words, without ever spelling the issue out for the readers.

''The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'' Dramatic Monologue

T.S. Eliot wrote dramatic monologues in the form of poems

''The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'' is a poem by T.S. Eliot. It takes the form of a dramatic monologue spoken by an insecure young man who is trying (and failing) to make a difficult decision. What that decision is has been the subject of some literary debate, but many people read the poem as being about a man trying to decide whether or not to propose to a woman. He constantly questions his own choices. The poem is long, but part of it goes:

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.

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?

And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ...

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

This is a philosophical monologue: the speaker is trying to work out how he feels about himself, his life, and his decisions. He fears judgment at every turn and often repeats himself, unable to come to any conclusions. In the last lines of this section of the poem, he disavows human life altogether and longs for a simpler, animalistic life.

Lesson Summary

Dramatic monologues are long speeches given by a single character in a literary work. Monologues can be found in plays, stories, and poetry, and they can be romantic, conversational, or philosophical. One of the main purposes of dramatic monologues is to allow audiences to understand the speaker better and to get a sense of their motivations, feelings, and thoughts.

Romeo and Juliet contains an example of a romantic monologue wherein Romeo reveals his feelings to the audience, but not to Juliet. ''My Last Duchess'' features a conversational monologue in which the speaker inadvertently reveals that he murdered his last wife. ''The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'' is a philosophical monologue about an insecure young man who is struggling to make decisions. All of these are famous and memorable examples of the diversity of dramatic monologues in literature.