Monologue Study Notes:

 

Monologue (noun): A scene with a single actor who speaks alone

 

 

BACKGROUND

  • Monologues can be traced back to the beginning of the spoken word.

  • Dramatists throughout history have used monologues to allow the audience to focus on a single character onstage for as long as two hours in length!

  • From dramatic monologues (the poem, Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson) or comedic monologues (Jay Leno and David Letterman) to rants (Rick Mercer), monologues provide the speaker an opportunity to speak from the heart, and/or to address current issues in society.

A GUIDELINE TO WRITING MONOLOGUES

  • Monologue simply means: "mono" (meaning "one") and "logue" (meaning "to speak)." In other words, it means "one person speaking." To whom? An audience, of course. As stated earlier, we see monologues everywhere, often in comic form on late-night talk shows.

  • The monologue in this play is one of a more dramatic nature that allows an audience to watch a character make a choice, live on stage in the moment of her crisis. To ensure that this choice is effective, the author may have to select an important crossroad that the character is facing.

  • As with all choices, and especially dilemmas, the choice can be difficult. This struggle needs to be portrayed: the difficulty and subsequent process of making the choice.

  • One area of strength that an author can really build upon is that of emotion. The character basically needs to start ?oehere? and finish ?oethere,? and the journey must be a process that leads to something ?" emotional intensity, change, or a breakdown ?" something that shows the audience that change has occurred.

  • To understand why the character succeeds or fails, the audience has to have a context for the situation onstage. An author lets the audience know the essence of the character by rounding them out with enough detail so that they ?oeknow? them.

  • Speaking is a focus of a monologue, so it is critical to indicate not only what the character is saying (diction), but also the way it is being said (attitude/tone).

  • Style is the last, but not least, element to remember when writing a monologue. The audience is going to react to the character's voice, words, and actions. Will the response be laughter, crying, or anger? The audience will respond to a character in a given moment in a given way ?" it is the author's choice.

Monologue Requirements: Teacher Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

soliloquy: a soliloquy is spoken by one character, alone on the stage. The purpose is to share his/her thoughts with the audience.

  1. Your character must have a strong want. Think about the times you have become the most aggressive, upset, or combative. Most likely, if you felt this strongly, it was related to something you wanted or cared about very much. A character in a play or a monologue needs to want something badly. Without a strong want there is no drama ?" or comedy for that matter.

  2. The monologue must have high stakes. There is something important or significant at stake for your character. If characters do not get what they want, what will be the consequence? Perhaps they will lose social standing, a friend, or their self-respect. Maybe they will lose their faith, or their one chance to prove their love to someone? High stakes give dramatic tension to the monologue. Without high stakes, a monologue is a walk in the park; it is unimportant.

  3. Hook opening. A good journalist, novelist, or magazine writer always needs a hook?"a killer first line that pulls the readers in and makes them want to read the next line, and then the next, and the next. Similarly, a monologue with a strong hook should pique the audience's attention (of course, the rest of the monologue has to play off the excitement and expectations it establishes).

  4. Button closing. When your monologue ends, you do not want the audience to wonder, is he/she done? Is this a dramatic pause? You want your ending to be clear and intentional.

  5. Character overcomes internal obstacle(s). Some of the most interesting monologues feature internal struggles. Shakespeare is filled with soliloquies that do this; the canon of modern drama contains a number of examples we can draw on as well. Watching characters conquer their own self-doubts in the course of a speech or soliloquy will hold an audience's attention.

  6. Balance past and present action. So many monologues get stuck in the past, recounting stories that do not connect with the here and now. A great monologue connects with the present even when it discusses the past. We can feel the current relationship between the speaker and the person hearing it.

  7. Exercise restraint to build dramatic/comedic tension. A character trying hard not to cry is much more interesting than one all-out bawling for two minutes straight. Most of us try to avoid displaying strong, overwhelming emotion. A good monologue shows that struggle to keep strong emotions under wraps.