Monologue
A monologue is an expanded speech produced by one speaker to others or alone. Important varieties involve the dramatic monologue (a kind of verse in which the speaker is in address to a silent audience imaginary), and the soliloquy (the speaker is 'overheard' while he speaks alone). Some modern plays in which only one character speaks are known as monodramas or monologues. In prose fiction, the inner monologue is a representation of a character's unspoken thoughts [Baldick, 160-161].
The term monologue uses in several senses, with the major significance of a person speaking alone – with an audience or without. Most prayers, lyrics, and verses are monologues, but aside from these, there are four types of monologue:
a) monodrama;
b) soliloquy;
c) solo addresses to an audience in a play;
d) dramatic monologue [Cuddon, 444].
A monologue is a long speech by one person. Several kinds of monologue can be distinguished:
1. Soliloquy (the speaker is alone).
2. An apostrophe (the speaker addresses someone absent or an abstract idea).
3. Dramatic monologue (the speech is addressed to someone present).
4. An interior monologue (shows a character’s fleeting thoughts and impressions, or interior speech) [Quinn, 267].
⠀ 1. Chris Baldick. (2015). The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press
⠀ 2. Cuddon J. A. (2013). A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
⠀ 3. Quinn, Edward. (2006). A dictionary of literary and thematic terms. New-York: Infobase Publishing.