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Learn it your way
A short class with Sarah and her students. The other ways are under More.
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You have chosen a character. Now choose the moment. Why not just have the character describe their whole life?
It would be a summary, not a speech. Nothing would be at stake.
Exactly. What kind of moment works best?
A moment of decision, like the night before a character has to choose between family and freedom.
Good. What must you check before you start writing?
What the character knows at that point, so I don't make them talk about things that haven't happened yet.
Right. A monologue that contradicts the story loses the audience's trust.
Read your opening line aloud. Does it sound like your character or like you?
Like me. My character is a proud old fisherman, but I wrote like a teenager.
How could you change that?
Use images from the sea, shorter sentences, and the way he speaks in the novel.
Mine is full of rhetorical questions, because she can't decide what to do.
Excellent. Your language choices should show the character's state of mind.
Your monologue is written. What turns it into a performance?
Pace and pauses. I want to slow down at the turning point.
Good. And what about your body?
Stillness when the character is frightened, and eye contact with the audience when she confesses.
Keep props to a minimum. One object, used well, says more than a full costume.
Like holding a letter the whole time, and only opening it at the end.
the monologue reveals what the character really thinks and feels.
choose a moment of decision, conflict or change rather than a whole life story.
imagined thoughts must be believable and consistent with the story.
opening, development, turning point and a memorable ending.
first person, suitable vocabulary and techniques such as rhetorical questions and repetition.
pace, pauses, volume, body language and eye contact.
A monologue for a character who has just discovered a family secret might open in shock, build through angry rhetorical questions, and turn when the character decides whether to keep the secret.
Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" shows the classic dramatic monologue form: a duke reveals his jealousy and pride while speaking to a visitor who never replies.
Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" speech is a soliloquy: thinking aloud as if no one is listening, he weighs whether it is better to live or to die.
A student playing a proud old fisherman might use images of the sea and short, blunt sentences to match the way he speaks in the novel.
Pick the moment, find the voice, show the doubt and then the choice.
Priya chose a minor character, a servant who witnesses a crime in the novel. In the book he says almost nothing, but her monologue revealed his fear and guilt in the hours before he decides to speak up, and the class said they would never read that chapter the same way again.
Moment, Evidence, Voice, Turn: choose the moment, gather evidence, find the voice, build to the turning point.
S.P.E.A.K. - Situation set, Points of evidence, Emotion builds, Action or decision at the turn, Keep the ending memorable.
Term
What is the task in the Dramatic Monologue Project?
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How does a soliloquy differ from a dramatic monologue?
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Why choose a single moment rather than a whole life story?
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Name three techniques that create a character's voice.
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What keeps a monologue true to the text?
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An extended speech by one character.
A speech, often a poem, spoken by a character to a silent listener or the audience, revealing their thoughts and personality.
A speech in a play in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud, usually while alone on stage.
A character who is addressed in a monologue but does not speak.
The distinctive way a character speaks, shaped by vocabulary, sentence patterns and tone.
The moment in a speech or story when something important changes.
A short explanation of the choices you made, supported by evidence.
Speaking clearly and loudly enough for the whole audience to hear.
This lesson describes the Dramatic Monologue Project step by step: choosing a character from a novel or play, writing a monologue in that character's voice that reveals their inner thoughts, and performing it.
In the Dramatic Monologue Project you step inside a character from a novel or play you have studied and write a speech in their voice, set at a key moment in the story, that reveals what they are really thinking and feeling. This lesson explains what a dramatic monologue is and how it differs from a soliloquy, how to choose a character and a moment, how to gather evidence so your monologue stays true to the text, how to structure the speech around a turning point, which language techniques bring a voice to life, and how to rehearse and perform it.
The task in one sentence Choose a character from a novel or play you have studied, then write and perform a monologue in that character's voice that expresses their inner thoughts at an important moment.
What a dramatic monologue is A monologue is an extended speech by one character. In poetry, a dramatic monologue is a poem spoken by a character, often to a silent listener; a famous example is Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess", in which a duke speaks to a visitor about a portrait of his late wife. A soliloquy, by contrast, is a speech in a play in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud, usually while alone on stage or believing they are alone, as Hamlet does in his "To be, or not to be" speech. In this project your monologue can be addressed to a listener, to the audience or to the character's own self, but it must reveal what the character is really thinking.
Step by step
Language techniques that bring a voice to life
Staying true to the text You may imagine thoughts the author never states, but they must be believable for that character and must not contradict what happens in the story. The best monologues reveal something the reader suspected but never heard the character say.
What is assessed The project focuses on how well you organise the monologue and how effectively you produce an original, creative text in the character's voice, as set out in the Assessment Criteria lesson.