Expert: John T. Aney - 11/1/2006

Question
My English teacher says that if a monologue is not active, it is not considered a monologue. While I agree that most of the better monologue's tend to be active, a monologue does not have to be active by definition. There are many monologues which simply recall memories or rant. WHile thet are not always excellent, there have been good monologues which are put into the play simply for plot exposition.
We would appreciate your help in clearing this up.
Thank you,
Louise

Answer
This is a really great question, and I'm glad to lend my opinion...

Your English teacher is partly right - the BEST monologues are active.  The question is what does "active" mean.  I think that in this case, active means that the character is trying to accomplish something in the monologue - to convince, to explain, to attack, to defend, etc.  The character hopes to have changed something in the course of the monologue.  Shakespearean soliloquies are an excellent example.  Take the To Be or Not To Be speech of Hamlet.  Hamlet is wondering aloud (to the audience) about the relative value of suicide.  He is laying out an argument about suicide - asking what it is that makes suicide so hard a decision to make.  Ultimately he decides that it's fear - fear of what comes after death, that keeps us in check.  He makes an active argument, and answers his own question.

Hamlet's condition is not the same before the soliloquy as it is at the end.  He is making a journey in the monologue.  That, to me, is what being active means.

I don't agree that if a monologue is not active, it's not considered a monologue.  That's a very narrow definition of monologue - probably a literary definition, not a theatrical definition.

Now, of course, not all monologues are active.  But monologues that just give information or that are just rants are usually not that interesting from a character point of view.

jta