Dialogue

Definition of Dialogue

In many ways, the experience of watching or reading a play is similar to that of eavesdropping on strangers seated near you in a restaurant. Because plays rarely have narrators, the audience must follow the words of the characters in order to follow the plot. Almost the entire story is told through DIALOGUE, or what the characters say to each other, to themselves, and in some cases, directly to the audience. As you begin to figure out the details of what your fellow diners are talking about as you overhear their conversation - such as how the people they're discussing are related, what happened to them, how they assess the situation, what they think of each other, and, perhaps, what you think about them - so you figure out the details of a play as you listen to the characters interact. Dialogue helps to reveal characters and propels the plot.

Language and voice go a long way toward establishing the personalities of the characters. The way a character speaks, especially elements such as speech patterns, accents, dialect, syntax, and vocabulary, can reveal a character's class status and social background and will affect how the audience responds to him or her. Inflection, pitch, and tone help to establish a character's feelings. Pauses in speech can be used to dramatic effect or to express a character's feelings, suggesting a character's thinking before responding or difficulty accepting an idea. Pauses can also create suspense, as the women's slow realization of Mrs. Wright's guilt, and their unwillingness to expose her, is shown through their hesitant dialogue with one another and with the men in Trifles.

There are, of course, significant differences between overhearing a private conversation and watching a play. For one thing, the author of a play intends for there to be an audience to the dialogue. And because the play is usually meant to impart a message to that audience, the playwright constructs the characters' conversations and musings in such a way to ensure that the dialogue reveals both plot and important aspects of the characters. Dialogue can reveal misunderstandings as well as create dramatic irony, when the audience knows more about what's going on than the characters do. Similarly, it can reveal whether a character is honest or duplicitous. Dialogue can be conversational, as it is in most modern plays, or formal, as in the iambic pentameter of Shakespeare's dialogue or the high-sounding or flowery speech used by other classic playwrights as well as some modern ones. Even in natural-sounding conversations, dialogue often employs metaphor and symbolism to suggest meanings beyond what the characters actually say.

In addition to conversations between characters, playwrights use conventions of dramatic dialogue to propel the story. In an aside, a character speaks directly to the audience (with the understanding that the other characters cannot hear), often commenting on the other characters or giving information. Many plays also include monologues (long speeches to other characters), or soliloquies (in which a character talks to him or herself, or to an absent figure), both long speeches that can provide the audience with information that would take too long to establish through dialogue, such as a character's point of view about what's happening, background information about characters or plot elements, or opinions that the speaker wouldn't reveal to the other characters. In classical Greek drama, a chorus observes the action from the side or the rear of the stage, commenting upon it as it progresses. Many plays also feature song, either in the form of a musical production or, in the case of straight drama, as an element of the dialogue. Songs incorporated into a play can reveal aspects of a character's emotional state or suggest how the historical context affects the plot. In Hamlet, for example, Ophelia's descent into madness is demonstrated by the song she sings when Queen Gertrude attempts to console her for the loss of her father. Not only is her singing an inappropriate response to Gertrude's questions, suggesting she isn't in her right mind, but the song itself, a lovers' ballad, reveals that she suspects Hamlet's responsibility for Polonius's death - a suspicion she couldn't dare voice to the Queen directly.

When examining the dialogue of play, then, be sure to consider not just how the words propel the story, but also what they reveal about the characters and how they use metaphor or symbolism to emphasize the theme.

dramatic irony: the tension created when the audience knows more about what's happening to the characters than the characters themselves do

dramatic aside: dialogue delivered by a character directly to the audience, with the understanding that the other characters don't hear

monologue: a long speech delivered by a single character, spoken to another character

soliloquy: a long speech delivered by a single character, spoken to him- or herself

chorus: a character or group of characters who serve both as narrators and representatives of the audience as the drama unfolds

Dialogue Exercise

Because plays generally do not have narrators, playwrights rely on dialogue for characterization. Just a few lines of dialogue can reveal an amazing amount of information about characters and their relation to each other.

INSTRUCTIONS

To better understand how dialogue can define characters and establish their relationships, consider this brief exchange from the first act of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. It is Harper and Joe's second appearance in the play.

JOE: I think we ought to pray. Ask God for help. Ask him together...

HARPER: God won't talk to me. I have to make up people to talk to me.

JOE: You have to keep asking.

HARPER: I forgot the question.

   Oh yeah. God, is my husband a ...

JOE (scary): Stop it. Stop it. I'm warning you.

   Does it make any difference? That I might be one thing deep within, no matter how wrong or ugly that thing is, so long as I have fought, with everything I have, to kill it. What do you want from me, Harper? More than that? For God's sake, there's nothing left, I'm a shell. There's nothing left to kill.

    As long as my behavior is what I know it has to be. Decent. Correct. That alone in the eyes of God.

HARPER: No, no, not that, that's Utah talk, Mormon talk, I hate it, Joe, tell me, say it...

JOE: All I will say is that I am a very good man who has worked very hard to become good and you want to destroy that. You want to destroy me, but I am not going to let you do that.

How are Harper and Joe related to each other? Are they happy? How can you tell?

Question

k1maMRNKOOxHzYwLU4FsIzvEzDk=

Angels in America takes place in New York City. Where are Joe and Harper from originally?

Question

k1maMRNKOOxHzYwLU4FsIzvEzDk=

What is their class position?

Question

k1maMRNKOOxHzYwLU4FsIzvEzDk=

What religion are Harper and Joe speaking about? Are they actively religious? What is Harper's attitude toward God? Joe's? What role does faith play in their relationship with each other and with themselves?

Question

k1maMRNKOOxHzYwLU4FsIzvEzDk=

What do you think Harper wants to ask God? Why is Joe's reaction to the beginning of her question "scary"? Do you think Harper's suspicion is correct?

Question

k1maMRNKOOxHzYwLU4FsIzvEzDk=

Do Joe and Harper love each other? Are they honest with themselves and with each other? Explain your answer.

Question

k1maMRNKOOxHzYwLU4FsIzvEzDk=