It is generally considered that there is a clear distinction between the "monologue" and the "dialogue" in the drama. They are, in most cases, discriminated simply by their external forms. In this treatise, however, I would like to inquire into the difference of their intrinsic nature. There is a high class of monologue which is cast in the dialogue form, "that it be sich mit sich selbst besprechen, " while among dialogues are those which are quite similar to monologues-what they call "Doppelmonologe" and "Scheinmonologe." Therefore it is not easy to distinguish rigidly one from the other. The monologue is so essential a form of expression in arts that its employment in the drama also cannot be lightly treated as a mere convention. Different from that in a lyric or in a novel, the monologue in the drama is, in some sense, dualistic or antithetic. Moreover, it has a certain concrete object opposed to its speaker. These would be the inevitable conditions under which the monologue becomes dramatic.
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