What Is a Dramatic Monologue? KS3 English Explained

A dramatic monologue is a poem or piece of writing in which a single speaker addresses an implied audience, revealing character and motive through their own words alone. The speaker often tells us more than they realise — which is where the real drama lies. It is a form associated above all with Robert Browning's Victorian poetry.

What are the key features of a dramatic monologue?

Three features are always present in a true dramatic monologue:

A single speaker who is clearly a character — not the poet speaking in their own voice.

An implied listener who does not speak but whose presence shapes what the speaker says.

Self-revelation — the speaker reveals their character, usually including something they do not intend to reveal, through the act of speaking.

A fourth feature, present in many but not all dramatic monologues, is a dramatic situation — a specific moment of tension, decision, or crisis that motivates the speech. The speaker is rarely addressing the audience at a calm moment; they are usually explaining themselves, defending a decision, or processing something that has just happened.

Feature | What it does | Example
Single speaker | Gives the poem a clear, individual voice | The Duke in Browning's poem speaks throughout
Implied listener | Creates tension — what does the listener think? | An envoy who says nothing but responds to everything
Self-revelation | Exposes the speaker's true nature | The Duke reveals cruelty while trying to seem cultured
Dramatic situation | Motivates the speech | The Duke is negotiating his next marriage

What are the most famous examples of dramatic monologues?

Robert Browning's My Last Duchess (1842) is the most frequently studied dramatic monologue in British secondary schools. In it, an Italian Duke shows a visitor the portrait of his late wife while negotiating a new marriage. As he speaks, he reveals — without quite understanding what he is confessing — that he had his wife killed for being too freely generous with her smiles. The horror of the poem lies in what the Duke does not realise he is saying.

Browning's Porphyria's Lover gives voice to a murderer who kills his beloved and then spends the night sitting beside her body, convinced that God approves of his action. The narrator is clearly disturbed, but the poem is told from his perspective with unsettling calm.

Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife collection (1999) uses dramatic monologue to give voice to the wives and female counterparts of famous male figures — Mrs Midas, Medusa, Little Red Cap. These poems use the form to explore gender, power, and silenced voices.

Tennyson's Ulysses presents an ageing hero restless for one last adventure, revealing both his grandeur and his abandonment of domestic responsibility in the same breath.

How does a dramatic monologue reveal character?

The dramatic monologue works because speakers cannot fully control what they reveal. They speak to present themselves in a particular way, but the reader — positioned outside the speaker's logic — sees patterns the speaker cannot. This gap between what the speaker intends to communicate and what the reader actually receives is central to the form.

In My Last Duchess, the Duke intends to establish his cultural refinement and aristocratic pride. What he actually reveals is jealousy, controlling behaviour, and the casual exercise of murderous power. The poem's genius is that the Duke never seems aware of this gap. He thinks he is being charming.

This technique means the reader is constantly doing two kinds of reading:

Surface reading: what is the speaker saying?

Deep reading: what does this reveal about the speaker that they have not noticed?

What is the implied listener and why does it matter?

The implied listener is the silent presence to whom the dramatic monologue is addressed. Their silence is as important as the speaker's words. Because they do not speak, the reader projects onto them: agreement, horror, scepticism, curiosity. The implied listener acts as a stand-in for the reader.

In My Last Duchess, the envoy is the implied listener. The Duke gives a tour, shares an anecdote, makes remarks — all ostensibly casual. The reader, standing in the position of the envoy, cannot but notice the implied warning: this is what happens to women who do not conform to the Duke's standards. The envoy's silence makes the threat more sinister, not less.

How to write your own dramatic monologue

When writing a dramatic monologue at KS3, follow these four steps:

1. Choose a character with something to hide or defend. The form works best with speakers who have a blind spot — they cannot see what is obvious to the reader.

2. Choose a situation that motivates the speech. Why is this character speaking now? Who are they addressing? What do they want from the listener?

3. Let the character speak naturally, but plant revealing details. The character should not say "I am cruel" — they should say something that shows cruelty without naming it.

4. Decide what the reader should understand that the speaker does not. This is the ironic core of the form.

How to analyse a dramatic monologue in an essay

When writing about a dramatic monologue, always account for both speaker and reader. A response that simply summarises what the speaker says has missed the point of the form. A strong response will explain:

What the speaker thinks they are saying

What the speaker actually reveals

How specific language choices widen or narrow the gap between intention and revelation

What effect this creates for the reader

Frequently asked questions

Is a dramatic monologue always a poem?

Not necessarily — the term is most commonly applied to poetry, but the technique can appear in prose, theatre, and even film. However, in KS3 and GCSE English, "dramatic monologue" almost always refers to poetry in the tradition established by Browning and continued by poets such as Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage.

What is the difference between a dramatic monologue and a soliloquy?

A soliloquy is a theatrical device in which a character speaks alone on stage, revealing their inner thoughts directly to the audience. A dramatic monologue addresses an implied listener within the scene who, though silent, is present. The soliloquy is interior and self-directed; the dramatic monologue is social, shaped by the presence of someone being addressed.

Why do dramatic monologues often feature unreliable narrators?

Because the whole point of the form is that the speaker reveals more than they intend. A speaker who is entirely honest and self-aware is less interesting than one whose self-presentation is at odds with what the reader observes. The unreliable narrator is therefore almost built into the form — it is what makes the reader's interpretive role so active.

How do I avoid summarising the poem when analysing a dramatic monologue?

Focus on the gap, not the story. Instead of telling the examiner what the speaker says, tell them what the speaker reveals despite themselves. Use phrases such as: "While the speaker claims to..., the language actually suggests...", or "The speaker appears unaware that...", or "The reader recognises that... even though the speaker does not."

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