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Robert Browning aspired to be a dramatist. He wrote eight dramas and all of them failed on the
stage. Browning’s genius was contemplating than dramatic. Its main reason was that neither
Browning was so mature for writing a drama nor was his audience. Browning made a practical
compromise and decided to write the drama of the soul – dramatic monologue. This drama is
acted within the mind of the character. It is not projected on the stage of a theatre. So, Browning
interiorized the drama.
Dramatic monologue is different from a drama and a soliloquy. In drama the action is external
but in dramatic monologue, the action is internal and his soul is the stage. In a soliloquy, only
one character speaks to himself and there is no interference of any other character but in a
monologue, one character speaks his mind and the character is listening to him, but he is not
interfering in the action.
Victorianism was an age of renaissance. It was an age when British colonies were being forced.
British Empire was reducing to England. So people were very much disturbed. The whole of the
England was in a state of crisis. There was also a restriction of the people that they could not
discuss this issue with others in public places. So there was a conflict in the minds of the people
and they were thinking in their minds of the people. They were thinking and talking only to
themselves.
Browning wanted to present all this on the stage but in this period of gloominess it was not
possible for him to stage a drama. Even the intellectuals were not allowed to write on critical
issues of the country. Browning thought a very clever device and decided to write dramatic
monologue. This was exactly the situation of the people that they had a drama in their minds
but they could not express it. So they were only talking to themselves. Browning did not directly
write about England rather he picked up the same situation of Italian Renaissance, some 200
years earlier, in Italy. At that time Italy was passing through the same critical situation as it was in
the England in Browning’s times.
In this period every Englishman was suffering from a critical situation. Every individual was
thinking about the past glory of the England, there was a conflict in his mind. He was thinking
about his present and past. His soul was in confusion, he was thinking about the causes of this
failure, he tried to give some justifications and everyone had a sense of optimism in his mind
though that might not be a false one.
So we see that Browning’s characters are also representing the same situation of English people
and the pessimism of the age.
Browning’s dramatic monologue deals with the subject of failure. He takes a character who has
been failed in his life. He is caught up in crisis and now tells his story of crisis and bores out his
soul before us. The last rider, Fra Lippo Lippi, Bishop at his death bed and Andrea are the typical
example of this kind. Fra Lippo Lippi has been caught up in an area of prostitutes:
“I am poor brother Lippo, by your leave!
So, we see that Browning’s characters are in a conflict, they are in a critical situation and they
now try to cope up with their situation.
To deal out with this situation Browning presents the whole of his case. Browning shows us the
past and present of his character and how this character gets involved in this critical situation. So
Browning unfolds the whole of the life of his character to make it possible to analyze the history
of the character. This is Browning’s technique of case-making. The stronger is the case, the
interesting will be the poem.
Through the technique of case-making, browning dissects the soul of his character and this
technique of soul dissection helps the reader to understand the character and clearly see why
his character reaches to this critical juncture.
We know that Fra was poor in his childhood and the guardian church was very strict with him.
He had been suppressed adversely in his life.
The last rider could not express his love to his beloved and won her.
Andrea deceived the French King, who was very kind to him.
“… … … … … … … … God is just.
To conclude, Browning’s business is to render the soul or psyche of his protagonists and so he
follows the same technique as the modern impressionist. With the help of the technique of soul
dissection, we clearly see the soul of the character. In his monologues, Browning constantly
strikes a curiously modern note.