Keywords: THESIS3

Next: Soliloquy Up: Verbal communication Previous: Monological tendencies in dialogue Contents

# Dialogical tendencies in soliloquies

The presence of dialogical tendencies in soliloquies is always based on the fact that the identity of the speaker and listener which defines the soliloquy is dissolved into a contrast between different semantic contexts. This contrast can take on different forms:

1. Prayer: this form isn't used in Sweeney Todd. The only evidence of this is the Judge's song. I discussed this song in a previous section, and I stated that it starts as a prayer (cf. p. ).
2. Interior dialogue: there are two examples of this in Sweeney Todd: the Epiphany and the Judge's Song. In both cases the speaker is divided into two different conflicting subjects.
3. Speech ad spectatores: this only works in the external communication. It is directed at a fictitious audience. In the Epiphany, there is good example of this:

   > TODD: You, sir?
   > Who, sir?
   > How about a shave?