Verbal communication

The main form of communication between dramatic figures is verbal . It is therefore quite appropriate to include a chapter on this form of communication. The main forms of verbal communication are monologue and dialogue (polylogue). If we take a closer look at verbal communication we find that in contrast with what we intuitively think, there are, within dialogue, always at least two senders and at least one receiver.

Figure 5.1: Dialogue

From diagram 5.1 we see that the author and ${\rm P}_1$ form the senders and ${\rm P}_2$ and the audience form the receivers. This diagram needs only small modifications in to simulate a monologue (one receiver instead of two). Or as, Mukarovský writes:

Dramatic speech is semantically much more complex ...because there is yet another factor: the audience. This means that to all the direct participants of the dialogue^5.1 is added another participant silent but important, for everything which is said in a dramatic dialogue is orientated towards him affecting his consciousness.^5.2

Therefore, a dramatic speech does not only have at least one recipient, it always has two expressive subjects. The common habit of confusing the two expressive subjects in such a manner equating an utterance by a dramatic figure with the proverbial word of authorial wisdom, coupled with the corresponding tendency of authors to transform a character into a 'mouthpiece' for their own opinions and views, a habit which is common in the drame a thèse, only proves that this distinction exists. In naturalist plays like such as Ibsen's, the author tries to eliminate all references to himself whereas the wit expressed in an Oscar-Wilde-comedy draws the audience's attention to the author immediately.

Dramatic speech differs from normal speech in a number of ways. The most substantial differences are the use of novel or unusual word formations, archaisms, rhetorical stylization and the use of meter. I should add that not all of these differences need to be found in one play.

Language may also characterize a figure. In Bond's original play, for instance:

All the speeches of the Judge, Todd and the two young lovers are written in iambic meter, and the lower class characters are given non-metered dialogue. This produces a very subtle effect when you read the play. Beyond the formality of diction, there is a kind of stateliness in some of the characters that creates an odd juxtaposition with the rag-tag rhythms in the lower class figures^5.3

This is one of the many subtle ways to characterize a figure. I shall discuss the use of music in characterizing a figure in a later section.