The Soliloquies of Shakespeare; A Study in Technic Volume 30 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 edition. Excerpt: ... speech from the time of "Gammer Gurton's Needle"13 (pr. 1575) to that of Pinero's "Cabinet Minister" (1890). The entrance soliloquy opening the Pinero farce constitutes what is known in theatrical parlance as " patter talk," since it has no relation to the plot and accordingly may be missed by the spectators while seating themselves. In this respect, the brief initial entrance speech differs from the more elaborate initial exposition monolog which is necessary for an understanding of the plot. Romantic as well as comic dramas afford many examples of the entrance soliloquy. Beaumont and Fletcher abound in entrance, link and exit speeches, and so do the pieces of the romantic revival of the early nineteenth century. In Thomas Dibdin's stage adaptation of Scott's " Heart of Midlothian," there are four entrance monologs which are used to prepare entrances.18 The prepared entrance often concludes the link as well as the entrance soliloquy. It is the sole office of Falstaff's link in " The Merry Wives" (III, 5, 58-60). The Link The link, we have observed, serves to join episodes. This, according to Cailhava in his treatise " De 1'Art de la Comedie " (I772),20 is a prime requisite, without which the monolog is "U. -., pp. 42, 59, 72, 1o5, 143. "Manly, Vol. II, p. 119. "Cumberland's Plays, No. 3, pp. 9, 17, 31, 32. "Edition of 1786, Vol. I, p. 225. Also, edition of 1772, Vol. I, p. 257: " II faut necessairement preparer et amener d'un peu loin un autre person-nage, qui, a 1'aide d'un monologue, mette une distance vraisemblable entre les personnes qui ne doivent pas se trouver ensemble." Sonnenfels, Gottsched, Boileau and Voltaire had equally clear conceptions of the function of the link: see Frierich Ousel's Der dramatische Monolog in der Poetik...