Achievement of Self-Expression Through Concealment in...

How does the dramatic monologue achieve self expression through concealment? Discuss with reference to any three Browning poems. When discussing the poetic form of dramatic monologue it is rare that it is not associated with and its usage attributed to the poet Robert Browning. Robert Browning has been considered the master of the dramatic monologue. Although some critics are sceptical of his invention of the form, for dramatic monologue is evidenced in poetry preceding Browning, it is believed that his extensive and varied use of the dramatic monologue has significantly contributed to the form and has had an enormous impact on modern poetry. The dramatic monologues of Robert Browning represent the most significant use of the form in†¦show more content†¦In the process it casts doubts on what the Duke is saying. Instead what is revealed is the structure of domination that underlies his speech. The reader becomes the ‘eavesdropper’ who happens to overhear what the Duke is saying, but whose confidence is vital for the poet. Thus, the dramatic monologue, as created by Browning demands not on ly ‘gaze’ at the duke, but also ‘introspection’. Throughout the poem, Fra Lippo Lippi, Browning seems to be engaging in a dialogue with the Church regarding celibacy—both in the artistic and sexual sense. The main theme concerns art, the strict sense in which the church views artistic pursuits and products is similar to the way it requires priests to live celibate lives. While the church’s main argument is that art should be presented as something â€Å"higher† than the base representation of the human form, this denies the essential humanity of the subject, God’s people. Along these same lines, the way the church frowns upon sexual, lustful activity on the part of its clergy by demanding celibacy is exactly the same request as for the artist. Both demands of the church, artistic and sexual are idealized conceptions of how humans should be represented and both, according to the narrator of the poem, are entirely unrealistic and misguided. The whole of the poem is a criticism on mandatory celibacy, which is told through the metaphor of art. Art