Summary of "The Dramatic Monologue: Sympathy versus Judgment"

The critical essay "The Dramatic Monologue: Sympathy versus Judgement" written by Robert Langbaum discusses the effects of a dramatic monologue and the conflict it creates for the reader. Langbuam believes that dramatic monologues haven't been given appropriate attention. Not being analyzed beyond basic categorization, which is "killing off further interest in the subject." The mechanical criteria for dramatic monologue being “…a speaker other than the poet but also a listener, an occasion, an some interplay between speaker and listener.”  Too often this mechanical criteria trumps the purpose of a dramatic monologue which is a sympathetic feeling for the speaker. Langbuam thinks the feeling of sympathy should be the decider in what is or is not a dramatic monologue.

Feeling sympathy is the essence of a dramatic monologue. The reader needs to be so involved in the speaker’s occasion that no matter how evil or immoral the speaker may be that there is still a feeling of sympathy. Langbuam used Brownings’ My Last Duchess as an example of the power of sympathy to overrule the fact that the Duke is a power hungry evil man. Langbuam believes this is the result of how Browning portrayed the Duke’s character in a way that appeals too historical accounts of the Renaissance era and intrigues the reader to understand the Duke’s wickedness. The Duke did not seem to the reader evil in his power lust but rather fascinating.

The power of sympathy seen in a dramatic monologue Langbuam claims helps Browning and other poets to address religious issues of their own.  Langbuam believes Browning had conflicts with accepting and understanding some Christianity’s claims and that this personal conflict arises in his dramatic monologues. The poems would have speakers of empirical thought whom the reader would side with due to the dramatic monologues ability to allow the feeling of sympathy to surmount any judgment.

Langbuam refers to the effect of sympathy taking control of judgment as “sympathy versus Judgment”. This conflict, Langbuam argues, is the result of a dramatic monologue and its most vital credential for the classification of being a dramatic monologue. Sympathy Langbuam says is felt by the reader due to a combination of psychological need to understand the speaker and the acceptance and fascination of a historical era’s difference from the present. The sympathy ultimately drives the readers’ judgment.