To speak or not to speak?

in #life6 years ago

I'm reading my way through the Lord of The Rings trilogy at the moment and something that strikes me is the huge number of soliloquies. Monologues, as it were. Not long ones, not three page long moments, just a couple lines, very deep musings.
For example, as they left the Mines of Moria, Aragorn looked back and mournfully asked Gandalf something along the lines 'didn't I tell you not to go inside?'.


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And it makes me wonder...who does that? I get the need, from the writer's perspective, they have to show us what the character is thinking and it's a good way to do it. Shakespeare did that a lot, too. A fuckton of soliloquies, that guy. And that always seemed weird to me, too.
Because they're fucking great monologues, many of them, but really, nobody does that, do they? You don't just go off to the side of the store and start talking to yourself, do you? Of course not, they'd call those nice people in white coats if you did.
And maybe that's what's wrong with our world – nobody does a good monologue anymore. In Henry IV, there's this truly brilliant monologue that Prince Hal has, when he finds his father is dying and regrets all the rebellious shit he's done -

Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow,
Being so troublesome a bedfellow?
O polish'd perturbation! golden care!
That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide
To many a watchful night! Sleep with it now!
Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet
As he whose brow with homely biggen bound
Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit
Like a rich armour worn in heat of day
That scald'st with safety.

It's a truly mind blowing speech, but really, all those other court-people were just in the other room, didn't one think to wonder what the fuck is the prince doing talking to himself? If this guy becomes king, we're so screwed...
Things like that.
But they don't, nobody seems to mind when characters do that, when they go off on this great bit where they talk to themselves and ponder the meaning of life. In fact, they do the opposite, they shut up respectfully until the person finishes and then they carry on talking – ignoring usually what was said in the soliloquy – as if nothing's happened.
Now, I know modern day society tends to look down upon things like that, but maybe we should re-introduce such moments in day-to-day life. Sure, they can't all be about big stuff like death and betrayal, because mostly you deal with boring things, like the fruits at the store are kinda off.
Well, when that happens, why not stand there, lost in space and muse and lament about it? It sounds like fun and I'll bet you it keeps away unwanted conversation. Bet you.


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It might prove a mistake, especially if you're an evil fuck – you know the ones? When the bad guy thinks no one is listening and starts talking to himself about all the evil things he's going to do? That one always seemed a bit spooky to me. I mean, if I'm going to screw someone over, I'm not going to start talking about it out loud. Certainly when he's just in the other room. 'Cause that's when they usually do it. They wait for the presumably good guy to leave the room and they start scheming and telling the audience about all that nasty shit. Seriously man, he might hear you.

Wait until you're back home, at least.

But no, it's fine. Do it wherever you are. Start talking to yourself about the deepest questions weighing your soul and all your evil schemes – apparently that's the way to go.

Let me be clear, I'm not poking fun at either Shakey Bill or Tolkien, wouldn't dare, but it seems like a mighty strange habit. I get it. But it's still strange.

Thanks for reading,

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ǝɹǝɥ sɐʍ ɹoʇɐɹnƆ pɐW ǝɥ┴

Thank you very much! :) I appreciate that!

A fuckton of soliloquies

You fucking crack me up! 🤣🤘✔️

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Thank you :)) I try

You succeed.

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And to think that all those short exchanges in modern (pulp, scuse me) fiction of he said, she said, he replied, she interjected, he suggested, she retorted, he cried, she wailed etc, is all one big monologue really! (Bad fiction is poor projection).

DELIVERING a soliloquy as the ones described above in a play is to our ears very artificial, I agree, but watching those Yanthimos films I spoke of a few blogs back I discovered the art of "speaking one's lines" in the theatre has some magic to it other (more naturalistic) deliverances can't reach when it comes to uncovering underlying meanings of life. But you have to have heard a lot of talking and endured an equal amount of painful silence to reach that point, I found.

Novelists have the creative license to manipulate for effect, even to the point of irriation or confusion, and since I have (very recently) started reading up on the classics (anything pre WW2!) I notice it takes a while to accept the more long-winded writing as a necessary slog: in the end I found it swept the mind clean and therefor was very rewarding. Can't say I've read much Dickens yet....Nor Tolkien! (The Silmarillion is on a pile somewhere). Do adore:

As you point out, sometimes it just feels too much like a device to get the story told, but without many speech-acts it also gets quite weird: try Proust!

Dearest, on the side, by the by, I hope you don't need to call me a goddamn bloody fucking bluestocking, and far be it from me to criticise your preferred style, but I am beginning to wonder why you reach for profanities and the adverbal use of your favorite expletive so frequently, in a writing that is otherwise powerful, varied, rich and vibrant as it is. I am not sure if you are going for some urban vibe, or mean to alienate a certain type of reader, but I am only concerned about the ineffective emphatic repetition of it. Then again, you may well argue, in a piece about speaking as you speak, it may well have been a choice going for a specific provocative effect....

It is no doubt about it. But another fine piece, a Eulogy spoken by John Hannah in the movie 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' ending in verses from a W. H. Auden is one of the most touching scenes in film, not of Shakespearean status but a wonderful way ordinary words are used in an extraordinary way.

Oh yes ❤️ that is my favorite poem about death, by far. And John Hannah (and particularly his delivery in that film) are top notch.
No, that's exactly it. It's not Shakespeare and yet it's so real, captures the fragmentation inside someone's soul so incredibly well. But then, Auden was a great poet. Another favorite by him is As I Walked out one evening ❤️

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