Jennifer A. Wagner-Lawlor's opinion of the silence surrounding Dramatic Monologues

In the essay The Pragmatics of Silence and the Figuration of the reader in the Browning’s Dramatic Monologue the author Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor gets to the very depth of her interpretation of what that silence means. She regards Robert Browning by acknowledging that he was an author in the nineteenth century that used dramatic monologue as one of his most famous and powerful writing tactics. However, Wagner gets into the meaning behind what the dramatic pauses really meant in these monologues. Wagner states “my argument is that dramatic monologue thus constructs the image of the audience through the very silence it enforces upon the textual auditor.” By this argument Wagner is suggesting that the readers are being put in this mind set where they are forced to listen to the speaker and the auditor while having to stay silent as well. However, Wagner hopes to break away from this silence and challenge the audience to find what irony and meaning can be found within that silence. Wagner then goes on to point out her second point in the argument to be, “the auditor is participating not in a voluntary or ‘chosen’ silence but in the linguistics call ‘imposed’ silence.” This imposed silence is one that shows influence or supremacy from the speaker to the reader. Wagner wants to influence readers away from this manipulation so that the audience becomes more active and makes their own conclusions without being told by the speaker to do the traditional “enforced listening” that is presumed in dramatic monologues.

            Through this essay Wagner is demonstrating this need to make an active audience and for all readers to find their own voice within what they read. Even though the dramatic monologue is traditionally known for its ability to control a reader, especially through silence, Wagner gives reason to instead control the reading. If a reader is being controlled and forced to feel emotion through this silence then the speaker and auditor possess all of the power. Therefore, it is the duty for the reader to go beyond what is on the surface and dig deeper to find more meaning through this silence. By questioning what irony the silence’s timing or the placement of the silence then going forward to find that meaning is what makes a better audience or reader. This is due to the fact that an active reader is then created in this dramatic monologue. If the readers stay inactive and abide to the speaker they are handicapping themselves to the speaker’s points in Wagner’s eye. If the reader does not want to be controlled by dramatic monologue then it is their duty to find words in the silence.