Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.22210/ur.2025.070.1/05

Dramatic Monologue and the Function of Criticism

Tatjana Jukić orcid.org/0000-0002-2679-6866 ; Sveučilište u Zagrebu

Abstract

Drawing on a sustained reciprocity of critical concerns in Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” (1867) and “The Function of Criticism at the Present Time” (1864) – notably on Arnold’s effort to understand political modernity as a literary function – I argue that the Victorian dramatic
monologue underlies the idea of criticism at the time and serves to negotiate the conceptual apparatus of Victorian modernity. Moreover, with its emphasis on reconciling tragic excess to melancholy self-reflection, the dramatic monologue heralds the arguments of twentieth century critical theory about the ideation of modernity (Walter Benjamin; Carl Schmitt), so much so that the Victorian position seems accommodated, even redeemed, in the twentieth century. In an attempt to put this case together for critical investigation and historical assessment, I also draw on dramatic monologues by Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson and the Rossettis.

Keywords

dramatic monologue, criticism, modernity, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson

Hrčak ID:

349193

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/349193

Publication date:

13.7.2026.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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