Interior Monologues

 

“DEAD POET’S SOCIETY” HOMEWORK

INTERIOR MONOLOGUES

 

Interior monologues are essentially internal thoughts that go on inside one’s own head.  While watching the film Dead Poet’s Society, I want you to pick a character within a particular moment or scene and try and “get inside their head.”  Remember, you also have to be paying attention to your ROLE, so don’t spend too much time thinking about these monologues.  Just choose a character that “grabs” you at a particular moment. Quickly write down their name and a few words describing the scene.

Tonight when you go home and begin writing, ask yourself, “what was he/she thinking?”  “how is he/she feeling?”  “why is he/she feeling this way?”  “to whom is he/she directing these thoughts and/or emotions to?”  “why?”

After answering these questions, write an interior monologue.

An interior monologue is simply a conversation within a person’s head, so these should be written in the first person.  These are not dialogues, so there can be and no conversation between your character and another person.  These interior monologues represent the thoughts running through your characters’ head, so play around with style, language, and tone so that it matches the style, language, and tone of your character.

Have fun with these.

If you have trouble getting started, go back to the scene you chose.  What has happened to this character up to this point?  What kind of personality does this character have?  If you were in this characters situation, how would you be feeling?  How would you be thinking?  Is there something you or your character would want to say out loud, but couldn’t get the words past your head?  What would this be?

Interior monologues are like thinking: sometimes they can be random thoughts with no sentence form or structure; sometimes they can be a rehearsal of a speech inside your head, perhaps something you want to say to someone; and sometimes they can be a pep-talk to yourself, encouraging yourself that “you can do it”  “that you are better than that”  “that you don’t have to put up with such and such or so and so.”

It is up to you to decide what kind of standpoint you want to take, after all, it’s your head!

 

FINAL INTERIOR MONOLOGUE:

DUE: JANUARY 13

2 PAGES TYPED, MLA FORMAT

USE OF DEAD WORDS: FIRST PERSON, PERSPONNAL ECT. 

BE CREATIVE AND HAVE FUN.

GOOD LUCK! YOU’LL ALL DO GREAT!