Question

The play is called a monologue. Why is it made to turn dialogic?

Answer 1

Girish Karnad’s play “Broken Images” is based on the rift present between an individual’s outer or public image and his inner or private image. The home that we house within us often does not fit the demands of the world. On an apparent scale, the play is a monologue but the playwright has employed the technique of image to expose two different selves contained in an individual.

He has also revealed and contrasted the weaknesses of one with the strength of the other-self, the arbitrariness of one with the confidence of the other, the guilt and supposed embarrassment of oneself with the soothing yet pointed accusation of the inner self and the defenselessness of the outer image with the controlled concentration of the inner image.

Thus, to bring out the suppressed mitigation, hesitation, and unclarity within oneself, the playwright has introduced the system of dialogism to detach the internal turmoil from one’s interior space and stage it as a separate show. The dialogism brings clarity and hits at the frailties and apparent disloyalties of Manjula and helps the reader comprehend her actions and inhibitions.