Stichomythia is a form of dramatic dialogue dating back to ancient Greece, with alternating short lines between characters. Greek and Roman playwrights used it, and Shakespeare irregularly but effectively. It has been used in films and by songwriters, including in Gigi and Jesus Christ Superstar.
A stichomythia is a form of dramatic dialogue that dates back to the verse drama of ancient Greece. Alternating lines of dialogue are used to add intensity or provide lively exchange between characters. Each character’s lines are usually short and may consist of only two or three words.
During the classical age, Greek playwrights such as Aeschylus and Sophocles made frequent use of stichomythias. An example can be found in the exchange between Oedipus and Tiresias in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus, believing that his father has been killed by bandits, tries to persuade Tiresias, a seer, to reveal the identity of the killers. The seer’s refusal to elaborate angers Oedipus, allowing the audience a glimpse of the king’s true character.
The Roman writer Seneca adapted stichomythia into his works. His approach to verse drama was more rigidly structured than the Greek form. Seneca is credited with influencing future writers, including Shakespeare, in both the use of stichomythias and the plot device known as the revenge tragedy.
Shakespeare made irregular but effective use of stichomythias during his writing career. Love’s Labour’s Lost, Richard III and Henry VI contain numerous passages of dialogue in the form of stichomythia. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and Richard II have fewer examples. Some of Shakespeare’s plays, including Macbeth and The Tempest, have no stichomythias at all.
Love’s Labor’s Lost presents an excellent example of stichomythia in verse form and includes several puns. In Act I of Richard III, Shakespeare uses the technique to show the friction between Anne and Richard. Later, the playwright employs stichomythias to underscore the disapproval of Anne’s mother Elizabeth. The heated exchange between Richard and Elizabeth is laced with sarcasm, and the audience is left in no doubt of Elizabeth’s true feelings.
Directors have used the technique in comedies to produce a witty and amusing exchange or to heighten tension between characters. Films of the 1940s and 1950s featuring detectives such as Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade liberally applied stichomythias. Another example can be found in Double Indemnity, during an exchange between Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck’s characters, when he starts flirting with her.
In addition to playwrights, songwriters have employed stichomythias, particularly in musicals and operas. The film, Gigi featured the song “I Remember it Well,” in which the characters played by Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold remember their shared history very differently. Irving Berlin used the technique in the song “Anything You Can Do,” which was featured on Annie Get Your Gun. In the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, the exchange between Judas and Jesus in “The Last Supper” is another example of stichomythia.
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