Browning's Karshish
Robert Browning's "An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish,
the Arab Physician" is a dramatic monologue in which Karshish writes to Abib about his
experiencing the miracle of Jesus, when he raises Lazarus from the dead. "Karshish" is a dramatic
monologue containing most of the tenets of Browning.
Although "Karshish" is in the form of a letter, it is still an excellent example of a dramatic
monologue. There is a speaker, Karshish, who is not the poet. There is a silent audience, Abib
the reader of the letter. There is a mental exchange between the speaker and the audience:
Karshish writes as if Abib were right in front of him listening to everything. This can be seen in
the hang between "here I end" and "yet stay;" it is as if Abib were getting up to leave (61-2).
There is a distinct critical moment, when Karshish decides to write about his original concern:
"Yet stay. . . I half resolve to tell thee, yet......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 927
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |