Lord Alfred Tennyson's "Ulysses" as a Dramatic Monologue

A dramatic monologue is a lyric poem in which a single imaginary speaker or historical figure expresses their thoughts and feelings before an implied, usually silent, audience. Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses” exemplifies this form with remarkable skill. First published in 1842, it is one of the most significant poems of the Victorian era. The poem’s protagonist, Ulysses, is a complex and multifaceted character who speaks directly to an implied audience, revealing his thoughts, emotions, desires, and motivations.

“Ulysses” portrays an ageing king who, having undertaken numerous adventures, resents the prospect of spending the remainder of his life ruling his “savage race”. He leaves the task of governing and civilising his people to his son, Telemachus, while preferring to “sail beyond the sunset” with his old companions. The poem can therefore be examined effectively as a dramatic monologue.

At the beginning of the poem, Ulysses is presented at his palace in Ithaca, reflecting on his present condition and addressing an implied audience. He expresses his dissatisfaction with his life as an ageing king who has returned to Ithaca after years of arduous travels and adventures. Despite his achievements and the affection of his people, Ulysses remains restless and yearns for new experiences. He desires to transcend the limitations of domestic and political life and embark upon another journey to explore the unknown and confront new challenges.

The dramatic monologue form effectively captures Ulysses’ internal conflict. The reader perceives the tension between his insatiable yearning for adventure and the responsibilities associated with his position as a husband, father, and king. Although Ulysses acknowledges his relationship with his family and kingdom, he cannot suppress the call of the sea or his desire for exploration. He declares:

“I am a part of all that I have met;

Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’

Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades

For ever and for ever when I move.”

The poem also explores the themes of mortality, ageing, and the passage of time. Ulysses is acutely conscious of his mortality and diminishing physical strength. Although he recognises that his life is approaching its end, he refuses to spend his remaining years in passive comfort. Instead, he longs to make full use of the time that remains to him, to continue seeking knowledge and experience, and to achieve something worthy before death.

The climax of the monologue occurs when Ulysses turns towards his old mariners and urges them to embrace one final adventure with courage and determination. He proclaims:

“Death closes all: but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done.”

M. H. Abrams identifies three characteristic features of the dramatic monologue:

1. A single person, who is not the poet, delivers the entire speech in a specific situation and at a critical moment.
2. The speaker addresses and interacts with one or more persons, although the audience’s presence and responses are known only through the speaker’s discourse.
3. The poet’s choice of words reveals the speaker’s temperament and character while sustaining the reader’s interest.

“Ulysses” fulfils these characteristics in significant ways. The monologue is delivered by Ulysses, the legendary hero, who recalls his past with pride and presents himself as a man driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge and experience. His desire for exploration appears limitless and can ultimately be satisfied only by death. His speech is simultaneously rhetorical and lyrical, revealing a tension between his desire for self-realisation and his responsibilities as a king, husband, and father. By recalling his past, Ulysses attempts to transcend what he regards as the limitations of his present existence. His dissatisfaction with domesticity, political responsibility, and social obligations becomes an important element in the dramatic presentation of his character.

The poem also fulfils the second characteristic of a dramatic monologue because it possesses a distinctly conversational quality while presenting only one speaking voice. Ulysses addresses his audience directly, particularly in the final section, where he turns to his old companions:

“You and I are old;

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil.”

The audience is identified as the mariners who accompanied Ulysses during his previous adventures. He invites them to undertake another voyage in pursuit of knowledge and experience, even though they are approaching old age and death. Through his speech, the reader also learns about his wife Penelope, his son Telemachus, and the nature of his relationship with his kingdom. Ulysses regards the routine responsibilities of kingship as burdensome and contrasts them with the freedom and intensity of his earlier adventures.

The poem, however, complicates the third characteristic of the dramatic monologue. Tennyson initially presents Ulysses as heroic, courageous, intellectually restless, and determined to transcend the limitations of ordinary existence. Yet, as the monologue develops, his heroic qualities are accompanied by troubling elements of selfishness and irresponsibility. He delegates the duties of government to Telemachus and dismisses his domestic life as restrictive. His reference to Penelope as his “aged wife” further emphasises the emotional distance between them. His determination to embark upon another voyage therefore reveals not only his heroic aspiration but also his reluctance to confront his responsibilities as a husband, father, and king.

Thus, Tennyson uses the dramatic monologue to present Ulysses as a psychologically complex and potentially contradictory figure. His speech reveals his courage, intellectual curiosity, ambition, and heroic determination, but it also exposes his selfishness, restlessness, and rejection of domestic and social obligations. The dramatic monologue enables Tennyson to allow Ulysses to condemn or justify himself through his own words rather than through direct authorial judgement. The poem’s enduring power lies precisely in this ambiguity: Ulysses can be read both as an inspiring figure who refuses to surrender his desire for knowledge and as a deeply self-centred man who places personal ambition above familial and political responsibility.