Antilabe (from the Ancient Greek: ἀντι "mutually" or "corresponding", λαβή, "grip" or "handle") is a technique in verse drama or closet drama, in which a single verse line of dialogue is distributed on two or more characters, voices, or entities. The verse usually maintains its metric integrity, while the line fragments spoken by the characters may or may not be complete sentences. In the layout of the text the line fragments following the first one are often indented ("dropped line") to show the unity of the verse line.
These are three sentences spoken by two persons. But it is only one single line in blank verse:
- Peace then. No words. I'll rather kill my self.
In Ancient Greek drama
"The device originated in
tragedy as a means of heightening dramatic tension."
[Eggenberger, David. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. Volume 1. 1972, p. 219.] "It figures in almost all the plays of
Sophocles and
Euripides. It renders dialogue less stately and more agitated: the technique is well suited to scenes of excitement, in which one speaker is repeatedly capping, countering or following up the ideas of another."
[Rutherford, R. B. Greek Tragic Style: Form, Language and Interpretation. Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. 42.] In Sophokles’
Oedipus Rex, for example, "as
Kreon seizes
Antigone (832), they break into an excited lyrical strophe, full of
antilabe in which
Oedipus,
Kreon, and the chorus participate."
[Edmunds, Lowell. Theatrical Space and Historical Place in Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus. Maryland, Rowman & Littlefield, 1996, p. 61.] "In
Electra (1502-3),
antilabe occurs as
Orestes tries to induce
Aegisthys to enter the house so that
Orestes can kill him."
[Thorburn, John E. Jr. The Facts on File Companion to Classical Drama. Facts on File (Library of World Literature) 2005, p. 56.] "Antilabe used with particular freedom in late Euripides."
[Rutherford, p. 42.] "In the plays of
Aeschylus, with the possible exception of
Prometheus Bound (line 980), this phenomenon does not occur."
[Thorburn, p. 56.]
In Seneca drama
"Dialogic exchanges using both
stichomythia and
antilabe are common in Seneca. They occur in all the tragedies except
Phoenissae."
[Boyle, A. J. ed. Seneca: Medea: Edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2014, p. 166.]
In Renaissance drama
David Eggenberger notes that "the was frequently utilized by
Renaissance dramatists."
[Eggenberger, p. 219.]
An extreme example from Shakespeare is:
Notes
-
Bonaria, Mario. "Lantilabé nella tragedia antica." In Studi di filologica in onore di Giusto Monaco. I, Letteratura greca. Palermo: University di Palermo Fac. di Lettere e Filosofia, 1991, pp. 173–188.
-
McDevitt, A. S. "Antilabe in Sophoclean Kommoi," In Rheinisches Museum 124 (1981), pp. 19–28.
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Gildersleeve, Basil Lanneau, Miller, Charles William Emil and Meritt, Benjamin Dean Meritt . American Journal of Philology. Volumes 41-60. 1939, p. 183.
-
Hogan, Robert. The Dramatic Function of Antilabe in Greek Tragedy. Trinity College, 1998.
