A dramatic monologue is a poem in which a single speaker who is not the poet utters the entire poem at a critical moment. The speaker has a listener within the poem, but we too are his/her listener, and we learn about the speaker's character from what the speaker says. In fact, the speaker may reveal unintentionally certain aspects of his/her character. In Robert Browning's "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church," the Bishop is o his death bed and is demanding that his sons start preparing his extravagant tomb. In order to understand the story the reader must be aware of the Bishops character, the way the Bishops character should act, the importance of Gandolf, and the listeners that the speaker is speaking to.
The Bishop in this dramatic monologue is not somebody that is encountered when people attend Sunday mass, but rather is a very special person that seems to think that breaking the rules of the Catholic Church is part of his job description. The Bishop was involved with a young lady and as a result of their affair he fathered children and is the only church official that has been allowed to be intimate with a woman and produce sons that are also known as his "nephews." During the monologue the Bishop is on his death bed and specifically emphasizes to his sons the importance of his orders to provide him with the most luxurious materials to make up his tomb. The Bishop's attitude at the beginning portrays him as selfish and greedy. He demands his sons to produce the materials he wants in order to overproduce the tomb of his rival Gandolf. He tries to provide incentives for his sons as a bribe in order to have them fulfill his commands. The Bishop certainly portrays a role in the Catholic Church that is unusual and special in many unpractical ways. It is not till the end the Bishop begins to realize that his sons are not going to grant him the tomb of his choice and he begins to show a more vulnerable side that is not expected from him.