Narrative & Time
Stichomythia
Dialogue in which speakers exchange short, alternating lines. Each reply responds closely to the previous line, often making a conflict feel rapid or tense.
The Hamlet–Gertrude closet scene exchanges.
Don't confuse it with. Ordinary quick dialogue lacks the line-for-line symmetry and echoed vocabulary that make stichomythia a formal duel.
Examples
A: You broke the seal. B: You broke your word. A: I kept the law. B: You kept the gold.
Speakers alternate short lines that echo and turn back one another’s wording.
The rest of the family
In Medias Res Prolepsis Analepsis Foreshadowing Free Indirect Discourse Stream of Consciousness