The king of the one-dimensional world of Lineland. Rude and ignorant, the Monarch fails to see or even consider anything that is not natural to his world. Despite A Square’s efforts to explain the second dimension, the king is unwilling to hear his ideas, and resorts to violence and attacks his teacher.
The Monarch of Lineland Quotes in Flatland
The Flatland quotes below are all either spoken by The Monarch of Lineland or refer to The Monarch of Lineland . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Dover Publications edition of Flatland published in 1992.
Chapter 13
Quotes
It seemed that this poor ignorant Monarch—as he called himself—was persuaded that the Straight Line which he called his Kingdom, and in which he passed his existence, constituted the whole of the world, and indeed the whole of Space.
Related Characters:
A Square (speaker), The Monarch of Lineland
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Flatland LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Monarch of Lineland Character Timeline in Flatland
The timeline below shows where the character The Monarch of Lineland appears in Flatland. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 13
...sees must be women. He approaches one of the largest, which happens to be the Monarch of Lineland , and places his mouth right in front of the creature.
(full context)
A Square apologizes for possibly startling the Monarch of Lineland , and proceeds to ask him questions about Lineland, despite the king’s arrogance in responding....
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...that the limited lives of the Linelanders seem dismal, and he is surprised that the Monarch of Lineland is so cheerful and lively.
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A Square then asks the Monarch of Lineland how his people marry and produce offspring when they are confined to a line. The...
(full context)
The Monarch of Lineland continues by explaining that every man has two mouths and two voices, a bass and...
(full context)
Chapter 14
Tired of the Monarch of Lineland ’s narrow-mindedness and ignorance, A Square decides to teach him of the nature of the...
(full context)
...one’s voice) is detected and checked for. He asks if feeling is a possible method. The Monarch of Lineland is appalled at A Square’s suggestion, because feeling is an offense punishable by death, to...
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A Square points out to the Monarch of Lineland that life in Lineland must be very boring since all they can see is a...
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The Monarch of Lineland asks A Square to demonstrate “left” and “right.” But A Square feels limited when he...
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Chapter 16
...Sphere makes an analogy between the way A Square appears as a line to the Monarch of Lineland and the way he himself looks like a circle in Flatland, since each lower realm...
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Chapter 19
...the existence of a higher world, and as A Square had attempted to teach the Monarch of Lineland of two dimensions, there must other even higher worlds. He theorizes a structure with 16...
(full context)