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The Sphere / The Stranger
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:
).
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.
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Explanation and Analysis:
The Monarch of Lineland is the epitome of ignorance. Importantly, he demonstrates that the biggest obstacle to learning is arrogance and close-mindedness. In fact, understanding the concept of extra dimensions is not a problem of intelligence in the book. Although the Circles dictate that intelligence is measurable by the degrees of one’s angle, and thus restrict educating those who do not have the “brainpower” to understand complex concepts, Abbott instead suggests that knowledge is not achievable to those who are not willing to accept new ideas. Thus, the Monarch of Lineland stands in as a harsh representation of anyone from Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi.
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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.
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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...
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The Monarch of Lineland continues by explaining that every man has two mouths and two voices, a bass and...
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Chapter 14
Tired of the Monarch of Lineland ’s narrow-mindedness and ignorance, A Square decides to teach him of the nature of the...
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...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...
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