Stichomythia is a rapid back-and-forth exchange in verse drama, with speakers taking turns in very short lines, often one line each. The clipped alternation creates urgency, tension, or verbal sparring, and it is especially common in confrontational scenes, though it can also show wit, grief, or emotional strain.
The effect depends on the quick switching of speakers, not simply on dialogue itself.
Stichomythia is particularly well suited to sections of dramatic dialogue where two characters are in violent dispute. The rhythmic intensity of the alternating lines combined with quick, biting ripostes in the dialogue can be quite powerful.
Example
A: You shut the gate.
B: To keep you out.
A: I came for peace.
B: Then bring it in.
A: You twist my words.
B: You spoke them first.
A short example from the R.C. Jebb translation of Antigone:
ISMENE: And what life is dear to me, bereft of thee?
ANTIGONE: Ask Creon; all thy care is for him.
ISMENE: Why vex me thus, when it avails thee nought?
ANTIGONE: Indeed, if I mock, 'tis with pain that I mock thee.
ISMENE: Tell me,-how can I serve thee, even now?
ANTIGONE: Save thyself: I grudge not thy escape.
ISMENE: Ah, woe is me! And shall I have no share in thy fate?
ANTIGONE: Thy choice was to live; mine, to die.
ISMENE: At least thy choice was not made without my protest.
ANTIGONE: One world approved thy wisdom; another, mine.