A soliloquy is an uninterrupted speech by a character to the audience, not to other characters, used to convey inner thoughts and motivations. Examples from Shakespeare’s plays include Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” and Romeo’s balcony scene. Soliloquies can reveal hidden features and are still used by modern playwrights. They differ from dramatic monologues, which may be directed at other characters and not necessarily reveal inner thoughts.
One of the most difficult challenges a playwright faces is conveying a character’s inner thoughts or motivations to the audience. A dramatic device that addresses this problem is called a soliloquy, an uninterrupted speech delivered by a single character to the audience but not to other characters in the scene. A soliloquy can be quite poetic and elegant in structure, as in many of Shakespeare’s plays, but it is meant to be an intimate communication of a character’s innermost thoughts expressed as if they were thinking aloud.
Perhaps the most familiar soliloquy in the English language is Hamlet’s speech “To be, or not to be” delivered in Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet. At this point in the play, a young prince named Hamlet considers the option of suicide as an escape from his troubled life. He begins his soliloquy by asking the most essential question: to be (to live) or not to be (to commit suicide)?. The remainder of this famous passage considers whether the perceived benefits of death don’t outweigh the joys and challenges of life.
Another famous Shakespearean soliloquy takes place under a balcony, where a young suitor named Romeo surreptitiously watches the forbidden object of his affection, Juliet. Romeo’s internal thoughts after seeing Juliet in the moonlight are shared with the audience through a soliloquy that begins “But sweet, what light breaks through that window? It’s the east, and Juliet is the sun…” As the audience learns of Romeo’s passionate love for Juliet, they can’t hear him say those words. This is the purpose of a soliloquy, to share intimate thoughts with the audience that might otherwise cause complications with the other characters.
In the Scottish tragedy Macbeth, both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth deliver dramatic soliloquies that reveal features hidden from the audience, but not from other characters. Lady Macbeth pleads for strength to commit murder in a soliloquy that begins “The raven itself is hoarse/Cawing Duncan’s fatal entrance…”, while Macbeth offers a resigned remark about the shortness of life in act 5, scene 5 :
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
He creeps into this petty rhythm from day to day
At the last syllable of the recorded time,
And all our yesterdays enlightened fools
The way to the dusty death. Out, out, short candle!
Life is just a walking shadow, a poor gambler
Who struts and waves his hour upon the stage
And then you can’t hear it anymore: it’s a fairy tale
Said by an idiot, full of noise and fury,
It does not mean anything. ”
The device of a dramatic soliloquy is still used by many modern playwrights, but it can be difficult for an actor to deliver such an interior monologue without isolating other characters on stage. A soliloquy is a form of monologue, but a soliloquy is not necessarily a soliloquy. A dramatic monologue is an uninterrupted speech by a single character, but may be directed at other characters on stage. It may not even reveal the character’s inner thoughts, as is the case with a stand-up comedy routine. A soliloquy is often delivered in a hushed or thoughtful tone, as if the character is sharing an intimate secret with the audience.
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