Soliloquy

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A soliloquy is a device often used in drama whereby a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters, and is delivered often when they are alone or think they are alone. Soliloquy is distinct from monologue and aside. Soliloquies are similar to yet distinct from a monologue which is an exclusive view of a character's dramatized action within a play-world, typically addressing another character or group of characters.

Soliloquies were frequently used in poetic dramas; dramas in prose tend to use a more realistic speaking style and rarely if ever feature them. The plays of William Shakespeare feature many soliloquies. The "To be or not to be" speech in Hamlet is wrongly considered the most famous one in the English language and is in fact a monologue delivered to Ophelia and to the spying Polonius and King Claudius. Many of Richard III's lines in "The Tragedy of Richard III" are soliloquies, as are Iago's direct addresses in "Othello" wherein the villains try to entrap the audience as they do the characters on stage. Macbeth's "Tomorrow and tomorrow" speech and Juliet's "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" are other famous examples of Shakespearean soliloquies (although Juliet's speech is overheard by Romeo, she believes that she is alone with her thoughts when she delivers it; it is in the essence of a soliloquy).