soliloquy Hear it!

soliloquy Definition

so·lilo·quy (-kwē)

noun pl. -·quies

  1. an act or instance of talking to oneself
  2. lines in a drama in which a character reveals his or her thoughts to the audience, but not to the other characters, by speaking as if to himself or herself

Etymology: LL soliloquium < L solus, alone, sole + loqui, to speak

soliloquy Synonyms

soliloquy

n.

apostrophe, aside, monologue, monology; see speech 3.

soliloquy Usage Examples

Preposition: in

  • play: There is one other long soliloquy in the play?

Converse of object

  • deliver: As everyone retires, the fairies perform their blessings and Puck delivers a tender epilog soliloquy.
  • do: Does this soliloquy move the play forward in any way ( e.g. give us a new insight into the prince's thinking )?
  • follow: I quote, as an example, the following unguarded soliloquy of James Bryce.

Preposition: at

  • end: His touching soliloquy at the end showed a man still puzzled by his continuing inability to ever see anything more than the facts.

Adjective modifier

  • first: It is worth reminding the class of the " Frailty thy name is woman " observation from Hamlet's first soliloquy.
  • long: There is one other long soliloquy in the play?
  • final: Look back to the end of his final soliloquy.
  • Shakespearean: Poets and Actors, mingling with the general public, will stop you and read you love poems or recite Shakespearean soliloquies.
  • last: We experience the relativities of ' truth ' in the last soliloquy of Othello.

Noun used with modifier

  • opening: The opening soliloquy which appears below establishes Richard's character at the outset of the play.
soliloquy Quotes

It is notorious that we speak no more than half-truths in our ordinary conversation, and even a soliloquy is likely to be affected by the apprehension that walls have ears.

—Linklater, Eric Robert

Iago's soliloquyöthe motive-hunting of motiveless malignity.

—Coleridge, Samuel Taylor