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Literature vocabulary · Drama and Theatre

Soliloquy

Meaning in literature, with examples

/səˈlɪləkwi/nounCommon term

In literature, soliloquy means: A speech in a play in which a character, alone on stage, speaks his or her thoughts aloud so that the audience learns what the character really feels.

In Turkish: kendi kendine konuşma, sahnede tek başına konuşma, monolog

How it is used

A key convention of Elizabethan drama. Hamlet's soliloquies, especially the famous one in Act 3, Scene 1, are among the most studied speeches in English. Essays ask what a soliloquy reveals about a character's inner conflict.

Example sentences

  1. In his soliloquy, Macbeth admits that he has no real reason to kill the king except ambition.

  2. Compare Hamlet's first and last soliloquies: how has he changed?

Common collocations

  • Hamlet's soliloquy
  • deliver a soliloquy
  • famous soliloquy
  • in his soliloquy
  • monologueA long speech by one character, either spoken to other characters who listen or to the audience, in a play, film or story.
  • dialogueThe words that characters speak to each other in a story, play or film; in prose it is usually shown in quotation marks.
  • tragedyA serious play or story in which the main character suffers and is usually destroyed, often because of a personal flaw or a fatal mistake.
  • actOne of the main parts into which a play is divided, usually made up of several scenes and often separated by an interval.

More terms: Drama and Theatre

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