Shakespeare’s Soliloquies
The Soliloquy
All of us at times reflect on our actions, relationships with others, past deeds and future
possibilities. When a character delivers a soliloquy during a production on stage – solo talk
– they are expressing aloud for an audience the workings of their inner mind.
Villains like Iago in Othello and Macbeth frequently share their thoughts with the audience,
even to the extent of making us co-conspirators.
The character can boast about their actions, or ponder their failings or even contemplate
committing evil. He or she could address:
•
the audience
•
an object such as a dagger
•
the self
•
nature.
The soliloquy is delivered in blank verse that is lyrical and powerful, and written in iambic
pentameter. This reflects the rhythm of our heart beat and the natural rise and fall of our
speech. This beat consisted of ten syllables in each line, with five stressed and five
unstressed syllables. Each pair of syllables is called an iambus. E.g. in Twelfth Night:
If mu- / -sic be / the food / of love, / play on
Is this / a dag- / -ger I / see be- / fore me?
Shakespeare often broke the pattern to give colour and feeling to his character’s
speeches, and to indicate that something was not right. He also inverted the order of the
stresses in some iambi to help emphasise certain words or ideas, as in Hamlet:
To be, / or not / to be: / that is / the ques- / -tion
Shakespeare's use of punctuation was very different – he used it to signal how each line
should be delivered. Punctuation forces the actor to pause and slows down the pace of
the text. Lines without punctuation naturally seem to gather momentum and emotional
energy.
Commas can cause a line to gather in emotional intensity. When words are chunked
together and separated by commas this build the tension and emphasises key words,
such as in King Lear:
... No, no, no life!
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou’it come no more;
Never, never, never, never, never.
Macbeth
Macbeth’s wife has just taken her own life by jumping from the castle walls. He is
about to fight a battle that could signal the end of his bloody reign as King of
Scotland. - http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=LAi4qzNHtwY&feature=related;
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=4SiF9Hfkt68&feature=related
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word,
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (5.5.16)
Questions
1. What are two different ways that the first line could be said by an actor
and how does the meaning change?
2. What is iambic pentameter and how does it impact on the way it is
performed by an actor?
3. Identify the underlined figurative devices in the soliloquy, and explain
what they mean and what they say about how Macbeth is feeling.
4. Why has Macbeth used the extended metaphor comparing life to a poor
actor?
5. Provide another extended metaphor for life rather than a player on the
stage.
6. How does Macbeth feel after hearing of his wife’s death?
7. Identify two main ideas that are conveyed by the soliloquy.
Hamlet
Hamlet has returned from university to discover that his father is dead and his mother has
married his uncle. The ghost of his father has told him that his uncle murdered him and that
Hamlet must avenge his death. He is not a hardened soldier of war but a renaissance, new
age man who has spent his youth studying. In this soliloquy he contemplates death and the
afterlife. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YHMYkUrV7A http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=JD6gOrARk4&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=fwFzvg3L2Qg&feature=related
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons (prayers)
Be all my sins remember'd. Act III, Scene i
Questions
1. Why is repetition used so frequently in the soliloquy?
2. Identify the underlined figurative devices in the soliloquy, and explain what they
mean and what they say about how Hamlet feels about death.
3. In pairs rehearse how the first ten lines could be performed.
4. Re-write the first ten lines in modern English.
5. Identify the five most significant key words in these ten lines and state why they are
important.
6. Identify two main ideas that are conveyed by the soliloquy.
7. How do you respond personally to Hamlet after reading his soliloquy? Provide a
justification.
Othello
Othello believes that his new wife Desdemona has been unfaithful with his Lieutenant
Cassio because of the lies of the evil Iago. In this scene he has decided to kill his wife.
(animated overview of the play: http://www.youtube.com/watch#!
v=NjGoDoo5Juc&feature=related )
It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul,-Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars!-It is the cause. Yet I'll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light:
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me: but once put out thy light,
Thou cunning'st pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean1 heat
That can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose,
I cannot give it vital growth again.
It must needs wither: I'll smell it on the tree.
Kissing her
Ah balmy breath, that dost almost persuade
Justice to break her sword! One more, one more.
Be thus when thou art dead, and I will kill thee,
And love thee after. One more, and this the last:
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep,
But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly;
It strikes where it doth love. She wakes. (5.2)
Questions
1. Othello repeatedly used the imperative voice, disjunction and repetition. Find an
example of each one and explain what the use of these three language features
reveals about Othello’s state of mind and decision to kill his wife.
2. Why does he refer to her murder as the ‘cause’?
3. Identify the underlined figurative devices and language features in the
soliloquy, and explain what they mean and what they say about how Othello
feels about killing his wife.
4. View the YouTube clip of this soliloquy and discuss as a class the impact of
words and the delivery of the lines.
1 Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to the mortals
Romeo & Juliet
Romeo has seen Juliet at the party of his family’s enemy – the Capulets. In this scene he is
looking up at her balcony willing her to come out, and reflecting on her beauty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=XLWPg3SCYH4&feature=related
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou her maid art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious.
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off.
It is my lady; O, it is my love!
O that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing.
What of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold; 'tis not to me she speaks.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheeks would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!
Questions
1. How does Romeo feel about Juliet? To justify your response provide three
examples of language and figurative devices that convey his feelings.
2. He varies his syntax (sentence structure). He uses simple, complex and truncated
sentences. Find an example of each one and explain why such a variety of
sentences are used by Romeo.
3. Identify the underlined figurative devices and language features in the soliloquy, and
explain what they mean and what they convey about Romeo’s feelings for Juliet.
4. What does this soliloquy say about young love?
Richard III
Richard III is a flawed man who was prepared to lie and murder to become King of England.
This is the opening of the play where Richard who is a hardened soldier and ugly with a
hunchback does not enjoy a time of peace. Ian McKellan describes the meaning of the
soliloquy: http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=v_WJSHy_szE&feature=related.
Three versions of the soliloquy: http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=GumLGIKT-Ak&feature=related
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that lowered upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths,
Our bruisèd arms hung up for monuments,
Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinklèd front,
And now, instead of mounting barbèd steeds
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamped, and want love's majesty
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling Nature,
Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable
That dogs bark at me as I halt by them-Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time,
Unless to see my shadow in the sun
And descant [1] on mine own deformity.
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determined to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence and the king
In deadly hate the one against the other;
And if King Edward be as true and just
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mewed up
About a prophecy which says that G
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.
Dive, thoughts, down into my soul -- here Clarence comes!
Questions
1. Identify the underlined figurative devices and language features in the soliloquy, and
explain what they mean and what they convey about how Richard is feeling?
2. Richard uses emotive language in his soliloquy. Find examples and explain why he
has used them.
3. What is Richard planning to do?
4. How do you feel about Richard? Justify your response.