How Shakespeare Makes an Effective Use of the Soliloquy to Increase the Audience's Understanding of Character and Plot in Twelfth Night
A soliloquy is a monologue where the character reveals their innermost
information without addressing to a particular listener. It is the act
of talking to yourself aloud and expressing the thought processes in
ones mind. 'A soliloquy does not deal with minor matters, but
concentrates on matters that are highly personal and revealing.' In a
soliloquy, the character is usually alone on stage and temporarily
away from other characters. In some cases, a spotlight is positioned
directly onto the actor/actress in order to signify the importance of
each and every word spoken by the character. It helps the audience to
develop awareness of their personality and the events proceeding.
Soliloquies were very common in Elizabethan drama, and intensely used
by Williams Shakespeare. He made great use of soliloquies in his
legendary plays and used them for a wide range of purposes. However,
they serve two main functions and they are: to provide information
that helps the audience follow the plot or describe events that have
occurred offstage. They also reveal the intentions of characters so
that the audience observes their actions. For example, in the
well-known play Macbeth, Shakespeare uses several soliloquies in order
to reveal the characters' major concerns.
A soliloquy is most commonly used to reveal the deepest concerns or
thoughts of the speaker, thus pointing out internal conflict. It is
either a speech to the audience, to the character him/herself or to an
object. A soliloquy involves thinking and talking thr...
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...re includes actions, expressions,
objects and several well-structured sentences to truly express the
character. Shakespeare has done this because his characters are often
not what they seem. The thoughts that we express in conversation with
other people may be considerably different from our true ones. Similar
applied to these characters of Shakespearian plays. Soliloquies seem
realistic this way and bring out their true thoughts and feelings.
This way, the audience comes to know their feelings in public compared
to their feelings whilst they are alone. The audience become part of
the play along these lines and experience the feelings and emotions
alongside the character. A soliloquy also tells the audience of the
plans that one of the characters is intending to put into action or
one character's opinion about another.
Joseph, Bertram. Rev. of The Twelfth Night of Shakespeare’s Audience, by John W. Draper. Review of English Studies 3.10 (1952): 170-71. Print.
The interpretation of Hamlet’s, To Be or Not to Be soliloquy, from the Shakespearean classic of the same name, is an important part of the way that the audience understands an interpretation of the play. Although the words are the same, the scene is presented by the actors who portray Hamlet can vary between versions of the play. These differences no matter how seemingly miniscule affect the way in which someone watching the play connects with the title character.
Shakespeare uses soliloquies in his play as a means of communicating the thoughts of a character without revealing them to the other characters. I will investigate soliloquies because they are commonly found in literature, but not in every day speech; therefore, I want to have a better understanding of how a soliloquy can benefit the play’s plot rather than the use of conversation between two or more characters. The three plays that we can see the effect of Shakespeare’s soliloquies on the plot are Jacques in As You Like it, Hamlet in Hamlet, and Macbeth in Macbeth. In each of these plays, the subtopics that I will discuss are: how a specific soliloquy reveals the character’s inner thought, how these lines differ from the views society has
William Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic techniques and his use of hyperbole are used to describe the characters emotions and weaknesses. The use of dramatic irony is used to create personal conflict. This is done throughout the play to describe the characters concerns and their situations.
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's most famous comedies, involving complex plots, which result in hilarious outcomes. The main plot of Twelfth Night tells of Count Orsino's efforts to woo the Lady Olivia. who does not return his affection. Instead, Olivia is smitten with her. Orsino's servant Cesario, unaware of his true identity.
The soliloquy is a literary device that is employed to unconsciously reveal an actor's thoughts to the audience. In William Shakespeare's, Hamlet, Hamlet's soliloquy in Act II, ii, (576-634) depicts his arrival at a state of vengeful behaviour through an internal process. Hamlet moves through states of depression and procrastination as he is caught up in the aftermath of the murder of his father and the marriage of his mother to his uncle. The soliloquy serves to effectively illustrate the inner nature of Hamlet's character and develop the theme of revenge.
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night In 'Twelfth Night' Olivia's trusted steward Malvolio, like Sir Andrew, is the 'butt of comedy'. His very name suggests 'ill-will', which echoes his role in the play. Malvolio is an egotistical, "overweening rogue", who is a straight laced, puritanical, social climbing rebuker of others for their anti-social and often sinful behaviour, or as he put it, "misdemeanours". Malvolio's character is summarised excellently by Maria in Act II Scene III: The devil a puritan that he is, or anything, constantly, but a time-pleaser, an affectioned ass that cons state without book and utters it by great swarths; the best persuaded of himself, so crammed, as he thinks with excellencies, that if is his grounds of faith that all that look on him love him.
This soliloquy is important to the play because it shows how words that were not intended, could be intended in this play. There is a lot of that in this play. This soliloquy triggers the turning point in the play when the two lovers begin to get to know each other and make plans for the future about where to meet and such. In their previous encounter, they did not talk about the future, or even exchange names. Here, they begin the love trek that is fated to end.
Soliloquies are one of the most important techniques used within Hamlet. Soliloquies give the audience a deeper insight into the emotions and mental state of the character. Shakespeare uses soliloquies to allow the audience to feel the depth of emotion in Hamlets character. In Hamlets perhaps most famous soliloquy he cries out, 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 (Act III, I, 56). This quote furthermore reveals a part of the story that would be otherwise hidden to the reader, for example, his state of mind and also his desire to commit suicide in order to escape the pain of his life. The readers response, in result, is altered as it is made clear that Hamlet is obviously struggling to come to ter...
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night In the last act of the play the plot entanglements and confusions are not only sorted out but, also reach their climax. To do this all the plots that have been occurring throughout the play are brought together in one final conclusion. The various plot entanglements are sorted out in what is generally thought to be a happy ending, for instance:- Viola, who is under the mistaken identity of Caesario, finally reveals her true identity because Sebastian has appeared therefore everyone else thinks they are seeing two Ceasario's. By Viola doing this, she can finally reveal to Orsino that she loves him.
& nbsp;   ; “The Merchant of Venice” is a play that relies on soliloquies to advance the plot, create mood and atmosphere, and to develop character among all the actors. I am here to prove how this happens in two different soliloquies and show you why Shakespeare put them into the play.
The Effectiveness of Shakespeare's Exposition of Plot, Character, Theme and Atmosphere in the First Act of Othello The action of the first scene increases the audience’s anticipation of Othello’s first appearance. The audience learn Iago’s name in the second line of the play and Roderigo’s soon afterward, but Othello is not once mentioned by his name. Rather, he is ambiguously referred to as “he” and “him.” He is also called “the Moor”, “the thick-lips” and “a Barbary horse” all names signifying that he is dark-skinned. Shakespeare’s exposition of plot is also effective, because in the very first scene there seems to be a lot of action.
Authors and playwrights often use many literary elements to help aid the audience in a further understanding of their play. An element used frequently in the play Hamlet is the soliloquy. Soliloquies hold a significant role in any play. A soliloquy can be defined when a character speaks to themselves, essentially the audience, revealing their thoughts. The function and purpose of these soliloquies in the play Hamlet is for the audience to develop a further understanding of a character’s thoughts, to advance the storyline and create a general mood for the play.
‘Twelfth Night’ or ‘What You Will’ by Shakespeare is seen as a comedy for various reasons. However, on many occasions, this play is almost categorised as a tragedy because of the different situations that the killjoy figure has to endure, through the use of mockery. Because of this, critics find that there is a very thin line between the categorisation of the novel and therefore see ‘Twelfth Night’ as both comedy and tragedy despite the fact that the audience and Shakespeare call this play a comedy. Furthermore, Mel Brooks says ‘Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open sewer and die’. Therefore, this just shows how close the genres of comedy and tragedy really are as they can both lead to similar consequences like those Malvolio faced when he was mocked excessively by Shakespeare throughout all five acts of ‘Twelfth Night’. However, this mockery also shows many social messages as Malvolio was mocked for being a puritan which implies that Elizabethans were against their doings.
In Shakespeare 's well known play Twelfth Night, which takes place somewhere in Illyria, Lady Olivia is an independent, powerful, wealthy but single woman; the sudden deaths of her father and brother has left her in sadness alone in a big castle to herself. She has her relative Sir Toby Belch who was still around and visited her. Orsino, a duke, has a huge crush on her and is trying to have her to himself. Meanwhile, the jealous steward Malvolio who also has a crush on Lady Olivia, is a guy who is full of himself and acts like he 's king, he forgets where his place is sometimes. In Olivia 's house there is the weak and foolish Sir Andrew who has a crush on Olivia and is wishing one day he would get a chance with her. are also these twins,Viola and Sebastian. They have been shipwrecked and isolated from each other, so Viola thinks Sebastian is dead, and Sebastian thinks viola is dead. Later Viola decides to disguise herself as a messenger and call herself Cesario so she can work for Orsino. Since Viola was so pretty and the way she used her words were great, she won Orsino’s trust. Orsino tells Cesario