A Thesis Submitted To The Department Of English Language And Literature

Soliloquy, as a habitual common technique of playwrights, plays its own role as revealing the plot, in which soliloquists show their inner mind. Shakespeare’s soliloquies reach a high point in quantity and function besides the plot-revealing effect. The soliloquies are categorized into three classes according to their special use:meditation, emotion and reasoning. Meditation shows Shakespeare’s unique technique of writing plays, emotion expresses the poetic beauty of the plays and reasoning manifests the related values and rich thoughts.The first chapter reviews the application of soliloquies in various ages. In ancient Greek drama, soliloquy was not frequently employed. Playwrights in Shakespeare’s age and thereafter did not use as many as he did. Then the relationship between chorus and soliloquy is distinguished. It seems no direct meaning can be drawn from this distinction, but soliloquies in Shakespeare’s plays bear similar characteristics with chorus in the ancestral drama. Like chorus, Shakespeare’s soliloquies reveal plots, tell secret thoughts, express emotions and argue reasons. Not only has Shakespeare inherited the treasure of tradition, but also made innovations. Besides, the argument between action and thought and the aesthetic value of long soliloquies are talked about. The fourth part of introduction is a review of Shakespeare’s soliloquy studies.In the second chapter, meditation displays a usual way of thinking in literature. There are three types in this category. Soliloquies brood in their own thoughts and try to find a way out of harsh conditions. Besides they tell plans and plots in a quiet way. Another kind of meditation goes to amusing ones, which correspond to the first type in some sense but stress the amusing and funny elements. Soliloquists absorbed into their own world either meditate funny things in a serious manner or think highly of themselves, bringing about more laughter to the audiences. This kind of meditation caters to the Elizabethan taste of comic effect. Meditation soliloquies mainly help the development of plots and the characterization.Emotional soliloquists in Chapter Three burst out their feelings without constraint. Emotion as one crucial element in poetry adds to poetic value of Shakespeare’s plays. The most frequent scene in this category is lament for death with heaviest sentiments of human beings, further divided into lament of the beloved, of the family and of oneself. Besides lament, other passionate emotion soliloquies are included like the chanting of love and the signing of unattainable love. To sum up, emotion in this part shows a sense of negativity and unease, which is closely related to the solitary feature of soliloquy itself. But the diverse emotions and poetic verses increase the aesthetic value of the play.The third type, eloquent reasoning is the focus of Chapter Four. It reflects a philosophical and auguring mind of soliloquists. Different from emotional soliloquists who pour out their feelings freely, soliloquists of eloquence fall into fierce arguments with themselves. They try to clear out a space in the corner of their mind and comprehend who they really are and find the lost self in great predicament as represented by three kings. Another case is the arguing of paradoxical matters like Hamlet’s debate between life and death. In addition to the soliloquists making arguments out of the just and kind reasons, another arguing borrows the overcoat of eloquence and tries to make the false to be persuasive. This sophistic arguing of Falstaff and Richard attempts to hide the fact and ambitions. In these reasoning the deep thoughts are displayed in soliloquies and Shakespeare’s benevolence of endowing people of all levels with excuses to tell increase the deep humanistic concern.In conclusion, Shakespeare’s soliloquy as one ingredient in his plays embodies many rich meanings and value. All of the three types show a dilemma of wish and fulfillment of human predicament, i.e. the greatness of human mind, feelings and wisdom against the formidable reality. Soliloquies here are not only an accessory, but also a function in its indispensible way. They reveal plots without leaking the secrets; they exhale emotions and incite empathies; and argue eloquently and find a way out for the character. Shakespeare stresses the humanity of people and allots wisdom and free spirit to his characters. The unique application of soliloquy technique fortifies the diversity and originality of his plays. Shakespeare has inherited the tradition of soliloquy and also made innovations for its new use. All the over two hundred soliloquies work together to contribute to the high value of Shakespeare’s plays.