"Audiences today think that the soliloquy is an outdated and embarrassing device" "It is the soliloquy that gives Shakespeare and his actor a stranglehold on their audience. ... There is nothing in any dictionary definitions, to suggest the speaker must be alone on stage. ... However, the quote referring to the soliloquy being outdated, states just that; the soliloquy. Not Shakespeare's soliloquies but soliloquies on the whole. ... In all Shakespeare's tragedies, the soliloquies are vital. ...

• Word Count: 2089
• Approx Pages: 8

This is a pretty powerful simile because a whore, by definition, is a woman who trades real love for false lust. ... But at the end of this soliloquy, he comes up with a plan. ... He is basically seeking the answer to his question in the beginning of the soliloquy where he says, "What would he do/Had he the motive and the cue for passion/That I have"" (Hamlet/Line 515-517). ...

• Word Count: 932
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

This conversation and the soliloquy following it introduce the two different sides of Iago. ... However, in the following soliloquy the reader is introduced to what Iago really has planned. ... These definitions emphasize the fact that Iago feels no respect for Roderigo and is manipulating Roderigo only to further his plan. ... This soliloquy shows that Iago has no real motives for his actions. ... In this soliloquy the hypocrisy of Iago's motives and actions is also visible. ...

• Word Count: 2354
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

This conversation and the soliloquy following it introduce the two different sides of Iago. ... However, in the following soliloquy the reader is introduced to what Iago really has planned. ... These definitions emphasize the fact that Iago feels no respect for Roderigo and is manipulating Roderigo only to further his plan. ... This soliloquy shows that Iago has no real motives for his actions. ... In this soliloquy the hypocrisy of Iago's motives and actions is also visible. ...

• Word Count: 2349
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

His basic format of a revenge tragedy included: a crime being committed so that the individual who is the main character has to go through with revenge in spite of everything; this character then having a period of doubt where he debates whether or not to go through with the revenge; the appearance of a ghost to convince the revenger to go through with the deed and the revenger always having a very close relationship with the audience through soliloquies. ... Hamlet starts a battle of wits with Claudius by acting mad, "To put an antic disposition on," although the whole thing was in fa...

• Word Count: 1478
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

These motivations are the reasons behind all the sinister plans.In order to examine these motivations, I plan to explore the following passages and soliloquies: (1) Who Othello, Cassio, Iago and Desdemona are at the beginning of the play. (2) What are the relationships between them. (3) How Iago gets angry and alliances with Roderigo and uses him... (4) How he plots his plans and how he plans the seed of doubt in each of them. (5) How he plays Cassio and Othello with the help of Roderigo (6) What Iago reveals in passages/soliloquies. (7) What are the motivations of him doing his wicked plan...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

The word "stoop- has two important meanings: the first definition means, "to bend,"" representing the physical movement of the tree branches from the weight of the apricots. The second definition, "to lower oneself,"" presents Richard as a complacent king, allowing his advisors to overrun his kingdom In addition, Shakespeare includes a reference to weeds in the allegory to describe Richard's unmanageable advisors taking away the power from the king. ... But two months dead The first soliloquy reveals Hamlet's disgust with the "stale- world and attempts to find the origin of...

• Word Count: 1869
• Approx Pages: 7

The Oxford English Dictionary offers, among many definitions, two definitions for lover that could apply to this tragedy: first, "One who is in love with, or who is enamoured of a person of the opposite sex (sic);- and second, "One who loves illicitly; a gallant, paramour."" ... Yet, there is another interpretation, which arises from the soliloquies of both Romeo and Juliet, considering each love independently - that Romeo is a lover of the first definition, enamored, and that Juliet and her love for Romeo are best described by the baser classification. ...

• Word Count: 658
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Merrill agrees with "No definition, no specific contextual significance, but perhaps a vague allusion to being alive or not being alive" (1). ... The "To be or not to be" soliloquy provides the clearest example(s) of existential thought. ... Hamlet ends the soliloquy by saying, "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. ... The biggest unsaid thing in this soliloquy is that in your life you must give it meaning. ...

• Word Count: 1407
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

If one looks up the definition of honor in a dictionary, there is a concise meaning to be found. The American Heritage Dictionary's definition is thus: 1. ... The idea of Elizabethan honor would have most likely been in accord with this modern definition. ... Here he touches upon the definition of honor when he refers to the restoration of a namesake through military action. ... But alas, he surprises us all with a assertive soliloquy in which he sets the stage for his future growth. ...

• Word Count: 1335
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Hamlet was a tragedy by definition, containing definite stages of development, with the expectation of resolution. ... His soliloquies are speeches collaborating with the audience, breaking down the fourth wall, in order to make sense of the people who have wronged him. ... Characters die throughout Hamlet, and in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, the protagonists speak about death throughout the entire play. hamlet's most famous speech, -To be or not to be soliloquy in Act III, Scene i, explores the advantages and disadvantages of living. ...

• Word Count: 1181
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In the case of Macbeth, either definition may be appropriate, for Macbeth does become a wicked and evil person and by the end of the play is at odds with the hero, himself. ... Lady Macbeth would fit the description of "a villain in whom there is little to admire" very well as seen in her soliloquy. ... Lady Macbeth is extremely ambitious for Macbeth at any cost and downright evil, especially when compared to Macbeth in his soliloquy "First, as I am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed ; then, as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the ...

• Word Count: 1027
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

He is hurt by the callousness that Gertrude and Claudius have displayed towards to his father's death and he displays disgust towards their relationship in his first soliloquy: "Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. ... Demonstrated during the final scene, by Fortinbras giving Hamlet a soldier's funeral, Hamlet is, by dictionary definition, a hero. ...

• Word Count: 2372
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

One of Hamlets distinguishing traits are his interior thoughts including those of "self slaughter" expressed through soliloquies compared to those he is free to express aloud to others. ... The definition of personality is being a person; personal existence or identity; distinctive personal character and Hamlet's personality is very confused. ... Hamlet is truly distressed after his beloved fathers death and compares the "Loving" and " so excellent king" Act 1, scene 2, line 138/9 to "Hercules "or a "Hyperion" Act 1, scene 2, line153 and 139 in his first soliloquy of the pl...

• Word Count: 2522
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

One definition of "appearance" is: "An outward aspect of somebody or something that creates a particular impression." Almost contradictory is the definition of "reality": "Actual being or existence, as opposed to an imaginary, idealized, or false nature." ... During Macbeth's dagger soliloquy, he is overcome with a false vision, as the following quotation supports: "Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? ...

• Word Count: 1772
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

A venerated tragedy of the Classical Greek theatre and a highly controversial drama of nineteenth century Europe inhabit the same thematic territory. What links Antigone, by Sophocles, and A Doll's House, by Henrik Ibsen is their examination of relations between men and women. In both works, the maj...

• Word Count: 1351
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In order to diagnose Hamlet as having schizophrenia, the definition of the disorder should be given. ... An additional warning sign in his state is his suicidal thoughts that can be seen in his soliloquy in act three scene one. ...

• Word Count: 1015
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The tale of Hamlet is a classic one. Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost and is told that his own brother killed him. Hamlet is disturbed by this visitation and then attempts to seek revenge on his father's death. Throughout Hamlet seeking his revenge, he is accused of being insane. Hamlets char...

• Word Count: 1067
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The tale of Hamlet is a classic one. Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost and is told that his own brother killed him. Hamlet is disturbed by this visitation and then attempts to seek revenge on his father's death. Throughout Hamlet seeking his revenge, he is accused of being insane. Hamlets ...

• Word Count: 1128
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Lady Macduff, however, is the complete opposite of Lady Macbeth, and also exactly the 17th centuries' societies' definition of what a woman should be like; the kind, nurturing one and not the cold, ruthless, and scolding one. ... This is expressed through the soliloquy "He's here in double trust;  first, as I am his kinsman and his subject,  Strong both against the deed; then, as his host,  who should against his murderer shut the door,  not bear the knife myself. ...

• Word Count: 1136
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

This anaphora of "cursed" makes the intention of her soliloquy clear, and they also unknowingly reflect the theme of the play of how Richard and those around him are and will be cursed. ... Another definition that may be surprising may be the figurative extension of something that is "failing to produce the intended result" (OED), which is perfect for describing the efforts of the parents. ...

• Word Count: 1444
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

To start, here is the definition of the Oedipus Complex. ... In Hamlet's first soliloquy (Hamlet I, 2, 133-164), he states his disgust at his mother for marrying Claudius, the new king, in no less than a month after his own father's death. ...

• Word Count: 1687
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra defies the stereotypes generated from any other Shakespearean drama, Antony is by its very definition a deeply flawed protagonist. ... Shakespeare encourages the audience to identify with Antony's situation, he is human with weaknesses, when his wife Fulvia dies Shakespeare uses a soliloquy to enable Antony to air his innermost thoughts and feelings, this enables us to feel compassion for Antony, he is enlightened to the fact that Cleopatra is indeed one of his biggest flaws, 'I must from this enchanting queen break off.' ...

• Word Count: 1678
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography

William Freedman, in "The Literary Motif: A Definition and Evaluation," in Essentials of the Theory of Fiction, elaborates on this definition "[A motif] is generally -that is, it can be seen to carry a meaning beyond the  one immediately apparent; it represents on the verbal level something characteristic of the structure of the work, the events, the characters, the emotional effects, or the moral or cognitive content.... Dreams, by definition, are not subject to the rules of linear, rational, thought, are subjective, happen in the dark and use a kind of "shadow logic&...

• Word Count: 2655
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School