Fiducia TogetherSoliloquy
A character alone on stage, thinking aloud. The audience hears what nobody else does.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
A soliloquy is a speech delivered by a character alone, revealing their thoughts directly to the audience.
Where it applies
Shakespeare and other drama texts.
How it works
It creates intimacy and complicity. A character can lie to others and rarely lies in soliloquy, which is why it is treated as privileged access — and why a soliloquy that IS self-deceiving is so interesting.
How to use it in your work
Say what the audience learns that other characters do not, and what that does to their sympathy.
Track a character's soliloquies across a play. The change between them is the character arc in condensed form.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's specification and mark scheme.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The English Exam Survival Song How to approach the English papers under time pressure.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.