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Analyse the use of soliloquy in one or more of the following plays: Hamlet, The Revengers Tragedy, Tis Pity Shes a Whore, The Winters Tale.
The revenge tragedy, a dramatic form belonging to the Elizabethan period, usually makes a liberal use of long soliloquies and this feature is likely to be associated with the inner structure of this kind of drama. What I mean is that revenge plays are often characterized by complex and intricate plots, with a great deal of characters, different actions take place and sometimes minor sub-plots are combined together. Considering that, soliloquies (like asides, as well) could represent a sort of break, in which action is stopped and more information is provided. Therefore, they constitute an integral part of the play's structure. In this essay, I will try to underline the relevance of soliloquy and its meaning in two main examples of revenge tragedy, that is Hamlet and The Revengers Tragedy. As for the Shakespearean play, Hamlet's soliloquies are particularly meaningful, especially if we agree with Thompson and Taylor that he (Hamlet) is better at words than at actions.1 The first soliloquy occurs almost at the beginning of the play and it provides already several hints to understand Hamlet's complex personality. Here we realize that his words are apparently caused only by his grief for his father's death and his mother's remarrying. He starts saying
O, that this too too solid flesh would melt Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
1

A. Thompson & N. Taylor, William Shakespeare:Hamlet (Plymouth:Northcote House Publishers Ltd, 1996), p. 34.

Simona Pace Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God! How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world Fie on't! Ah, fie! (I.ii.129-135)2

This feelings suggest something going beyond the simple filial piety, a deep sense of rejection of the world, a suicidal tendency that cannot be explained just by incidental events. In the same soliloquy his attitude towards his mother Gertrude emerges. If at first he shows a misogynistic view, stating Frailty, thy name is woman!(I.ii.146) , then he lingers over his mother's incest adding sexual allusions, which reveals an incestuous desire in Hamlet himself: She married. O, most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!(I.ii.156-157). In this initial point, as Cousins says, Hamlet reveals himself as a displaced person,3 and, unlike most revenge tragedies, revenge is not one of his thoughts yet. The use of soliloquy in Hamlet as revealing moment of the protagonist finds another evidence in act II. Here, the prince talks explicitly to himself about his inability to act: O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!(II.ii.543). His following reflections show an increasing hatred of himself :
Yet I, A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, And can say nothing; (II.ii.560-563)

Later on, he seems to look for a physical suffering:

2

W.Shakespeare, 'Hamlet, Prince of Denmark' in Complete works of William Shakespeare: the Alexander text ed. by P.Alexander (London:HarperCollins, 2006). Subsequent references are to this edition and are given in parentheses immediately following the reference. A.D.Cousins, Shakespeare's Hamlet 1.2.153, The Explicator, 62:1 (2003), 5.

Simona Pace I a coward? Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across? Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face? Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat, As deep as to the lungs? who does me this? Ha! 'Swounds, I should take it: (II.ii.565-571)

Now he talks of revenge but the dominating emotion is uncertainty, as, even though he is totally aware that revenge is necessary, he cannot be resolute:
O, vengeance! Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, (II.ii.577-581).

This passages testify to an important aspect, that is the contradictions in Hamlet's mind. He recognizes the necessity of being revengeful, but also his difficulty in dealing with vengeance, his embattled spirit emerges from his words. I think that these two initial speeches are enough to prove that, even though soliloquies can be the most effective means to investigate man's soul, Hamlet's personality cannot be completely revealed in this way, because of its deep complexity. In this play, soliloquies work also as a sort of synthesis of the major themes dealt with. This feature turns out to be particularly true in reference to another speech by Hamlet, in Act III. Here, the prince reflects about wide issues, like death and suicide or life, analyzing them both from a religious and philosophical point of view. The question is introduced in an effective way:To be, or not to be: that is the question(III.i.56), but ha had already showed his interested in the argument at the beginning of the play. In
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my view, this is a proof that this play is a more complex kind of revenge tragedy, in which the hero is involved in different matters of universal nature. In this famous soliloquy, it is said, for example, that the main reason preventing man from killing himself is the doubt about after-life:
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; (III.i.66-69)

As his speech goes on, we have the impression that now, unlike the previous soliloquy, he tries to explain the impossibility to act:
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. (III.i.83-88)

However, if these words suggest again the restlessness in the character's mind, many questions remain unsolved. In act III, scene iii, we find a crucial point in the plot, when Hamlet sees his uncle praying and would kill him, but, once again words overcome action. It is possible to note how Hamlet's resolution gradually evolves: at first he wants to revenge his father, Now I'll do't(III.iii.74),And so am I reveng'd (III.iii.75); after, realizing that killing a man praying leads his soul to heaven, his certainty flickers, why, this is hire and salary, not revenge(III.iii.79). Finally, he postpones, Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent:(III.iii.88). These rapid shifts from one position to another,
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accompanied by long reflections, confirm Foakes' assertion that he never does become a revenger.4 This failure to get revenge is repeated also when the prince says: I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;' Sith I have cause and will and strength and means To do't.

(IV.iv.43-46) In reference to this, Muir notes that it is a curious paradox that the one intellectual among Shakespeare's tragic heroes should be least able to know why he acts or fail to act.5 In The Revenger's Tragedy, soliloquies play a great role, as well, and most of them have Vindice as protagonist. Nevertheless, we can notice a first relevant difference from Hamlet: since his first speech, Vindice talks of revenge:Vengeance, thou murder's quit-rent(I.i.39),6 Faith, give Revenge her due(I.i.43). This means that this play is basically concerned with the theme of revenge and soliloquies provide a further explanation for this. That being stated, it is worth stressing Foakes's statement that while Hamlet is wholly involved in the decision whether to revenge,[...]Vindice has made his decision already before his opening speech.7 I In addition, here another element prevails, namely Vindice's morality. He speaks while a kind of procession is passing over and expresses his disgust for people he is
4

R.A.Foakes, The Art of Cruelty: Hamlet and Vindice, in Aspects of Hamlet ed.by K.Muir (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 34. K.Muir, Hamlet, in Shakespeare:the tragedies ed. by R.B.Heilman (Englewood Cliffs:London:PrenticeHall,1984), p. 79. T.Middleton/C.Tourneur,The Revenger's Tragedy ed.by R.A.Foakes (Manchester:Manchester University Press, 1996). Subsequent references are to this edition and are given in parentheses immediately following the reference. R.A.Foakes, The Art of Cruelty: Hamlet and Vindice, p.35.

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observing, O, the thought of that/Turns my abused heart-strings into fret(I.i.13). So, the soliloquy becomes a good mean for better knowing a character; in this case, as Vindice points out a strong contrast between himself and the others, we tend to positively judge him. Actually, as White stresses, the contrast of tones,attitudes and styles in Vindice's opening soliloquy contributes to the play's dominant impression of contradiction8 and he rightly adds that all that distinguishes Vindice from the other revengers is his superior skill and wit rather than the justice of his actions.9 In the third scene of the same act, Vindice is left alone on the stage disguised as Piato, after having known that the woman Lussurioso longs for is his sister. Again, the speech is centred on the revenge and the means to get it:Sword, I durst make a promise of him to thee,/Thou shalt dis-heir him, it shall be thine honour!(I.iii.174175). It should be noted that in particular when Vindice is in disguise, his speeches are useful, because they allow to remember his plan, but, at the same time, I think that they put the audience/reader in a privileged position in comparison to the characters being deceived. If Vindice plays a role in most of the play, the soliloquies give him the opportunity to make his thoughts clear; so, he praises his sister's virtues:
Oh, I'm above my tongue! Most constant sister, In this thou hast right honourable shown; Many are call'd by their honour that have none. Thou art approv'd forever in my thoughts. (II.i.45-48)

but, with the same strong passion, attacks women, because of his mother's immoral
8 9

M.White, Middleton & Tourneur (London:Macmillan, 1992), p. 145. M.White, Middleton & Tourneur, p. 153.

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conduct:Wert not gold and women, there would be no/ damnation;

Hell would look like a lord's great kitchen without fire in't!(II.i.257-258).

Significantly, Foakes says that Vindice as revenger claims the moral high ground in attacking lust and luxury, but is contaminated by what has become a stored-up obsession with seeking revenge.10 The critic offers here a good point, as it is proved by another passage, in which the necessity of killing is justified by moral purposes: It shall go hard yet, but I'll guard her honour/And keep the ports sure(II.ii.104-105). Crucially, even though at the end of the play Vindice wrongs like the corrupted society he strongly criticizes, he is still persuaded that he has fought the good fight: Thou hast no conscience:are we not reveng'd?/Is there one enemy left alive amongst those?(V.iii.108-109), and later:
we have enough. I'faith, We're well: our mother turn'd, our sister true, We die after a nest of dukes. (V.iii.123-125).

So, it is possible to say with Ayres that we see Vindice as the villain he has become, not as the hero he still considers himself.11 Other significant soliloquies have the Duke and the Duchess as protagonists. As for the former, two moments reveal some aspects of the character. In the first speech, fearing his stepsons' ambition, he makes know his intentions:
This their ambition by the mother's side Is dangerous, and for safety must be purg'd; I will prevent their envies. (II.iii.106-108)
10 11

R.A.Foakes, Introduction, in The Revenger's Tragedy ed.by R.A.Foakes, p. 7. P.JAyres, Tourneur: The Revenger's Tragedy (London: Edward Arnold, 1977), p. 34.

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Soon afterwards, his words are completely different, because they constitutes a sort of confession, that is to say the Duke admits his faults:It well becomes that judge to nod at crimes,/ that does commit greater himself and lives(II.iii.124-125), My hairs are white, and yet my sins are green( II.iii.132). However, it is not by chance that the Duke is alone while reflecting in this way, he could not acknowledge his sinful behavior in presence of someone else; because of his role he has to judge but, as human being, he is not better than others. The brief speech by the Duchess occurring in the second scene of Act I proves once again that the main function of soliloquy in this play is to plot revengeful actions. In fact the woman, angry with her husband for not having forgiven her son, decides to punish him by adultery:I'll kill him in his forehead: hate there feed:/ That wound is deepest though it never bleed(I.ii.108-109). Another good example of the use of soliloquy is provided in Act I, second scene, when Spurio, Duke's bastard son, is alone on the stage. He addresses to the Duke and then the Duchess as if they were there and the main purpose of his words is to expose his revenge's plot but, above all, to justify it. In fact, his first reason for committing adultery with the Duchess is his own origin:Duke, thou didst do me wrong, and by thy act /Adultery is my nature(I.iii.177-178) and later he says:my revenge is just:/ I was begot in impudent wine and lust(I.iii.190-191). Maybe the cleverest assertion he makes to prove the validity of his argument is in the end:For indeed a bastard by nature should make cuckolds, /Because he is the son of a cuckold-maker. (I.iii.2028

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203). In conclusion, soliloquy is an important convention in drama. More specifically, in the tragedies taken into account, it is closely linked to the development of the revenge theme, but, at the same time, it makes bring out features of character's personality otherwise unknown. Moreover, this sort of speech establishes an exclusive relationship between the character/actor and the audience/reader, that can know thoughts ignored by the other characters. On the other hand, it seems to me that the soliloquies analyzed sometimes make more problematic the plays, because they give additional hints, raising questions (Hamlet) or revealing the truth behind the appearance (The revengers tragedy ), so that the domineering feeling is that of uncertainty.

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Bibliography
Primary sources: Middleton, T. and C. Tourneur The Revenger's Tragedy, ed. by R.A.Foakes, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1996 Shakespeare,W. Complete works of William Shakespeare, ed. by Peter Alexander, London, HarperCollins, 2006 Secondary sources: Ayres, P.J. Tourneur: The Revenger's Tragedy, London, Edward Arnold, 1977 Cousins, A.D.Shakespeare's Hamlet 1.2.153, The Explicator, 62:1 (2003), 5-7 Foakes, R.A.The Art of Cruelty: Hamlet and Vindice, in Aspects of Hamlet ed. by K.Muir, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979 Muir, K.Hamlet,in Shakespeare: the tragedies ed. by R.B.Heilman, Englewood Cliffs, London, Prentice-Hall, 1984 Thompson, A. and N. Taylor, William Shakespeare:Hamlet, Plymouth, Northcote House Publishers Ltd, 1996 White, M. Middleton & Tourneur, London, Macmillan, 1992

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