The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 18.0812 Tuesday, 4 December 2007
From: Larry Weiss <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Sunday, 02 Dec 2007 00:23:46 -0500
Subject: 18.0801 Soliloquies - Truth or Lie...or Overheard?
Comment: Re: SHK 18.0801 Soliloquies - Truth or Lie...or Overheard?
>for a soliloquy to be a soliloquy, the speaker has to be
>unaware that he or she is being overheard--Hamlet's
>speech when he knows someone is listening furtively
>to him is very different from his speech when we are
>overhearing his thoughts, or when he thinks he is
>alone. If the utterance is consciously spoken to deceive
>another, it loses the "protected" status of soliloquy--first,
>because the speaker knows that he or she has an onstage
>audience, and second, because the speaker is intentionally
>manipulating what is said.
Exactly; which is why Malvolio's reaction to the letter is a soliloquy
even though he has an onstage audience.
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