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Situational Irony
Definition of Soliloquy
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself, relating his or her innermost thoughts and feelings as if... read full definition
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself, relating his or her innermost... read full definition
A soliloquy is a literary device, most often found in dramas, in which a character speaks to him or herself... read full definition
Key Examples in Edward II
Act 1, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Jove on Ganymede :
After being dismissed by her husband, King Edward II, in favor of his lover, Piers Gaveston, the Queen expresses her bitter and mournful feelings in a soliloquy. In the course of this soliloquy, she alludes to various figures from classical mythology:
Would when I left sweet France and was embarked,
That charming Circes, walking on the waves,
Had changed my shape, or at the marriage day
The cup of Hymen had been full of poison,
Or with those arms that twined about my neck
I had been stifled and not lived to see
The king my lord thus to abandon me.
Like frantic Juno will I fill the earth
With ghastly murmur of my sighs and cries,
For never doted Jove on Ganymede
So much as he on cursèd Gaveston.
Related Themes:
Act 5, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—My Friends Advance:
In a soliloquy saturated with situational irony, Mortimer reveals his plans to rule England as a King in a manner similar to his predecessor, King Edward II. Preparing to establish Edward’s son as a puppet-ruler under his control, Mortimer states:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The queen and Mortimer
Shall rule the realm, the king, and none rule us;
Mine enemies will I plague, my friends advance,
And what I list command, who dare control?
Maior sum quam cui possit fortuna nocere;
And that this be the coronation day
It pleaseth me and Isabel the queen.
Related Themes:
