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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 Love's Labor's Lost
Act 3, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Dan Cupid:
In a soliloquy in the first scene of Act 3, Berowne half-jokingly laments his love for Rosaline. He uses a slew of oxymorons to describe Cupid, the physical embodiment of love:
This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy,
This Signior Junior, giant dwarf, Dan Cupid,
Regent of love rhymes, lord of folded arms,
Th' anointed sovereign of sighs and groans,
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents,
[...]—O my little heart!
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Berowne's Soliloquy:
Near the end of Act 4, Berowne has a moment alone on stage to reflect on his situation in a soliloquy:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The King, he is hunting the deer; I am
coursing myself. They have pitched a toil; I am
toiling in a pitch—pitch that defiles. [....]
By the Lord, this love is as mad as Ajax.
It kills sheep, it keeps me, I a sheep. [....]
Well, I do nothing in the world but lie, and lie in my
throat. By heaven, I do love, and it hath taught me to
rhyme, and to be melancholy.
Related Themes:
