The Function of Soliloquies in Macbeth
Uploaded by prstinelibertine on Dec 19, 2001
Although soliloquies detract from the realism of a play, they do wonders to enrich the plot and develop characters that the author finds important to the story. The soliloquies of Macbeth are no exception. Each soliloquy allows the reader into the head of the character--his or her emotions, motivations, insecurities, and anything else that might be going on. Therefore, the function of the soliloquies in Macbeth is to heighten the reader’s perception of what is happening to the highest possible degree, letting him or her experience the internal as well as the external of main characters.
The most obvious by-product of Shakespeare’s soliloquies is the development of the character delivering the soliloquy. As any thinking human being knows, what we say is often a small portion of what’s really going on. Within the privacy of our minds, people are free to divulge whichever fears, vexes, discriminations, or feelings we like, without worry of anyone else knowing. When the characters of Macbeth make their soliloquies, Shakespeare lets their masks slip for just a minute, at which point the apt reader is free to climb inside their heads and poke around a bit, gleaning what he or she can from the old English, rhythmic thoughts, and flirtatious brevity. Without the use of his first soliloquy, for example, the reader could easily mistake Macbeth for a pitiless killer without much of a conscience. Macbeth’s soliloquy brings to light the intense dilemma he’s having, however, and, as the reader sees Macbeth sorting out his pro’s and con’s, he or she realizes that Macbeth’s almost not himself, and is in large part a slave to his ambition. After Macbeth has been devirginized in murder, he goes on to do it more and more, and his conscience seems to diminish, but the reader now knows that Macbeth once tasted innocence, but has fallen, and therein lies the tragedy of Macbeth.
More so than any other kind of art, the progressions of plays are dependent upon their characters. Where a book can be filled with anonymous descriptions, a song can abound with music and non-related lyrics, and a piece of visual art is conveyed through the picture it portrays, a play has only its characters to rely on. Therefore, when soliloquies enhance the depth of characters, they also affect the plot. As mentioned in the above paragraph, it is Macbeth’s first soliloquy that transforms the play from a...