Editing Monologue (section)

{{Short description|Speech presented by a single character}}
{{for-multi|the Soviet film|Monologue (film)|the Malayalam film|Anantaram|the speech of a narrator|Voiceover}}
[[File:Christopher Walken - 1984.jpg|thumb|Actor [[Christopher Walken]] performing a monologue in the 1984 stage play ''[[Hurlyburly]]'']]
In [[theatre]], a '''monologue''' (also known as '''monolog''' in [[North American English]]) (in {{langx|el|μονόλογος}}, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single [[character (arts)|character]], most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the [[audience]]. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media ([[Play (theatre)|play]]s, [[film]]s,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/list/ls000000354/ |author1=jaimie-k |date=22 Sep 2010 |title=The Greatest Movie Speeches/Monologues of all time!|website=IMDb|access-date=29 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401000758/http://www.imdb.com/list/ls000000354/|archive-date=1 April 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> etc.), as well as in non-dramatic media such as [[poetry]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/dm1.html |title=Dramatic Monologue: An Introduction |publisher=The Victorian Web |date=2003-03-10 |access-date=2013-08-16 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807215608/http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/dm1.html |archive-date=7 August 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Monologues share much in common with several other literary devices including [[Soliloquy|soliloquies]], [[Apostrophe (figure of speech)|apostrophes]], and [[asides]]. There are, however, distinctions between each of these devices.