Editing Soliloquy (section)

=== Origins to early renaissance ===
Soliloquy-like addresses appear in ancient [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek drama]], where characters onstage occasionally break from dialogue to speak directly to the [[Greek chorus|chorus]] or audience, conveying personal reflections or contextual commentary.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rudnicki |first=Stefan |title=The Actor's Book of Classical Monologues: More Than 150 Selections from the Golden Age of Greek Drama, the Age of Shakespeare, the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century |date=1988 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-101-17391-6 |location=East Rutherford}}</ref> In tragedies by [[Euripides]], for example, protagonists such as [[Medea]] articulate their motivations and emotional turmoil in asides that frame their subsequent actions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Euripides, Medea, line 214 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0006,003:248 |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> These instances, while integrated within a broader choral structure, establish an early precedent for isolating a single voice in dramatic discourse.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guide to the Greek Chorus: 3 Examples of the Greek Chorus - 2025 |url=https://www.masterclass.com/articles/greek-chorus-guide |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=MasterClass |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Euripide (cropped).jpg|alt=stone bust of a bearded man|thumb|260x260px|Bust of [[Euripides]], a classical Greek tragedian]]
[[Tragedy|Roman tragedy]], particularly in the works of [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] (c. 4 BC–AD 65), develops this technique further. Senecan plays frequently include lengthy speeches in which characters meditate on themes of fate, vengeance, and moral decay. Delivered without response from other figures onstage, these monologues concentrate character psychology and foreshadow the more formal soliloquy of later periods.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Senecan tragedy {{!}} Roman, Stoic & Tragic {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Senecan-tragedy |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The Senecan model influenced [[Medieval literature|medieval]] and Renaissance writers, who adopted and adapted its emphasis on internal deliberation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Miola |first=Robert S. |date=October 2023 |title=The Dark Side: Seneca and Shakespeare |url=https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa03/memoria_di_shakespeare/article/download/18615/17653/39357 |journal=Memoria di Shakespeare. A Journal of Shakespearean Studies |pages=91–111}}</ref>

During the medieval period, [[liturgical drama]]s and [[morality play]]s featured allegorical personifications—such as [[Vice]], [[Virtue]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Morality play {{!}} EBSCO Research Starters |url=https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/drama-and-theater-arts/morality-play |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=www.ebsco.com |language=en}}</ref> or the character of [[Everyman (15th-century play)|Everyman]]—who delivered extended monologues to articulate moral lessons and spiritual introspection.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet History Sourcebooks: Medieval Sourcebook |url=https://origin-rh.web.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/everyman.asp |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=origin-rh.web.fordham.edu}}</ref> These speeches, though primarily [[Didacticism|didactic]], rely on direct address to engage the congregation as audience, reinforcing the dramatic potential of solitary speech.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LitCharts |url=https://www.litcharts.com/lit/everyman/literary-devices/style |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=LitCharts |language=en}}</ref> By the fifteenth century, with the rise of secular theatre in vernacular languages, playwrights began to shift focus toward individual characterization. Protagonists in early secular dramas spoke their private intentions and internal debates aloud, laying the groundwork for the fully realized soliloquy that would emerge in early modern theatre.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bradner |first=Leicester |date=1956 |title=The Rise of Secular Drama in the Renaissance |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0081865800001269/type/journal_article |journal=Studies in the Renaissance |language=en |volume=3 |pages=7–22 |doi=10.2307/2857098 |issn=0081-8658|url-access=subscription }}</ref>