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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
Act 1, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Like Bright Metal :
In his first major soliloquy in the play, Prince Hal explains his plan to stage an impressive comeback in court after his rebellious and wayward adolescence. Comparing himself in a vivid simile to "bright metal on a sullen ground," the young Prince states:
So when this loose behavior I throw off
And pay the debt I never promisèd,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glitt’ring o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I’ll so offend to make offense a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Imitate the Sun:
At the end of the second scene of the play, Falstaff and Poins exit the tavern, leaving Prince Hal alone with his thoughts. In a soliloquy, he reflects upon his own motivations for socializing with “low life” characters such as Falstaff and metaphorically compares himself to the sun:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapors that did seem to strangle him.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—A Good Plot:
Though Henry IV Part 1 is named for the King, its dramatic action pits two different figures named Henry (and often called Harry) against each other: Henry Percy, nicknamed “Hotspur,” and Prince Henry. These two young men serve as foils for each other throughout the play, each casting into sharper relief the distinctive traits and characteristics of the other. Hotspur’s only soliloquy in the play emphasizes some of these key differences. Speaking to himself after reading a letter from the Archbishop of York that denied material aid to his rebellion and cast doubts upon its possibility of success, Hotspur states:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Say you so, say you so?
I say unto you again, you are a shallow, cowardly
hind, and you lie. What a lack-brain is this! By
the Lord, our plot is a good plot as ever was laid,
our friends true and constant—a good plot,
good friends, and full of expectation; an excellent
plot, very good friends. What a frosty-spirited
rogue is this! Why, my Lord of York commends
the plot and the general course of the action.
Zounds, an I were now by this rascal, I could brain
him with his lady’s fan.
Related Themes:
Act 5, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Honor :
In the lead-up to the Battle of Shrewsbury, the usually merry Falstaff has a moment of somber reflection. In a soliloquy, he reflects upon the topic of honor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Can honor set to a
leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a
wound? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery, then?
No. What is honor? A word. What is in that word
“honor”? What is that “honor”? Air. A trim reckoning.
Who hath it? He that died o’ Wednesday. Doth
he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. ’Tis insensible,
then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the
living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore,
I’ll none of it. Honor is a mere scutcheon. And
so ends my catechism.
Related Themes:
