Soliloquy vs Monologue: What’s the Difference?

The difference at a glance

A soliloquy is specifically a character speaking their private thoughts aloud when alone — or as if alone — giving the audience access to an unguarded interior. A monologue is any extended speech by one person, public or private. Hamlet's 'To be or not to be' is a soliloquy; a best man's speech is a monologue. The soliloquy reveals what cannot be said to others; the monologue says it to them.

What does Soliloquy mean?

noun · /səˈlɪləkwi/

A dramatic form in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud to themselves — and by extension, any private extended expression of thought not addressed to an audience but to oneself.

Soliloquy in a sentence

Hamlet's soliloquies are how we know who he really is, beneath the performance.

Her morning walk had become a kind of soliloquy — the day's problems spoken aloud to the trees.

What does Monologue mean?

noun · /ˈmɒnəlɒɡ/

A lengthy speech by one person in a play, film, or conversation; a literary or dramatic piece in which a single speaker expresses thoughts, feelings, or arguments without interruption.

Monologue in a sentence

Her monologue at the dinner table had started as an explanation and ended as a confession.

The soliloquy differs from a monologue: in a soliloquy, you speak your thoughts aloud; in a monologue, you speak them to someone.

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