to deepen character development, advance the plot, and offer the audience a clearer understanding of the psychological or emotional state of the speaker. Soliloquies are distinguished from other monologues by their introspective nature and by the absence of, or disregard for, other characters on the stage.

The soliloquy became especially prominent during the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, when playwrights used it as a means to explore complex human emotions and ethical dilemmas.