Explore Shakespeare's Use of Soliloquy in 'Othello'. What is their Purpose? How are they Useful in Putting Across what Dialogue Cannot?

Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists used his theatrical convention to evoke the inwardness of their characters, a soliloquy provides the audience with accurate access to the character's innermost thoughts and we learn more about a character than could ever be gathered from the action of the play alone. In 'Othello', both the hero and the villain speak in soliloquy. Iago, the villain, speaks his soliloquies first (Othello's occur towards the end of the play), drawing the …

…them. Iago's soliloquies show his true nature, he highlights what his scheming has accomplished and indicates his future plans and actions. The audience has a chance to view his characters and what he thinks of the other players. Othello's soliloquies come later on in the play when we can see the changes in Othello as he is poisoned by Iago. They serve to portray Othello's nature to us and emphasise the beauty of his language.