Shakespeare the Speaker

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       Shakespeare’s works are made to be performed rather than internalized. Each of his characters and settings have their individual background. Everything is crafted to be interpreted by the audience. His works are meant to be put on a stage, and seen from the audience's outer perspective of the narrative. There are times when he highlights a characters ‘internal’ thoughts by placing the main character with another person in the room, and using soliloquies or long speeches. His stories are objective, so he always remains in the third person objective point of view.

       Shakespeare typically wrote his plays in third person because it allowed him to create a narrative while distancing himself as the author. This distance allows for him to create perspectives, develop characters' personalities, and engage the audience in his works. If he wrote his plays in first person it can restrict the audience’s understanding of the story and its characters. By including a singular perspective, the play will start to lack the depth of all other characters' experiences. If Macbeth were written in first person it would completely omit other characters, such as Malcolm, Lady Macbeth, and Macduff’s feelings and motivations that resulted in uprisings and death. "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (Shakespeare, Macbeth, I.I) The audience would get a better understanding of the conflicts that go on in Macbeth’s head, but all the other emotions that cause the fight against this king would be lost. The portrayal of the other characters would be lost completely. Every relationship that doesn’t involve the main character directly, would be gone. 

       While Shakespeare’s works are all indefinitely in third person, he uses soliloquies, an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, to create a dramatic irony when the audience knows information that the other characters on stage would not know. Hamlet delivers his famous soliloquy "to be or not to be,” (Shakespeare, Hamlet, III.I) and the audience is given an insight into the mindset of Hamlet. It is spoken aloud, but is set to be happening in his mind. It is like his conscience is speaking. The irony is created because the other characters cannot hear this soliloquy. The audience experiences the extent of the character's internal struggles. This method can be seen through many of his plays such as Macbeth’s “tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, V.V), Richard III’s “now is the winter of our discontent” (Shakespeare, Richard III, I.I), Othello’s manipulative nature and plans to destroy the other characters, and Romeo and Juliet’s undying love for eachother. Each one serves a specific dramatic purpose that adds emotion and perspectives to the plot, which further pushes the audience to understand the plot better. 

       Shakespeare’s use of third person point of view and soliloquies develops his works in such a way that every character, important and unimportant, has their own characteristic that can be digested easier by the audience. It allows for him to create each character to have their own thoughts that can be seen by the audience and a specific character, and character and character connection. Applying these speaking techniques creates a Elizabethan world that can be understood on many levels.