soliloquy
suh-LIL-uh-kweenounMeaning a speech in a play in which a character, alone, speaks thoughts aloud
Memory hook SOLO + LOQU: talking ALONE on stage. Alone on the empty stage, the prince speaks his worried thoughts out loud to no one at all. His speech is a soliloquy.
In the second act, the prince delivers a long soliloquy about whether to leave home.
In context The audience learned the villain’s plan through a soliloquy: alone on the dark stage, he told no one but himself exactly what he meant to do.
Similar speech to oneself, thinking aloud
From Late Latin soliloquium, “talking to oneself”: solus (alone) + loqui (to speak).