In the third act of Clyde Fitch's play, _The Girl with
the Green Eyes_, there is a daring attempt at such a soliloquy, where
Jinny says: "Good Heavens! why am I maudling on like this to myself out
loud? It's really nothing--Jack will explain once more that he can't
explain"--and so on. Whether the attempt justified itself or not would
depend largely on the acting. In any case, it is clear that the author,
though as a rule somewhat lax in his craftsmanship, was here aiming at
psychological truth.
A word must be said as to a special case of the soliloquy--the letter
which a person speaks aloud as he writes it, or reads over to himself
aloud. This is a convention to be employed as sparingly as possible; but
it is not exactly on a level with the ordinary soliloquy. A letter has
an actual objective existence. The words are formulated in the
character's mind and are supposed to be externalized, even though the
actor may not really write them on the paper. Thus the letter has, so to
speak, the same right to come to the knowledge of the audience as any
other utterance.
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