Macbeth - Shakespeare Terms That You Need To Know.pdf

Terms that you need TO KNOW allusion An indirect reference to a person, thing, event, situation, or aspect of culture: real or fictional, past or present. An allusion may draw from literature, myth, history, or the Bible. aside Short speech delivered by a character in a play in order to express...

Terms that you need TO KNOW allusion An indirect reference to a person, thing, event, situation, or aspect of culture: real or fictional, past or present. An allusion may draw from literature, myth, history, or the Bible. aside Short speech delivered by a character in a play in order to express his or her true thoughts and feelings. Traditionally, the aside is directed to the audience and is presumed to be inaudible to the other actors. blank verse Poetry written in unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. This verse form was widely used by Shakespeare. comic relief A humorous scene or speech in a serious drama which is meant to provide relief from emotional intensity and, by contrast, to heighten the seriousness of the story couplet two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, that form a unit Example: Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. (Macbeth) dramatic irony When the reader or audience is aware of something that is happening in the story but the characters do not know yet foil Character who stands in sharp contrast to another character in order to highlight that character’s traits hamartia also called tragic flaw, inherent defect or shortcoming in the hero of a tragedy, who is in other respects a superior being favored by fortune iambic pentameter Blank verse written in iambic pentameter has five stressed and unstressed syllables, thus each line of iambic pentameter is ten syllables irony Contrast between what is said and what is really meant OR between what is expected to happen and what actually happens monologue A speech in a play by one character that, unlike a soliloquy, is addressed to another character or characters. motif an object or idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work and helps identify the theme oxymoron A figure of speech that produces an effect of seeming self-contradictory Examples: wise fool, sad joy, cruel kindness paradox Statement that seems contradictory but may actually be true. prose The ordinary form of spoken or written language which does not have a regular rhythmic pattern or meter pun A play on words based on the similarity of sound between two words with different meanings soliloquy A long speech of a character in a play delivered while the speaker is alone, that informs the audience of what is passing in the character’s mind or gives information concerning other participants in the action which is essential for the audience to know tragedy a play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character tragic hero a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat