Drama terminology Flashcards
Peripeteia
A sudden change/ turning point in a story, resulting in a negative way
Protagonists fortune turns from good to bad
Result of a characters previous actions or mistakes
Catharsis
Emotional discharge which results in achieving a state of moral or spiritual renewal
Anagnorisis
Moment when main character realises his/her true nature/ nature of the situation
Leads to resolution of the story
Hamartia
A characters fatal flaw leading the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine
Hubris
Excessive pride
Locutionary act
The words themselves
Illocutionary force
Performance of the utterance ( promising, warning etc)
Perlocutionary effect
Utterance creating an emotional effect
Verse
Writing arranged with a metrical rhythm/ typically having a rhyme
Prose
Written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure/ rhythm
Tragic hero
A great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering or defeat
Hamartia
Tragic flaw
Hubris
Excessive pride
Aside
Speech in a play that is said away from a present group
Soliloquy
A speech made by a character when alone/ talking to oneself
Shared line
Verse lines SHARED OR SPLIT between two or more speakers, used in fast-paced conversations in drama
Stichomythia
Dialogue in which two characters speak ALTERNATE lines of verse, used as a stylistic device
Iambic pentameter
A line of verse with 5 metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable
Rhyming couplet
Two lines of the same length that rhyme
Hypermetrical lines
Having one or more syllables in addition to those found in a standard metrical unit or line of verse
Dramatic irony
When the audience knows more than the other characters on stage
Protagonist
Main character
Antagonist
The character in the story who is against the protagonist
Caesura
A pause in the middle of a line
Enjambement
(In verse) continuation of a sentence without a pause at the end of a line, couplet to stanza
