Drama terminology

Question 1

Peripeteia

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Catharsis

Answer 2

Emotional discharge which results in achieving a state of moral or spiritual renewal

Question 3

Anagnorisis

Answer 3

Moment when main character realises his/her true nature/ nature of the situation
Leads to resolution of the story

Question 4

Hamartia

Answer 4

A characters fatal flaw leading the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine

Question 5

Hubris

Answer 5

Excessive pride

Question 6

Locutionary act

Answer 6

The words themselves

Question 7

Illocutionary force

Answer 7

Performance of the utterance ( promising, warning etc)

Question 8

Perlocutionary effect

Answer 8

Utterance creating an emotional effect

Question 9

Verse

Answer 9

Writing arranged with a metrical rhythm/ typically having a rhyme

Question 10

Prose

Answer 10

Written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure/ rhythm

Question 11

Tragic hero

Answer 11

A great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering or defeat

Question 12

Hamartia

Answer 12

Tragic flaw

Question 13

Hubris

Answer 13

Excessive pride

Question 14

Aside

Answer 14

Speech in a play that is said away from a present group

Question 15

Soliloquy

Answer 15

A speech made by a character when alone/ talking to oneself

Question 16

Shared line

Answer 16

Verse lines SHARED OR SPLIT between two or more speakers, used in fast-paced conversations in drama

Question 17

Stichomythia

Answer 17

Dialogue in which two characters speak ALTERNATE lines of verse, used as a stylistic device

Question 18

Iambic pentameter

Answer 18

A line of verse with 5 metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable

Question 19

Rhyming couplet

Answer 19

Two lines of the same length that rhyme

Question 20

Hypermetrical lines

Answer 20

Having one or more syllables in addition to those found in a standard metrical unit or line of verse

Question 21

Dramatic irony

Answer 21

When the audience knows more than the other characters on stage

Question 22

Protagonist

Answer 22

Main character

Question 23

Antagonist

Answer 23

The character in the story who is against the protagonist

Question 24

Caesura

Answer 24

A pause in the middle of a line

Question 25

Enjambement

Answer 25

(In verse) continuation of a sentence without a pause at the end of a line, couplet to stanza