Dramatic Terms

Question 0

Asides

Answer 0

Brief comments by an actor who addresses the audio but is assumed not to be heard by the other characters on stage.

Ex. Now he tells how she plucked him to my chamber.

Question 1

Allusion

Answer 1

A casual reference in literature to a person, place, event, or another passage of literature, often without explicit identification. Allusions can originate in mythology, biblical references, historical events, legends, geography or earlier works.

These can establish time, contrast two objects or people, make am unusual juxtaposition or references or bring the reader into a world of experience outside the limitations of the story itself.

Ex. “I am not what I am.”

Question 2

Blank Verse

Answer 2

Unrhymed lines of ten syllable each with the even numbered syllables bearing the accents.

Ex. Everything

Question 3

Catastrophe

Answer 3

The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement, or falling action, of the play.

Ex. Othello kills himself

Question 4

Comic Relief

Answer 4

A humorous scene, incident, character or bit of dialogue after serious or tragic moments, these are used to relieve tension as well as heighten and hi light the seriousness or tragedy of the action.

Ex. Clown

Question 5

Dialogue

Answer 5

Lines spoken by characters

Question 6

Figurative language

Answer 6

Language used to convey something other the. The literal meaning of their words. Examples include hyperbole, litotes (understatement) as well as simile and metaphor.

Ex. “I had rather be a toad and live pho the vapors of a dungeon than keep a corner in the thing I love for others’ uses.”

Question 7

Foil

Answer 7

Contrasting character

Ex. Emilia to Desdemoma

Question 8

Foreshadowing

Answer 8

Hints

Ex. Perdition catch my soul but I do love thee; and when I love thee mot, chaos is come again,

Question 9

Juxtaposition

Answer 9

Ex. Heaven and Hell, White and Black

Question 10

Iambic Pentameter

Answer 10

10 syllables, stressed then unstressed

Question 11

Irony

Answer 11

Verbal irony
Situational irony: the opposite of what is expect occurs
Dramatic irony: audience knows something characters don’t

Ex. “Honest Iago”

Question 12

Monologue

Answer 12

Extended speech by one character while other characters are on stage

Question 13

Soliloquy

Answer 13

A speech in which a characin alone on stage addresses himself or herself

Question 14

Resolution/ Denouement

Answer 14

Sorting out or unraveling of plot at the end of the play

Ex. Cassio becomes lieutenant, Iago taken away?

Question 15

Tragic Hero

Answer 15

A privileged, exalted character of high repute, whom by virtue or tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory into suffering.

Question 16

Perpipeteia/ Peripetea

Answer 16

Sudden Change. The sudden reversal of fortune in a story, play or narrative. In tragedy, this is often a change from stability and happiness toward downfall.

Ex. Beach Convo?

Question 17

Hamartia

Answer 17

Tragic flaw.

Ex. I had rather be a toad.

Question 18

Anagnorisis

Answer 18

Recognition. The moment in which the hero realizes so e important fact or insight, especially a truth about himself or human nature or his situation.

Ex. Stones in heaven!

Question 19

Catharsis

Answer 19

The purging of the feelings of pity and feat that occur in the audience of tragic drama, the audience experiences catharsis at the end of the play, following the catastrophe.

Question 20

Pathos

Answer 20

A quality of a playa action that stimulates the audience to feel pity for a character.