Play Flashcards
Nemesis
Usually happens at the end of a play,m where the good are rewarded and the bad are punished
Aside
Brief, often sarcastic or revealing comment made by an actor to the audience which is not meant to be heard by other actors on stage.
Catastrophe
Synonymous with outcome, a stage serving to tidy up any loose ends of plot and characterization.
Character Foil
Any character who, by his contrast to another character, brings out the personality of the latter.
Prologue
Provides background to the play.
Climax
The highest point of emotional response when the crisis is resolved favourably or unfavourably
Soliloquy
A speech made by a character alone on a stage, it can be used to foreshadow events
Motivation
The reason why characters behave the way they do
Pathos
The quality of evoking pity
Pace
The rate of speed at which a play moves
Antecedent Action
Action which took before the play begun but on which the events of the play depend
Playwright
The author of the play
Comic relief
A brief, humorous scene to relieve the tensions built up in previous scene or in the audience
Rhyming Couplet
Two lines which rhyme with each other and which follow one another
Anticlimax
A falling off or letdown in events or statements, sometimes gradual sometimes abrupt
Suspense
The tensions and ancients felt by the audience
Denouement
The actual plot conclusions or object in time
Deus Ex Machina
A person or event that comes just in time to solve a difficulty in a story or in a play, a last minute rescue
Complication
An event which introduces or intensifies conflict
Chorus
A mask group that sand and danced in Greek tragedy
Star-Crossed
People who have bad fate with each other
Shroud
Clothing that a dead person is wrapped in for burial
Shrift
Confession to a priest
Inexorable
Impossible to stop or prevent
