Romeo and Juliet Key Words

Question 1

A play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, normally ending with the downfall of the main character.

Answer 1

Tradegy (Greek)

Question 2

The protagonist of a tragic story, in which, despite their virtuous and sympathetic traits and ambitions, they ultimately meet defeat, suffering, or even an untimely end. They are often imperfect and typically have some sort of fatal flaw.

Answer 2

Tragic protagonists

Question 3

A character in a story who is presented as the main enemy of the protagonist

Answer 3

Antagonist

Question 4

The use of a single metaphor at length in a work of literature. It is from a mere metaphor in its length, and has more than one single comparison between the subject described and the object used to describe it.

Answer 4

Extended metaphor

Question 5

A monologue addressed to oneself, thoughts spoken out loud to the audience.

Answer 5

Soliloquy

Question 6

A dramatic device in which a character speaks to the audience or another character on stage showing that other characters cannot hear them.

Answer 6

Aside

Question 7

Excessive pride or self-confidence or (in Greek Tragedy) excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.

Answer 7

Hubris

Question 8

A characters fatal flaw

Answer 8

Hamartia

Question 9

The process of releasing, and providing relief from strong or repressed emotions.

Answer 9

Catharsis

Question 10

A literary device by which the audience’s or reader’s understanding of events or individuals in a play is greater than that of its characters.

Answer 10

Dramatic irony

Question 11

A long speech by one actor in a play or film.

Answer 11

Monologue

Question 12

Having strong romantic feelings toward another person who does not feel the same way.

Answer 12

Unrequited love

Question 13

A highly conventionalized medieval tradition of love between a knight and a married noblewoman, first started by the troubadours of southern France and extensively used in European literature of the time.

Answer 13

Courtley love

Question 14

Liable to change rapidly and unpredictably, especially for the worse.

Answer 14

Volatile

Question 15

Arousing or characterized by intense feeling.

Answer 15

Emotional

Question 16

Done quickly and without thought or care.

Answer 16

Impetuous

Question 17

The sense of being “manly” and self-reliant.

Answer 17

Machismo

Question 18

A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.

Answer 18

Antithesis

Question 19

a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short syllable followed by one long syllable, for example Two households, both alike in dignity.

Answer 19

Iambic pentameter

Question 20

A poem of fourteen lines typically having ten syllables per line.

Answer 20

Sonnet

Question 21

When two or more characters share a line between them.

Answer 21

Shared lines

Question 22

A rhyming pair of successive lines of verse

Answer 22

Rhyming couplets

Question 23

The leading character or one of the major characters in a play/film/novel

Answer 23

Protagonist

Question 24

Written or spoken language in its ordinary form without rythm or rhyme.

Answer 24

Prose

Question 25

Writing arranged with a rhythm, typically having a rhyme.

Answer 25

Verse

Question 26

The development of events outside a person’s control, regarded as chosen by a supernatural power.

Answer 26

Fate

Question 27

The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s wishes.

Answer 27

Free will

Question 28

High respect; great esteem.

Answer 28

Honour

Question 29

The community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs and laws.

Answer 29

Society

Question 30

A system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.

Answer 30

Patriarchy

Question 31

The first born child

Answer 31

Primogeniture

Question 32

A prolonged and bitter quarrel or dispute.

Answer 32

Feud

Question 33

The beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something.

Answer 33

Reputation

Question 34

Unruly and chaotic

Answer 34

Anarchic

Question 35

Willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas.

Answer 35

Liberal

Question 36

Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.

Answer 36

Mercurial

Question 37

Someone who acts on a whim, without thinking.

Answer 37

Impulsive

Question 38

A group of people within a society who possess the same socioeconomic status.

Answer 38

Social class

Question 39

Someone who is unpredictable and has many conflicting emotions.

Answer 39

Tempestuous

Question 40

Living or occurring at the same time.

Answer 40

Contemporary

Question 41

Extremely idealistic: unrealistic and impractical.

Answer 41

Quixotic

Question 42

A feeling of sadness, typically with no obvious cause.

Answer 42

Melancholic

Question 43

Qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men.

Answer 43

Masculinity

Question 44

Going against what is perceived as the norm.

Answer 44

Challenging conventions

Question 45

(Of a person or action) innocent and unsuspecting.

Answer 45

Ingenuous