Shakespeare Flashcards
a main division of a drama (his consist of five with each subdivided into scenes)
acts
the repetition of the same initial consonant sound
alliteration
a reference to a well known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art
allusion
a brief remark made by a character, intended to be heard by the audience but not by the other characters on stage
aside
unrhymed iambic pentameter
blank verse
the downfall of the tragic here
castastrophe
the most emotional point when the conflict is addressed
climax
a deliberate contrast of light and dark to highlight movement or intensify a scene
chiaroscuro
a feeling created by a humorous action or speech that appears after a serious moment within a serious work of literature
comic relief
a play that starts in turmoil, but finishes happy. Usually makes fun of the political system or human nature
comedy
an extended metaphor that uses elaborate and exaggerated comparisons
conceit
the one event that initiates the rising action
exciting force
a character that takes the opposite role of another character
foil
a hint of what is to come in the story often used to keep audience in a state of expectancy
foreshadowing
a play based on real events or characters
history
a two syllable metrical foot consisting of unaccented followed by accented words (five feet)
iambic pentameter
the results from a contrast between appears to be and what really is
irony
the contrast between what is said and what is meant
verbal irony
the events not known to a character but are known to an audience
dramatic irony
two opposite ideas working together
oxymoron
a statement that to be contradictory but actually presents a truth
paradox
giving human qualities to inanimate objects
personification
a play on words; using a word or phrase that has more than one meaning or words that sound the same
pun
a small unit of a play in which there is no shift of local or time
scene
a figure of speech that compares two unlike things using like or as
simile
a dramatic convention allows a character, alone on stage, to speak his or her own thoughts aloud
soliloquy
a poem of fourteen lines with a fixed rhyme scheme
sonnet
a dramatic writing which contains many struggles and usually ends in catastrophe contains a tragic hero
tragedy
the main character, usually upperclass, who, through choice or circumstance, is caught up in a sequence of events that inevitably results in a catastrophe. We usually sympathize with this character as we too are caught up in the events.
tragic hero
the character trait in a tragic hero, which causes his downfall
tragic flaw
