Shakespeare Lit Terms

Question 1

Monologue

Answer 1

internal or emotional thoughts or feelings of a character directed at other actors

Question 2

Soliloquy

Answer 2

monologue spoken by an actor when he believes he is alone, reveals innermost thoughts and necessary information

Question 3

Act

Answer 3

a major division in a play, divided by action

Question 4

Scene

Answer 4

subdivision of an act that takes place within a single setting

Question 5

Foil

Answer 5

character that serves by contrast to highlight or emphasize opposing traits in another character

Question 6

Parallel

Answer 6

characters with similar traits

Question 7

Catalyst

Answer 7

something that causes an important event to happen

Question 8

Prologue

Answer 8

section of introductory material before the first chapter or main material of work. establishes setting

Question 9

Tragedy

Answer 9

serious play that portrays human struggle in which the tragic hero passes through a series of misfortunes leading to a final, devastating catastrophe usually death.

Question 10

Sonnet

Answer 10

lyric poem of 14 lines in iambic pentameter with rhyme scheme ababcdcdefef etc.

Question 11

Prose

Answer 11

material not written in regular meter like poetry. ordinary language

Question 12

Poetry

Answer 12

literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feeling and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm

Question 13

Iambic Pentameter

Answer 13

having 5 feet with each foot being a heavy syllable followed by a light syllable

Question 14

Blank Verse

Answer 14

un-rhymed lines of ten syllables each with the even numbered syllables having accents

Question 15

Pun

Answer 15

a play on two words similar in sound but different in meaning

Question 16

Subtext

Answer 16

an underlying and deeper meaning in a piece of writing