Shakespeare's Language and Dramatic Devices Flashcards
Alliteration
repetition of the same initial consonant sound throughout a line of verse
“When to the sessions of sweet silent thought….” (Sonnet XXX)
Anadiplosis
the repetition of a word that ends one clause at the beginning of the next
“My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.”1 (Richard III, V, iii)
Anaphora
repetition of a word or phrase as the beginning of successive clauses
“Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!” (King John, II, i)
Anthimeria
substitution of one part of speech for another
“I’ll unhair thy head.” (Antony and Cleoptra, II, v)
Antithesis
juxtaposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction
“Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” (Julius Caesar, III, ii)
Assonance
repetition or similarity of the same internal vowel sound in words of close proximity
“Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks.” (Romeo and Juliet, V, iii)
Asyndeton
omission of conjunctions between coordinate phrases, clauses, or words
“Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?” (Julius Caesar, III, i)
Chiasmus
two corresponding pairs arranged in a parallel inverse order
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Macbeth, I, i)
Diacope
repetition broken up by one or more intervening words
“Put out the light, and then put out the light.” (Othello, V, ii)
Ellipsis
omission of one or more words, which are assumed by the listener or reader
“And he to England shall along with you.” (Hamlet, III, iii)
Epanalepsis
repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause
“Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer’d blows.” (King John, II, i)
Epimone
frequent repetition of a phrase or question; dwelling on a point
“Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him I have offended. Who is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any speak; for him have I offended.” (Julius Caesar, III,ii)
Epistrophe
repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses
“I’ll have my bond!
Speak not against my bond!
I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.” (Merchant of Venice, III, iii)
Hyperbaton
altering word order, or separation of words that belong together, for emphasis
“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.” (Measure for Measure, II, i)
Malapropism
a confused use of words in which an appropriate word is replaced by one with similar sound but (often ludicrously) inappropriate meaning
“I do lean upon justice, sir, and do bring in here before your good honor two notorious benefactors.”
“Are they not malefactors?” (Measure for Measure, II, i)
Metaphor
implied comparison between two unlike things achieved through the figurative use of words
“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York.” (Richard III, I, i)
Metonymy
substitution of some attributive or suggestive word for what is meant (e.g., “crown” for royalty)
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” (Julius Caesar, III, ii)
Onomatopoeia
use of words to imitate natural sounds
“There be moe wasps that buzz about his nose.” (Henry VIII, III, ii)
Paralepsis
emphasizing a point by seeming to pass over it
“Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it.
It is not meet you know how Caesar lov’d you.” (Julius Caesar, III, ii)
Parallelism
similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses
“And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,
I am determinèd to prove a villain
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.” (Richard III, I, i)
Parenthesis
insertion of some word or clause in a position that interrupts the normal syntactic flow of the sentence (asides are rather emphatic examples of this)
“…Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words—
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester—
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.” (Henry V, IV, iii)
Polysyndeton
the repetition of conjunctions in a series of coordinate words, phrases, or clauses4
“If there be cords, or knives,
Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,
I’ll not endure it.” (Othello, III, iii)
Simile
an explicit comparison between two things using “like” or “as”
“My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease” (Sonnet CXLVII)
Synecdoche
the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part5
“Take thy face hence.” (Macbeth, V, iii)
Dramatic device: Act
A major division in a play. An act can be sub-divided into scenes. (See scene). Greek plays were not divided into acts. The five act structure was originally introduced in Roman times and became the convention in Shakespeare’s period. In the 19th century this was reduced to four acts and 20th century drama tends to favour three acts.
Dramatic device: Antagonist
A character or force against which another character struggles.
Examples: Creon is Antigone’s antagonist in Sophocles’ play Antigone; Tiresias is the antagonist of Oedipus in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King.1
1 Unless otherwise stated the entries are taken from and adapted from the following web site: highered.mcgraw-hill.com
Dramatic device: Apron
The part of a proscenium stage that sticks out into the audience in front of the proscenium arch.
Dramatic device: Aside
Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, but not “heard” by the other characters on stage during a play
Example: In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago voices his inner thoughts a number of times as “asides” for the audience.
Dramatic device: Blocking
Movement patterns of actors on the stage. Usually planned by the director to create meaningful stage pictures
Dramatic device: Box set
A set built behind a proscenium arch to represent three walls of a room. The absent fourth wall on the proscenium line allows spectators to witness the domestic scene. First used in the early nineteenth century.
Dramatic device: Catharsis
The purging of the feelings of pity and fear. According to Aristotle the audience should experiences catharsis at the end of a tragedy.
Dramatic device: Character
An imaginary person that inhabits a literary work. Dramatic characters may be major or minor, static (unchanging) or dynamic (capable of change).
Example: In Shakespeare’s Othello, Desdemona is a major character, but one who is static. Othello is a major character who is dynamic, exhibiting an ability to change.
Dramatic device: Chorus
A traditional chorus in Greek tragedy is a group of characters who comment on the action of a play without participating in it. A modern chorus (any time after the Greek period) serves a similar function but has taken a different form; it consists of a character/narrator coming on stage and giving a prologue or explicit background information or themes.
Dramatic device: Climax
The turning point of the action in the plot of a play and the point of greatest tension in the work. (See Appendix 1: Freytag’s Pyramid)
Example: The final duel between Laertes and Hamlet in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Dramatic device: Comedy
A dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion. (Taken from: http://dictionary.reference.com). Comedy can be divided into visual comedy or verbal comedy. Within these 2 divisions there are further sub-divisions. For example visual comedy includes farce and slapstick. Verbal Comedy includes satire, black comedy and comedy of manners.