Words Flashcards
Tragedy (Greek)
Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy.
Tragic protagonists
A tragic protagonist is a character doomed to an unhappy ending.
Antagonist
antagonists are generally the bad guys.
Extended metaphor
An extended metaphor is a version of metaphor that extends over the course of multiple lines, paragraphs, or stanzas of prose or poetry. Extended metaphors build upon simple metaphors with figurative language and more varied, descriptive comparisons.
soliloquy
an act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.
aside
An aside is when a fictional character breaks away from the events of the story to talk to themselves or directly to the audience. Most often used in plays, TV series, and films, asides are usually delivered as quick observations, reactions, or quips.
hubris
Hubris, in Greek tragedy, is the excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis. The overbearing pride leads humans to follow paths or projects which lead to certain self-destruction. In Greek drama hubris is more or less followed by nemesis.
hamartia
hamartia, also called tragic flaw, (hamartia from Greek hamartanein, “to err”), inherent defect or shortcoming in the hero of a tragedy, who is in other respects a superior being favoured by fortune.
catharsis
Catharsis is the purification and purgation of emotions through dramatic art, or it may be any extreme emotional state that results in renewal and restoration.
dramatic irony
Dramatic irony is when the audience knows more than the character. It creates tension and suspense. Situational irony occurs when there is a difference between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.
monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience.
unrequited love
Unrequited love or one-sided love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. The beloved may not be aware of the admirer’s deep and pure affection, or may consciously reject it.
Courtly love
Courtly love was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing various deeds or services for ladies because of their “courtly love”.
Volatile
changing easily from one mood to another. a highly volatile personality.
emotional
When you’re emotional, you’re feeling lots of feelings, or emotions: happy, sad, afraid, lonely, mad.
impetuous
acting or done quickly and without thought or care.
machismo
Machismo is the sense of being “manly” and self-reliant, a concept associated with “a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity”.
antithesis
Antithesis is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together for contrasting effect.
iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called “feet”.
sonnet
Traditionally, the sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization.
shared lines
Shared lines are when two or more characters share a line of iambic verse between them. You will usually see this laid out on the page and it can often show a connection between charcaters.
rhyming couplets
A Rhyming Couplet is two line of the same length that rhyme and complete one thought. There is no limit to the length of the lines.
protagonist
the leading character or one of the major characters in a play, film, novel, etc.
prose
written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.
verse
writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme
Fate
the development of events outside a person’s control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power.
Free Will
the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion
Honour
high respect; great esteem.
Society
the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.
Patriarchy
a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is reckoned through the male line.
Primogeniture
the right of succession belonging to the firstborn child, especially the feudal rule by which the whole real estate of an intestate passed to the eldest son.
Feud
a prolonged and bitter quarrel or dispute.
Reputation
The beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something.
Anarchic
Unruly and chaotic
Liberal
Willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas.
Mercurial
Subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.
Impulsive
Someone who acts on a whim, without thinking.
Social class
Social class, also called class, a group of people within a society who possess the same socioeconomic status.
Patriarchy
A system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.
Tempestuous
Someone who is unpredictable and has many conflicting emotions.
Contemporary
Living or occurring at the same time.
Quixotic
Extremely idealistic: unrealistic and impractical.
Melancholic
A feeling of sadness, typically with no obvious cause.
Challenging Conventions
Going against what is perceived as the norm.
Ingenuous
(Of a person or action) innocent and unsuspecting.
Masculinity
Qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men.
