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jasonthenLiterary Terminology as seen in Romeo and Juliet Allusion--a reference to a famous historical or fictional person, event, or work.
Example: "Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt's death, And therefore I have little talked of love; For Venus smiles not in a house of tears."--Paris
Aside--a dramatic convention in which the character "whispers" a remark which the audience
hears, but the other actors are not supposed to hear. Example: Balthasar: I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. Romeo: So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that. Live, and be prosperous; and farewell, good fellow. Balthasar: (Aside) For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout. His looks, I fear, and his intents I doubt.
Blank Verse Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter Comic Relief--a humorous scene inserted into an otherwise serious drama.
Such a comic interruption is included by the author to provide a break in the emotional intensity of the drama and, by contrast, to heighten the seriousness of the tragedy that follows. Example: At the end of Act IV, Scene 5, the conversation between Peter and the musicians is comic relief. It is meant to relieve the audience's tension after the grief-filled scene in which Juliet's body is discovered. In Shakespeares plays, a couplet usually signals to the
Couplet two rhymed lines.
audience the end of a scene.
Dramatic Irony--this occurs when the audience of a play, or the reader of a work of
literature, knows something that a particular character does not know. Example: "Beauty's ensign yet Romeo mistakenly is in thy lips and in thy cheeks, assumes that Juliet and death's pale flag is dead. is not a advanced there. Ah, dear Juliet, Why art thou yet so fair?"Romeo
Epithet Adjective or descriptive phrase that is regularly used to characterize a person,
place, or thing. Example: Romeo! Madman! Passion! Lover!
Foil--a character whose personality or actions are in striking contrast to those of another character. By using a foil, a writer highlights the other character's traits or mood. Shakespeare frequently uses a foil to emphasize the qualities of a character. Example: In Act I, Scene I, Mercutio's merry mood, jokes, and teasing make him a foil for Romeo who is depresses and full of self-pity.
Iambic Pentameter A line of poetry that contains five iambs (combination of stressed
and unstressed syllables).
Metaphor a figure of speech which is a comparison between two unlike things that have
something in common. It is a subtle comparison suggesting one item is another. Example: Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers eye; Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers tears.
Oxymoron a figure of speech consisting of two apparently contradictory terms, such as
noiseless noise, brutal kindness, or happy pain Example: Parting is such sweet sorrow -- Juliet
Parallel a character that has almost identical qualities to another character in the text
Example: Paris and Romeo are young, rich, handsome, and related to the Prince. In addition, both love Juliet.
Personification a figure of speech in which human qualities are given to an object,
animal, or idea Example: Death is my son-in-law, Death is my hear; My daughter he hath wedded. Capulet
Pun a play on the multiple meanings of words
Example: "An old hare hoar, Mercutio uses the and an old hare hoar, insulting puns hare, Is very good meat in Lent. a rabbit or prostitute, But a hare that is a hoar, and hoar, old. Is too much for a score When it hoars ere it be spent."--Mercutio
Simile a figure of speech which makes a comparison using the terms like, as, than, or
resembles between two unlike things that have something in common Example: How silver-sweet sound lovers tongues by night, Like softest music to attending ears.
Soliloquy--a speech that a character gives when he or she is alone.
audience know what the character is thinking. Example: Juliet's soliloquy in lines 1-31 of Act II, Scene 5.
Its purpose is to let the
Tragedy - Protagonist (hero) is of noble birth Protagonist (hero) has tragic flaw Hero causes his own tragedy Play ends in death and/or violence
