Shakespeare and Literary Terms

aside

in a play, a comment made by a character that is heard by the audience or another character but is not heard by other characters on stage; usually reveals the private thoughts of an actor

dialogue

conversation between characters in a literary work; reveals character's personalities and feelings

monologue

when a character delivers a long speech to another silent character on stage

soliloqy

a long speech delivered by a character who is alone on stage; typically reveals the private thoughts and emotions of a character

comedy

a type of drama that deals with light and amusing subjects; contain wit, humor, ridicule, and irony; often poke fun at people's faults and limitations in order to teach a life lesson

tragedy

a play in which a main character (tragic hero) suffers a down fall which may have resulted from outside forces or may have resulted from a weakness within the character (tragic flaw)

blank verse

verse written in unrhymed lines or iambic pentameter

iambic pentameter

a rhythm patter with five units or feet, each which has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

comic relief

a short, funny episode that interrupts an otherwise serious or tragic work of drama; may break the tension after a particularly intense scene

drama

a story written to be performed by actors in front of an audience

foil

a character who provides a strong contrast to another character; may emphasize another character's traits or make a character look better in comparison

pun

a humorous play on two or more meaning of the same word or on tow different words with the same sound

oxymoron

a figure of speech that is a combination of seemingly contradictory words (ex. jumbo shrimp)

apostrophe

when an inanimate object or absent person is addressed as if the person or object would respond

sonnet

a lyric poem of fourteen lines, almost always written in iambic pentameter and usually following strict patterns of stanza division and rhyme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg

chance happening

when an event occurs that seems like an accident but really reveals that fate is having a role in the characters' destinies

prologue

an intro or preface, especially a poem recited to introduce a play

chorus

a figure known to comment on play's actions and describe events not shown on stage; usually includes either a single actor or a group of actors who speak in unison and deliver the prologue

tragic hero

main character of a tragedy that suffers from a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall/death

tragic flaw

the personality trait that leads to the destruction/death of the tragic hero

Stratford, England

where William Shakespeare was born

April 23, 1564

Shakespeare's birthday

Anne Hathaway

Shakespeare's wife

Susanna, Hamnet (dies), and Judith

Shakespeare's children and which died

Lord Chamberlain's men

acting company Shakespeare was leading actor in

King's men, grooms of the chamber

name of company Shakespeare was a member of designated by King James I

penny-copies

copies of Shakespeare's plays sold to the audience

John Hemings and Henry Condell

working companions of Shakespeare form the lord chamberlain's men who printed the first folio edition of the collected works

Blackfriar

theater owned by James Burbage and later purchased by Shakespeare

Globe Theater, built in 1599

theater built by Richard and Cuthbert Burbage who shared ownership of it with Shakespeare and when was it built

galleries

balconies for wealthier people to sit in to view the plays

yard/pit

area where the poorer people would stand in front of the stage

groundlings or penny stinkers

people who stood in the yard

tragedy; comedy

black flag for: ___; white flag for: __

masque

costume balls

alliteration

occurrence of two or more words having the same initial sound in a line of poetry

analogy

correspondence in some respect between things otherwise dissimilar; comparison used to explain

irony

when we know something and the character knows something, but the other character doesn't

personification

giving things or abstraction human qualities

simile

a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared using like or as

metaphor

a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared

couplet

a poem made of two lines of rhyming poetry that usually have the same meter

paradox

a statement or event that seems to contradict itself, though it is still true, or at least makes sense.

allusion

symbolic reference; an implied reference to history or literature

quatrain

four line part of a sonnet