English Macbeth Critical Terms

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

Aside

a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage

Blank Verse

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.

Caesura

A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.

Comic Relief

A humorous scene or speech intended to lighten the mood

Dialouge

Conversation between characters

Dramatic Irony

when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't

Enjabment

the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

Equivocate

(v.) to speak or act in a way that allows for more than one interpretation; to be deliberately vague or ambiguous

Foil

A character who acts as a contrast to another character

Hubris

excessive pride or self-confidence

Hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

iambic pentameter

a poetic meter that is made up of 5 stressed syllables each followed by an unstressed syllable

Meter

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

Monologue

a long speech by one actor in a play or movie, or as part of a theatrical or broadcast program.

Paradox

A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

Personifciation

giving human qualities to non-human things

prophecy

a prediction of the future

Prose

written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.

Soliloquy

A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage

Stage Directions

an instruction in the text of a play, especially one indicating the movement, position, or tone of an actor, or the sound effects and lighting.

Thane

a man who held land granted by the king or by a military nobleman, ranking between an ordinary freeman and a hereditary noble

Thrust Stage

A stage that extends into the seating area. The audience sits on three sides of the stage

Trochaic Tetrameter

Stressed - unstressed -Stressed - unstressed

Tragic Hero

A literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy

verse

A single line of poetry