Literary Terms for QUIZ 1: Tragedy and Shakespearean drama terms

Tragic hero

A noble protagonist in a tragedy who possesses admirable qualities but has a fatal flaw or makes a critical error in judgment, leading to their eventual downfall, suffering, or death, evoking pity and fear in the audience.

Tragedy

A dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically involving a great person destined to experience downfall or utter destruction, as through a character flaw or conflict with some overpowering force, such as fate or an unyielding society.

Tragic flaw

A core personality defect or excessive trait in the noble hero that, when amplified, leads them to make disastrous choices, causing their downfall, suffering, and often death, creating pity and fear in the audience.

Hubris

Excessive pride, arrogance, or overconfidence that leads a character to overstep human limits or moral boundaries, ultimately causing their downfall.

Catharsis

The audience's emotional cleansing, a purging of pity and fear experienced through witnessing the tragic hero's downfall, leading to a feeling of relief, restoration, and deeper moral understanding by the play's end.

Blank verse

A line of iambic pentameter that ends on an unrhymed or ‘blank’ syllable and gives the words a rhythm similar to a heartbeat. It is often used to express serious and sincere emotions

Iambic pentameter

A line of verse that contains ten syllables, where every second beat is accented or stressed.

Soliloquy

When a character in a dramatic work speaks at length to himself or herself, sharing their innermost thoughts with the audience.

Aside

A part of an actor's lines that is supposedly not heard by others on the stage and intended only for the audience.