H-M

AP Literature

hamartia

hamartia

a flaw in the tragic hero, or an error made by the tragic hero

hero, heroine

the main character (not necessarily heroic or even admirable) in a work: protag

hubris, hybris

a Greek word, usually translated as “overweening pride,” “arrogance,” “excessive ambition,” and often said to be the characteristic of tragic figures

hyperbole

figurative language using overstatement, as in “He died a thousand deaths”

image, imagery

imagery is established by language that appeals to the senses, especially sight (also other senses)

indeterminancy

a passage that careful readers agree is open to more than interpretation. according to some post structural critics, because language is unstable and because contexts can never be objectively viewed, all texts are indeterminate

innocent eye

a naive narrator in whose narration the reader sees more than the narrator sees

interpretation

the assignment of meaning to a text

intertextuality

all works show the influence of other works

if an author writes a story, no matter how original they think they are, they bring knowledge of other stories to their own

irony

a contrast of some sort

• verbal irony, socratic irony: contrast between what is said and what is meant

  • dramatic irony, sophoclean irony: contrast between what is intended and what is accomplished

litotes

a form of understatement in which an affirmation is made by means of a negation

mask

a term used to designate the speaker of a poem, equivalent to persona or voice

meaning

defined as what the writer intended the work to say about the world and human experience, or as what the work says to the reader irrespective of the writer’s intention

melodrama

a narrative, usually in dramatic form, involving threatening situations but ending happily

metaphor

a king of figurative language equating one thing with another

• example: “this novel is garbage”

metonymy

a kind of figurative language in which a word or phrase stands not for itself but for something closely related to it

• example: “saber rattling” means ‘militaristic talk or action’

monologue

a relatively long, uninterrupted speech by a character

montage

in film, quick cutting // in fiction, quick shifts

mood

the atmosphere, usually created by descriptions of the settings and characters

motif

a recurrent theme within a work, or a theme common to many works

motivation

grounds for a character’s action

myth

a traditional story reflecting primitive beliefs, especially explaining the mysteries of the natural world