Block test english

Hero / heroine

A main character in a story whose special abilities, characteristics and achievements make him/her appear noble and ideal.

Setting

The location and time frame in which the action of a story takes place.

Plot

The sequence of main events in a story.

5-Act structure

When a play is organised into five main acts, which are structured to show the rising and falling tensions in the play, as well as the climax.

Exposition

The part in a narrative in which the setting and plot are introduced, and in which impending tensions and/or conflicts are established.

Rising action

The part in a narrative in which tensions and/or conflicts are intensified.

Climax

The part in a narrative in which tensions and/or conflicts reach their highest point; turning point

Falling action

The part in a narrative in which tensions and/or conflicts begin to be resolved.

Denouement

The part in a narrative in which tensions and/or conflicts are resolved, and a new sense of order is established.

Genre

A method of categorising texts based on the perception of conventions and/or commonalities.

The Globe Theatre

A round, open-air theatre in which Shakespeare's plays were performed.

Subject-verb agreement

Plural subjects must have plural verbs. Singular subjects must have singular verbs

Simple Sentence

A sentence consisting of one independent clause and no dependent clause

Great Chain of Being

Everything in existence had its fixed place, from God and angels at the top, down through kings, nobles, commoners, animals, plants, and even minerals. The king ruled by divine right, appointed by God, and to challenge this order was to challenge God's will. God, cherub, archangels, angels, star controllers of destiny, moon, king, church, prince, noble, man, lion, other animals, oak and rose, other plants, gold, other minerals

Fool

A common character type in Shakespeare's plays who is funny and irreverent, and whose use of humour allows him to speak truths where others cannot.

Hippolyta

Queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus

Theseus

Duke of Athens

Titania

Queen of the fairies, married to Oberon

Oberon

King of the fairies, married to Titania

Hermia

An Athenian noblewoman; daughter of Egeus; in love with Lysander

Lysander

An Athenian man in love with Hermia

Demetrius

An Athenian man in love with Hermia with consent from her father; a player

Love

Love is a central theme in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and it motivates the characters and their actions. Early on, we see the problems that can be caused when love goes wrong. Demetrius loves Hermia - or, at least thinks he does - but she loves Lysander. Hermia's father, however, does not want Lysander for a son-in-law. And because Demetrius, who once swore he loved Helena, now says he loves Hermia instead, poor Helena feels devastated.

APPEARANCE AND REALITY

The play tells us that we cannot always trust what our senses tell us. The truth or reality of a person can be different to what they present on the surface, and our emotions and infatuations can alter our view of reality. The play's title warns us of the illusions our imaginations can conjure up, and reminds us that we can be persuaded by other people to believe untrue things.

CHAOS AND ORDER

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the characters - and audience along with them - motivated by the madness of love, run from the ordered world of Athens into the chaos of the forest. The play reminds us that the civilised world is not always stable and secure. Chaos can intrude into romantic and family relationships and shatter our usual expectations of society and life.

Athens

the capital and largest city of Greece; a space that symbolises civilised order. This can can be seen in the first scene where Theseus, King of Athens, sets out laws and structures to bring order to the disorder love is causing.

Line

A group of spoken words that ends at the right hand margin of the page.

Scene

The action that occurs between a first character's entrance onto an empty stage and the final character's exit.

Act

a collection of scenes that, together, perform an overall function in the overall narrative.