Drama and Literary Terms: Plot, Character, Stagecraft, and Style

Antagonist

The character or force that opposes the protagonist.

Climax

The turning point or moment of greatest tension in a plot.

Conflict

The struggle between opposing forces; it may be internal or external.

Crisis

A decisive moment when a character faces a major problem or must make an important choice.

Deus ex machina

An unexpected outside force or event that suddenly resolves a difficult problem.

Exposition

Background information about characters, setting, and situation.

Flashback

A scene showing an event from the past.

Foreshadowing

Hints or clues about what may happen later.

Hamartia

An error or flaw that contributes to a character's downfall.

In medias res

A story that begins in the middle of the action.

Katharsis

The audience's emotional release or cleansing, often associated with tragedy.

Plot

The sequence of events that make up a story.

Protagonist

The central character whose struggles drive the story.

Psychological realism

A style that presents believable thoughts, feelings, and motivations.

Resolution/Denouement

The ending where conflicts are settled and loose ends are tied up.

Caricature

A character whose traits are exaggerated for comic or critical effect.

Character

A person or figure who participates in a dramatic work.

Double Entendre

A statement with two meanings, often one innocent and one suggestive.

Dynamic Character

A character who undergoes a significant internal change.

Epiphany

A sudden realization or moment of understanding.

Foil

A character whose contrasting qualities highlight another character's traits.

Flat Character

A character with few traits and limited complexity.

Humanism

A Renaissance outlook emphasizing human value, potential, and experience.

Innuendo

An indirect remark that hints at something, often critical or suggestive.

Motivation

The reason a character acts or makes a particular choice.

Renaissance

A period of renewed interest in classical learning, art, and human potential.

Round Character

A complex, multidimensional character with several traits and motivations.

Static Character

A character who does not significantly change throughout the story.

Stock Character

A familiar, recognizable character type that appears in many works.

Wordplay

The clever or humorous use of words and their meanings or sounds.

Act

A major division of a play.

Action

The events and things characters do that move the drama forward.

Scene

A smaller division of a play, often marked by a change in time, place, or characters present.

Stage Business

Small physical actions performed by actors during a scene.

Stage Direction

Written instructions for movement, delivery, setting, lighting, or other performance details.

Dialogue

A conversation or exchange of spoken lines between characters.

Monologue

An extended speech delivered by one character.

Soliloquy

A speech in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud, typically while alone onstage.

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, event, text, or idea.

Formal Diction

Careful, polished, or official word choice.

Figures of Speech

Expressions that use language in a nonliteral or imaginative way.

Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect.

Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses.

Informal Diction

Casual, conversational word choice.

Metaphor

A comparison that describes one thing as another without using like or as.

Parallelism

The use of similar grammatical structures in related words, phrases, or sentences.

Personification

Giving human qualities or actions to something nonhuman.

Simile

A comparison using like or as.

Stream-of-consciousness

A style that presents the continuous flow of a character's thoughts and feelings.

Style

The distinctive way a writer uses language and dramatic techniques.

Tone

The attitude conveyed by a writer or speaker toward a subject or audience.

Understatement

Making something seem less important or serious than it actually is.