Literary Devices in Macbeth

Anachronism

Something or someone placed in an incorrect time period

Archetype

A typical character, action, or situation that represents universal patterns of human nature

Verisimilitude

The appearance of being true or real within a work of fiction

Memento Mori

An object serving as a warning or reminder of death

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter

Conceit

An extended metaphor comparing two very dissimilar things

End-stopped

A line of poetry that ends with a punctuation mark

Enjambment

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

Heroic couplet

A pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter

Meter

The rhythmical pattern of a poem

Aside

A remark or passage by a character in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by other characters

Situational Irony

When the outcome of a situation is different from what was expected

Dramatic Irony

When the audience knows something that the characters do not

Soliloquy

A speech delivered by a character alone on stage to express their thoughts

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent person or a personified abstraction

Double entendre

A phrase or figure of speech that could have two meanings

Juxtaposition

The act or placement of two things (usually abstract concepts, though it can refer to physical objects) near each other

Metonymy

A figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated

Onomatopoeia

The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named

Oxymoron

A figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect

Pun

A play on words that produces a humorous effect by using a word that suggests two or more meanings

Circumlocution

The use of many words where fewer would do, especially in a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive