literary devices in shakespeares plays

Act

a main division of a drama. Shakespeares plays contain five acts with each act subdivided into scenes

Alliteration

the repetition of sounds usually consonants or consonant clusters, in a group of words

Allusion

a refreence to a historical or literary figure even or object to explain a present situation

Aside

a brief remark made by a character and intended to be heard by the audience but not by other characters

Atmosphere

the tone or mood established by events, places, or situations

Blank Berse

unrhymed potry with five iambic feet to a line. each food has an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable (iambic pentameter)

Chorus

in ancient Greek drama, the singing and dancing group whose words formed commentary or interpretation of action. In elizabethan drama the role of chorus was often taken by one actor, who recitred a prologue, or by several actors who offered commentary on a situation

Comic Relief

A humorous scene or speech in a serious drama which is meant to provide relief from emotional intensity and, by contrast, to hightened the seriousness of the story

Conceits

whimsical, extravagant, fanciful ideas

couplets

Two consecutive lines that rhyme

dramatic irony

a device occurring when some players are ignorant of facts of which the audience, or the audience and other characters , are fully aware

End Rhyme

Each scene rhymes in the two last lines to relieve the tension of tradgey

foil

a character or scene that is set up as a contrast to another so that each will stand out vividly

foreboding

a feeling that something bad is about to happen

Humorous Relief

The addition of humor to relieve the tension of tragedy

iambic pentameter

a rhythmic line consisting of five iambs (a metered foot composed of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Imagery

the term used to describe words or phrases that appeal to the five senses

metaphor

a figure of speech that states a comparison between essentially two unlike things

monolouge

a long, uninterrupted speech that is spoken in the presence of other charactersx

oxymoron

a word or group of words that is self contradicting, example being “bittersweet”

Paradox

a statement which seems to be contradictory but is at the same time profoundly logical. it may be used to emphasize a particluar there or idea. example “so foul and fair a day I have not seen”

personification

a figure of speech in which an animal, an object, a naturalforce, or an idea is given personality, or described as if it were human

pun

a humorous play on words indicating different meanings

quatrain

a verse unit of four lines

rhyme scheme

the formal arrangement of rhymes in a stanzza or a poem. ut may be indentified by the name of set or rhyme pattern. a

scene

a small unit of a play in which there is no shift of locale or time

simile

a figure of speech that states a comparison between two essentially unlike things which are similar in one aspect. similes are introduced with like or as

soliloquy

a speech given by a character alone on state. the propose of a soliloquy is to let the audience know what the character is thinking and feeling

sonnet

a fourteen line powen with a rhyme scheme of ABAB. CDCD, EFEF, GG

Stanza

a division of a poem consisting of two or more lines arranged together as a unit. as stanza usually is a group of lines arrangred together in a recurring pattern of metrical lengths and a sequence of rhymes

Suspense

the element in the play that keeps the reader wanting to know what happens next

tragedy

a type of drama of human conflict which ends in defeat and suffering. often the main character has a tragic flaw which leads to his or her destruction. sometimes the conflict is with forces beyond the control of the character such as fate and/ or evil in the world