Literary/Drama/Syntactical Devices and Terms

Tragic Hero

the character who exhibits a tragic flaw which eventually leads to his or her demise. A tragedy must have a tragic hero who exhibits the following qualities: cannot be an ordinary person; highly renowned or royal; has a tragic flaw; not all good or all bad; in conflict with an opposing force; responsible for their own downfall; comes to recognize their own error, but only after it is too late

Hamartia (Greek):

a tragic flaw leading to a downfall; a mistake

Hubris (Greek):

excessive pride or self-confidence leading to a downfall

Catharsis:

to arouse pity and fear in the audience; a release of emotional tension

Antithesis:

a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other.

Paradox:

a statement that is seemingly contradictory/opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true

Apostrophe:

a figure of speech used when the writer or speaker speaks directly to someone who is not present, or speaks to an inanimate object.

Monologue:

an extended speech by one person.

Soliloquy:

an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play

Aside:

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

Dramatic Irony:

situations in which the audience knows more about the situations, the causes of conflicts, and their resolutions before the characters

Foil:

a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with those of another character. The objective is to highlight the traits of the other character.

Tragic Flaw:

a trait in a heroic character leading to his downfall. This trait could be the lack of self-knowledge, lack of judgment, and often is hubris (excessive pride).

Turning Point:

the point of highest tension in a narrative; it's the most exciting and revealing part of a story. It leads the rising action into the falling action before a story is resolved.

Alliteration:

repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

Assonance:

repeated vowel sounds.

Cacophony:

the grouping together of harsh, discordant sounds (opposite of euphony).

Consonance:

the repetition of consonant sounds in close proximity.