TRAGEDY: Romeo and Juliet

Tragedy

tragedy

a fictional representation of suffering; a way of dignifying and making sense of suffering

Catharis

allow us to experience negative emotions vicariously, we leave having expelled them

protagonist

one or more main characters who acts in a way, which proves disastrous

hamartia

protagonist’s error of judgement

hubris

excessive pride or self-confidence

peripeteia

“plot reversal”: a pivotal or crucial action on the part of the protagonist that changes his situation from seemingly secure or vulnerable

tragic flaw

flaw in the psycological make-up of the protagonist

amphitheatre

a circular open-air venue used for performances of Greek drama

The Chorus

in Greek drama, would narrate the drama and comment/ask questions on what was happening

Terminology

5 Act structure

the number of acts in a typical elizabethan play

blank verse

poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter

dramatic irony

a situation is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play

epilogue

comes after the play, used to sometimes provide an opinion on what happened

prologue

comes before a play, used as an introduction

oxymoron

where two contradictory terms appear next to each other, e.g. “feather of lead”

prose

every day speech

rhyming couplets

two lines that rhymes

Shared lines

a line of iambic pentameter split across two or more characters

Soliloquy

device when a character speaks to oneself, relating their thoughts and feelings

Context

oppressive : vocab

unjustly inflicting hardship and constraint

turmoil:vocab

a state of great disturbance, confusion or uncertaintly

The Globe

name of hexagonal theatre once co-owned by shakespeare