Much Ado Literary Techniques

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare uses this technique in Much Ado around romantic plots.

Metaphor

A comparison in which one thing is described as another. Does not use "like" or "as".

Simile

Using "like" or "as" to make a comparison.

Allusion

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

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

Alliteration

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Rhetorical Questions

questions asked for effect rather than answers

Hyperbole

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Pun

a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.

Malapropism

a word deliberately misused for a humorous effect

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it

Epistrophe

Repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of successive clauses

Aside

a line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces. Can be internal, which is a struggle within a character, or external, which is a struggle between a character and their environment.

Dramatic Irony

when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't

Situational Irony

irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.

Soliloquy

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

Subplot

A subordinate or minor collection of events in a novel or play, usually connected to the main plot

Metaphor

About Claudio: "...doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion" (1.1.14-15)

Blank Verse

"My love is thine to teach. Teach it but how, and thou shalt see how apt it is to learn..." (1.1, 285-287)

Simile

"...hang me in a bottle like a cat and shoot at me..."(1.1, 252-253)

Allusion

"Not till God make men of some other metal than earth... Adam's sons are my brethren" (2.1. 59-64)

Oxymoron

"There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her" (1.1.59-60)

Hyperbole

"O Lord, he will hang upon him like a disease! He is sooner caught than the pestilence, and the taker runs presently mad." (1.1.84-88)

Rhetorical Questions

"Who, the most exquisite Claudio?" (1.3.48)

Apostrophe

"O God of love! I know he doth deserve as much as may be yielded to a man." (3.1 53-54)

Situational Irony Example

Benedick talks to Claudio that he shouldn't fall in love and that it's pointless, Benedick then falls in love later. (1.1 193-197)

Situational Irony Example

Benedick and Beatrice constantly insult each other and claim they won't fall in love but eventually fall in love with each other. (4.1 293-298)

Dramatic Irony Example

Conversation between Benedick and Beatrice at the dance. Benedick knows he's talking to Beatrice, and Beatrice doesn't know who she's talking to. The audience knows both, though. (2.1.123-152)

Epistrophe Example

I will make it good how you dare, with what you dare, and when you dare. (5.1.159-60)

Pun Example (about the title)

The title Much Ado About Nothing--at the time the play was written 'nothing' was pronounced in the same ways as 'noting' which could mean observing or spying.

Pun Example (Beatrice and stuffing/stuffed)

About Benedick (Beatrice Speaking):

"He is no less than a stuffed man, but for the stuffing--well, we are all mortal." (1.1.57-58)

Simile Example

"... an she were not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December." (1.1, 186-188)