Macbeth Literary Devices – Flashcards

A person or force which opposes the protagonist in a literary work. Paris is an antagonist in Romeo and Juliet

A figure of speech wherein the speaker speaks directly to something nonhuman when Macbeth addresses the ghost of Banquo

A detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious and to evoke a response. tragic hero is an archetype in Shakespeare.

A device in which a character in a drama makes a short speech which is heard by the audience but not by other characters in the play

The scene in a tragedy which includes the death or moral destruction of the protagonist. The catastrophe in Shakespearean tragedy occurs in Act 5 of each drama, and always includes the death of the protagonist.

In the plot of a drama, conflict occurs when the protagonist is opposed by some person or force in the play.

A stanza of two lines, usually rhyming. "Never was there a tale of more woe than that of Juliet and her Romeo."

In drama, a conversation between characters. One interesting type of dialogue, stichomythia, occurs when the dialogue takes the form of a verbal duel between characters QUEEN: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much offended. QUEEN: Come, Come, you answer with an idle tongue. HAMLET: Go, Go, You question with a wicked tongue.

In literature, the occurrence of a single speaker saying something to a silent audience Juliets speech on the balcony: Romeo Romeo where for out thou Romeo?

A character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison Benvolio and Mercutio

Excessive pride or arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy.

A metrical pattern of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable All of Romeo and Juliet is written in iambic pentameter

The atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work, partly by a description of the objects or by the style of the descriptions. A work may contain a mood of horror, mystery, holiness, or childlike simplicity, to name a few, depending on the author's treatment of the work. mood for Macbeth is dark and angry

An unverifiable story based on a religious belief. The characters of myths are gods and goddesses, or the offspring of the mating of gods or goddesses and humans. Some myths detail the creation of the earth, while others may be about love, adventure, trickery, or revenge. In all cases, it is the gods and goddesses who control events, while humans may be aided or victimized. The myth of Lucretia is mentioned in Macbeth who killed herself after getting raped.

A play on words wherein a word is used to convey two meanings at the same time. Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.

In poetry, a pattern of repeated sounds. In end rhyme, the rhyme is at the end of the line A poem should be palpable and mute As a globed fruit

Recurrences of stressed and unstressed syllables at equal intervals, similar to meter. However, though two lines may be of the same meter, the rhythms of the lines may be different.

The time and place in which a story unfolds. The setting in Act 1, scene 1 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet for example, is a public square in Verona, Italy. A drama may contain a single setting, or the setting may change from scene to scene.

In drama, a moment when a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud. Hamlet: To be or not to be that is the question..

a tragedy is a type of drama which is pre-eminently the story of one person, the hero. The story depicts the troubled part of the hero's life in which a total reversal of fortune comes upon a person who formerly stood in high degree, apparently secure, sometimes even happy. The suffering and calamity in a tragedy are exceptional, since they befall a conspicuous person MACBETHHH