Essay about Macbeth: Drama and Macbeth Literary Term

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English 9
Literary Terms
The Tragedy of Macbeth

Literary Term | Definition | Example from play | 1. soliloquy | an utterance or discourse by a person who is talking to himself or herself | Is this a dagger I see in front of me, (2.1.33) | 2. monologue | a form of dramatic entertainment, comedic solo, or the like by a single speaker: | | 3. aside | a part of an actor's lines supposedly not heard by others on the stage and intended only for the audience. | | 4. foil characters | Is a character that acts in a drastically different way, to show the strong differences between the characters. | | 5. stage directions | an instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions, movements of performers, or production requirements. | | 6. comic relief | an amusing scene, incident, or speech introduced into serious or tragic elements, as in a play, in order to provide temporary relief from tension, or to intensify the dramatic action. | “Knock, knock, knock! (pretending he’s the gatekeeper in hell) Who’s there, in the devil’s name?” (2.3.3) | 7. dramatis personae | the characters in a play. a list of the characters preceding the text of a play. | | 8. tragedy | a dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall or destruction. | | 9. tragic flaw | the character defect that causes the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy; hamartia. | | 10. tragic hero | a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat: Oedipus, the classic tragic hero. | | 11. acts | anything done, being done, or to be done; deed; performance: a heroic act. | | 12. scenes | the place where some action or event occurs: He returned to the scene of the murder. | | 13. hubris | excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance. | | 14. verbal irony | irony in which a person says or writes one thing and means another, or uses words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning. | | 15. dramatic irony | irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play. | | 16. motif | a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work. | | 17. allusion | a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication: an allusion to Shakespeare | | 18. hyperbole | obvious and intentional exaggeration. | "have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out"(1.7.55) | 19. theme | a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic: | | 20. personification | the attribution of a personal nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract
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