| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Act | main division of drama |
| Scene | a small unit of a play in which there is no shift in location or time |
| Dialogue | conversation of the characters in the play |
| Tragedy | a play that ends unhappily |
| Theme | important central idea in the play |
| Motivation | reasons for characters' beliefs and actions |
| Protagonist | the hero or leading character with whom the audience sympathizes |
| Antagonist | the character who opposes or competes with the protagonist |
| Irony | a contrast between what is and what appears to be |
| Dramatic irony | when the audience knows what the characters do not |
| Soliloquy | a speech given by a character alone on stage. Its purpose is to let the audience know what the character is feeling and/or thinking |
| Comic relief | a humorous scene, incident, or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity |
| Foil | a character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character in the same work |
| Aside | a character's remark, either to the audience or to another character, that others on stage are not supposed to hear |
| Pun | a joke that comes from a play on words |
| Sonnet | a lyric poem of 14 lines commonly written in iambic pentameter |
| Tragic Hero | The main character in a story who makes a mistake that leads to his/her downfall |
| Oxymoron | a word or phrase that contradicts itself |
| Situational Irony | When an event occurs that contradicts the idea the character had |
| Word play | A humorous play on words (like a pun) |
| Iambic Pentameter | A type of meter in poetry that has five lines and 10 syllables |
| Couplet | a pair of lines that rhyme |
| Verbal Irony | When there is a misunderstanding in what a character says or does |
| Blank Verse | A part in a poem that has a regular meter, but does not rhyme |
Combine with other sets
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