| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Suicide | the act of killing yourself |
| Homicide | the killing of a human being by another human being |
| Patricide | murder of your father |
| Fratricide | a person who murders his brother |
| Sororicide | act of killing one's sister |
| Matricide | murder of your mother |
| Parricide | murder of your own parents |
| Deicide | killing a god |
| Genocide | systematic killing of a racial or cultural group |
| Regicide | the act of killing a king |
| Infanticide | murdering an infant |
| Pesticide | a chemical used to kill pests (as rodents or insects) |
| Insecticide | a chemical used to kill insects |
| Exposition | beginning of a story, introduces the characters, setting, and basic situation |
| Rising Action | the path of the plot leading to the climax |
| Climax | Most exciting moment of the story; turning point |
| Falling Action | a direct result of the climax, leading to a solution to the conflict |
| Resolution | the final unraveling or solution of the plot |
| Denouement | French term; the final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work |
| Ode | Song sung by the Chorus in a Greek play; contains summary, narration, etc |
| Chorus | In Greek drama, the group of Senators or Elders who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it. |
| Arrogance | A feeling of too much pride in oneself |
| Anarchy | a lack of government and law |
| Pious | devoutly religious |
| Principle | rule of personal conduct |
| Catharsis | emotional cleansing |
| Hubris | excessive pride or arrogance |
| Hamartia | tragic flaw |
| Tragedy | starts happy ends sad |
| Comedy | starts sad ends happy |
| Augury | the art, ability, or practice of foretelling events or interpreting omens (by listening to birds, for example) |
| Dramatic Irony | When the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not |
| Verbal Irony | A figure of speech that occurs when a person says one thing but means another. |
| Situational Irony | an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected |
| Simile | comparison using "like" or "as" |
| Metaphor | a comparison without using like or as |
| Personification | giving human qualities to non-human things |
| Allusion | a reference to history, literature, or mythology |
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