| Term | Definition |
|---|
| catharsis | The relief we feel when watching a tragic play as it purges us of our anxieties. |
| tragedy | A dramatic genre that presents the heroic or moral struggle of an individual, ending in his or her defeat. |
| soliloquy | An extended speech of one character represented as thinking aloud. Usually, there are no other characters on stage. |
| pathos | According to Aristotle, it appeals to the audience's emotions. It often is a quality that arouses pity. |
| reversal | The part of the play where the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the protagonist. |
| dialogue | Conversation between characters. |
| Themes | important ideas that are repeated in the text |
| Metaphor | : comparison between two things in a figurative (not literal). |
| Simile | Similar to metaphor, but uses 'like' or 'as'. |
| Imagery | The mental images that the words convey. This includes both metaphors and similes. Usually discussed in a general way. |
| Personification | Representing objects or ideas with human qualities. |
| Tone | the atmosphere that is created by the words. Example: The night imagery creates a dark __________. |
| Allusion | : a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. ____________ are often indirect or brief references to well-known characters or events. |
| Dramatic irony | is when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters. This is the result of the reader having a greater knowledge than the characters themselves. |
| Contrast | the process of pointing out differences between things. |
| pathetic fallacy | is giving a natural object human emotions |
| Motifs | recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes. |
| Symbols | objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. |
| dramatis personae | list of characters found at the beginning of the text |
| conflict | struggle or tension in a literary work that exists between a character and nature society, fate, other people, or himself |
| recognition | The point, often in tragedy where a character shows an awareness of his tragic flaw - too late to change things. |
| foreshadowing | hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story. |
| tragic flaw | the tragic hero's character flaw that leads to his downfall |
| aside | words spoken by an actor directly to the audience often while there are other characters present who cannot hear the speaker. |
| antithesis | the opposition of words or phrases against each other in balance constrast. "Nought's had, all's spent" |
| metonym | a word or phrase used in a figure of speech in which an attribute of something is used to stand for the thing itself, e.g. "laurels" when it is used to stand for "glory". "Canberra" for the Australian government. |
| extended metaphor | a metaphor that continues into the sentences that follow. Also a metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work |
| Anagnorisis | ("tragic recognition or insight"): according to Aristotle, a moment of clairvoyant insight or understanding in the mind of the tragic hero as he suddenly comprehends the web of fate that he has entangled himself in. |
| Hamartia | ("tragic error"): a fatal error or simple mistake on the part of the protagonist that eventually leads to the final catastrophe. A metaphor from archery, hamartia literally refers to a shot that misses the bullseye. Hence it need not be an egregious "fatal flaw" (as the term hamartia has traditionally been glossed). Instead, it can be something as basic and inescapable as a simple miscalculation or slip-up. |
| Hubris | ("violent transgression"): the sin par excellence of the tragic or over-aspiring hero. Though it is usually translated as pride, hubris is probably better understood as a sort of insolent daring, a haughty overstepping of cultural codes or ethical boundaries. |
| Nemesis | ("retribution"): the inevitable punishment or cosmic payback for acts of hubris. |
| Peripateia | ("plot reversal"): a pivotal or crucial action on the part of the protagonist that changes his situation from seemingly secure to vulnerable. |
| Split hero | device usually depicts two men of opposite nature, one distinctly secondary to the other, but both sharing the centre of the novel. |
| Foil | A character whose qualities or actions serve to emphasise those of the protagonist by providing a strong contrast with them. |
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