Download Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet
Glossary of Dramatic Conventions and Poetic Language:
Tragedy: a drama that ends in catastrophe—most often death—for the main character and often for
several other important characters. In Shakespearean tragedy, the main character, or tragic hero, is
usually someone who is nobly born and who may have great influence in his/her society. The character
has, however, one or more fatal character flaws that lead to his/her downfall.
Example of the “Fatal Flaw”:
Comic Relief: In his tragedies, Shakespeare often includes comic relief, a humorous scene, incident, or
speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity. By providing contrast, comic relief helps the
audience to absorb the earlier events in the plot and get ready for the ones to come.
Example of comic relief in the play:
Allusion: An allusion is a brief reference to something outside the work that the reader or audience is
expected to know. Shakespeare’s plays often contain allusions to ancient Greek and Romany mythology
as well as to the Bible.
Example of an allusion in the play:
Foil: A foil is a character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another
character in the same work. By using a foil, the writer highlights the other character’s traits or attitude.
Question: What are some opposing personality types in Romeo and Juliet?
Soliloquy and Aside: A soliloquy is a speech that a character gives when he or she is alone on stage. Its
purpose is to let the audience know what the character is thinking. An aside is a character’s remark,
either to the audience or to another character, that others on stage are not supposed to hear. Its purpose,
too, is to reveal the character’s private thoughts.
Example of a soliloquy (Act, Scene, Line):
Example of an aside (Act, Scene, Line):
Blank Verse: A form of poetry that uses unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter, lines that ideally have
five unstressed, each followed by a stressed syllable for a total of ten syllables. However, the pattern is
not perfect; sometimes there are breaks in the pattern.
Example of blank verse: Who is already sick and pale with grief. (II.ii.5).
Example of blank verse:
Dramatic Irony: When the audience is made away of information unknown to some of the characters in
the play.
Example of dramatic irony:
Malapropism: Wordplay where words are used or pronounced incorrectly. Usually these misspoken
words are an indication of a lower-class character trying to sound educated, when, in fact, they actually
reveal their ignorance (by not knowing how to pronounce/use the word).
Pun: Jokes that play with words to convey multiple meanings—Many of the words used in puns sound
alike and have different meanings (sole/soul). Some are made of words that have multiple meanings
(bound/bound). Example: Metaphors be with you.
Example of a pun:
Oxymoron: When opposites are used to show extremes in emotion or to reveal a sharp contrast (or even
an unusual connection). For example, “feather of lead” or “loving hate”
Example of oxymoron: