Literary Elements
Macbeth Notes Part II
1. Irony
• Verbal: When a character says
one thing but means another
• Situational: When one thing is
expected to happen but
something else happens instead
• Dramatic: When the reader or
viewer knows something that a
character does not know
2. Metaphor: A comparison
between two unlike things that
have something in common;
highlights the features that the
objects or concepts share
3. Simile: Same as metaphor but
utilizes the words “like” or “as”
4. Personification: Human
qualities are attributed to
objects, animals, or ideas
5. Foreshadowing: The use
of hints or clues to suggest
what events will occur later
6. Allusion: A reference to
a historical or fictional
person, place, or event
with which the reader is
assumed familiar
(Bible, Greek gods, etc.)
7. Symbol: Something
(usually a person,
place, or thing) that
represents something
else
8. Imagery: Words &
phrases that create
“mental pictures” for
the reader – a majority
are visual ( + other 4
senses – taste, hear,
smell, touch)
9. Motif: Recurring
word, phrase, image,
object, idea or action; it
will often relate to a
major theme of the
story
10. Paradox:A statement
that seems to contradict
itself but , in fact, reveals
some element of truth
Example: “Fair is foul and
foul is fair.”
11. Equivocation:
•A form of deceptive
speech
•Providing a
justification for lying
• Having TWO possible
meanings to be purposely
deceptive
• Claiming that if a statement
can be considered truthful
from a certain perspective,
it’s not actually lying
12. Agent of change:
A person or spirit that
produces a
significant change in
a situation
13. Pathetic fallacy: A
tool of imagery used to
convey nature’s response
to the unnatural events
that occur. (When things
in nature “mirror” human
events)
14. Soliloquy: monologue
delivered by a character
when he/she is alone
allowing the character to
convey inner thoughts and
feelings to the audience
15. Aside: A character
speaks explicitly to the
audience while the other
characters on stage are
not able to hear; can also
occur between two
characters
16. Primogeniture:
When the first-born
son of the king attains
the throne upon his
father’s death
(patrilineal succession)
17. Hamartia:
“TRAGIC FLAW”; a
quality that leads to the
hero’s destruction (ex.
Hubris, ambition…)
18. Tragic Hero: a dignified
character who is neither
thoroughly good nor
thoroughly evil; suffers a
change in fortune because
of a mistaken act, to which
he is led by his hamartia –
his “error of judgment”
19. Catharsis: An
emotional release or
purging; an emotional
or spiritual renewal or
welcome relief from
tension and anxiety
*When an audience filled with
confusion and unhealthy emotions,
such as pity and fear, comes to see a
play developing make-believe actions
that would be harmful if occurring in
real life. The audience participates
emotionally in the dramatic action and
goes away psychologically cleansed,
purged of injurious feelings and
sensations*