NAME___________________________Period__(put examples in space at right!)
Hamlet Vocabulary
Term
Act I
1.aside
Definition
Exposition (see other side of paper)
speaker's comment to audience while others are on stage
2.soliloquy
speaker tells aloud his innermost feelings; he is alone on
stage
3.couplet (rhyming) two consecutive lines that rhyme
4.closed couplet--two rhyming lines expressing a complete thought
5.Heroic couplet--two rhyming lines expressing a complete thought, in
Iambic Pentameter
6.foil
character who, by his qualities, tends to emphasize the
qualities of another character by contrast
Act II
7.nemesis
Complication (see other side of paper)
principle of retributive justice, whereby a person receives
his just deserts (what he “deserves”)
8.theme
underlying idea of a piece of writing (Example LATER)
9.anachronism--something in a piece of writing that is historically out of
place
10.metaphor a comparison, expressed or implied, of things which are
usually considered dissimilar
11.simile
a comparison using like or as
12.irony:
verbal-situation-dramatic--
Act III
Climax (see other side of paper)
13.foreshadowing--process of giving audience a hint about a coming event
14.tone--the "manner of speaking," "tone of voice" used by author; it helps
reveal his attitude toward his subject
15.conflict--struggle of opposing forces in story or drama; can be internal
and/or external
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16.imagery--use of words that appeal to one of the senses (No example!)
17.image--a word, expression, or idea that appeals to one of the senses
18.motif--a recurring image or symbol
Act IV
Resolution (see below)
19.tragic flaw--that characteristic in the protagonist (usually a good quality
perverted) which leads to his destruction
20.protagonist--main character (in a play)
21.antagonist--character or force in conflict with protagonist of a story,
novel, or drama
22.personification--the giving of personality or life to inanimate objects or ideas
23.apostrophe--an address:
to dead as if living
to inanimate as if animate
to absent as if present
to unborn as if alive
24.tragedy--drama in which protagonist is overcome by
1.tragic flaw, and/or
2.forces beyond his control (such as
fate, heredity)
25.blank verse--unrhymed iambic pentameter
26.alliteration--repetition of like consonant sounds, especially at the
beginnings of words
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Five Acts of an Elizabethan Tragedy
I.Exposition
process of giving reader necessary information regarding antecedent action
(action which occurred before a narrative or drama begins and which is
important to the play)
II.Complication
in story or drama, an element which
1. enters the story
2. causes a conflict
3. thus creates a new situation
III.Climax
-regarding reader=highest point of interest
-regarding structure=turning point of protagonist's fortunes
-It is that scene in the play in which an action occurs which tips the scales for
or against the protagonist in terms of future action.
-It produces a train of action (falling action) which leads to the catastrophe.
IV.Resolution
point at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out (when problems
created by the complication are solved)
V.Catastrophe final event which completely resolves the Conflict--(After the catastrophe comes
the denouement=the tying together of any loose ends.)
Don’t forget to put EXAMPLES at right for ALL TERMS!
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