Literary Elements
Romeo and Juliet
Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds at beginning
of words.
Act I, scene iii:
Juliet says, “I’ll look to like, if looking liking
move.”

Allusion

Reference to a literary or historical character
or event

Act I, scene i:
Romeo alludes to Cupid and Diana from
Roman mythology

Antagonist

A character or force in conflict with a main
character.
An apostrophe

Character speaks to a person or idea that
isn’t or can’t be present
Act III, scene iii:
Nurse says, “O, Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I
had!
(He’s dead)

Aside

Lines spoken by an actor to himself or
directly to the audience.

Act III, scene 5: Juliet responds to Lady
Capulet, “Villain and he be many miles
asunder.”
Comic relief

Humor inserted into the play to break a
serious mood

Act V, scene 5: Conversation between Peter
and themusicians.
Dramatic Irony

When a character’s words or actions have
one meaning for the character and a different
meaning for the audience or reader.

Act III: Juliet’s despair is interpreted by her
father as sadness for Tybalt’s death when in
fact she is in despair over Romeo’s
banishment.
Foil

A character that highlights or brings out the
personality traits of another character in the
play.

Act I, scene 1 Benvolio, who tries to quiet the
brawling servants, is a foil to the fiery Tybalt.
Also, his calm and sensible disposition is a
foil to the moody and emotional Romeo.
Foreshadowing:

Use of clues to suggest what is going to
happen.

Prologue at the beginning of the play
describe the lovers as “star-crossed”
Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses.
metaphor

Compares too dissimilar things.

Act II, scene ii: Romeo says, “Juliet is the
sun!”
Monologue

A lengthy speech delivered by a character
and is addressed to other characters in the
play, not the audience.

Act I, scene 4: Mercutio’s speech to Romeo
about Queen Mab,
Act III: Friar Lawrence’s speech to Romeo
about being fortunate

Oxymoron
Description that contains a self-contradiction.

Juliet says to Romeo, “Parting is such sweet
sorrow…”
Damned saint
Honorable villain


Personification

Object is given human or animal
characteristics

Act II, “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious
moon who already sick and pale with grief…”
Prologue


Brief opening section of the play spoken by a
single actor called “the chorus”
Welcomes the audience and gives them a
taste of the story.
Protagonist

Main character in a literary work
Pun

A play on the multiple meanings of a work, or
on two words that sound alike but have
different meanings.

Romeo and his friend Mercutio clown around
a the start of the play
Romeo and Mercutio trade wits in a series of
more sophisticated puns
Some are barely understandable today


Rites of passage


Romeo discovers the difference between
infatuation and love
Juliet realizes there is more to life than being
a dutiful daughter
simile

Compares two different terms using like or
as.
Act II, scene ii:
Romeo watches Juliet from afar. Romeo says,
“For thou art as glorious to this night, being
o’er my head, as if a winged messenger of
heaven.”

Soliloquy

A long speech delivered by a character alone
on stage to let the audience know what the
character is thinking and feeling.
Tragedy

A drama in which events turn out disastrously
for the main characters, often resulting in
death.
Tragic flaw

The weakness in the tragic hero, which leads
to their downfall.

Romeo’s tragic flaw could be reacting without
thinking– impulsiveness.