Drama Literary Terms
TERMS TO KNOW FOR UNIT ON
SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET
Aside
FOR THE AUDIENCE!!
Aside
 Short phrases spoken
by a character in a
play, usually in an
undertone
 The audience
understands that the
words aren’t heard by
other characters
Hamlet is talking to the audience about why he
does not want to kill his uncle while he is praying
Blank Verse
Blank Verse
 Unrhymed Iambic
Pentameter
10 syllables of IAMBIC
PENTAMETER where the
ends of the lines don’t
rhyme
These are the gardens of the Desert, these
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,
For which the speech of England has no name—
The Prairies. I behold them for the first,
And my heart swells, while the dilated sight
Chorus
Greek Chorus
 A group of performers
who stood outside the
action (in Greek plays)
 They commented on
characters actions and
hinted at events to come
There is no Greek Chorus in a
Shakespearean play – they are
replaced by the ASIDE
Comedy
Comedy
 - has a happy ending,
usually involving
marriages between the
unmarried characters,
and a tone and style
that is more lighthearted

OPPOSITE of TRAGEDY
Couplet
two RHYMING lines!
Couplet
 Two
consecutive
lines of poetry
that rhyme
Where-e'er you find "the cooling western breeze,"
 In the next line, it "whispers through the trees;"

If crystal streams "with pleasing murmurs creep,"
 The reader's threatened (not in vain) with "sleep."

Dialogue
Dialogue
 - Conversation between
characters in a drama
conversation
Drama
Drama
 - a dramatic work
intended for
performance by actors
on a stage
Meant to be acted!
Dramatic structure
Shakespearean Dramatic
Structure
Dramatic structure
 - The structure of a
play (acts & scenes)
Act 3
Act 2
Act 1
Act 4
Act 5
Iambic meter
Iambic meter
 Metric verse consisting
of an unstressed
syllable followed by a
stressed syllable
 da DUM
One iamb = two syllables
One IAMB
Iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter
 Five verse feet with
each foot an iamb (a
total of ten syllables)
 Five da DUMS
5 meters x 2 da dums = 10
Irony
Irony
 A literary technique
that portrays
differences between
appearance and reality;
the opposite of what is
expected.
It doesn’t seem like these
ads should be so close!!
Dramatic Irony
Dramatic Irony
 When the
audience knows
something that
the characters
don’t
We know something she
doesn’t know!!
Situational Irony
Situational Irony
 A contrast between
what is expected and
what really happens is
called situational irony
It seems that the psychics
would have foreseen this! 
Verbal Irony
Verbal Irony
 - the contrast between
what is said and what
is meant.
They say the opposite of
what they mean!!
Monologue
Monologue
 A long, uninterrupted
speech presented in
front of other
characters
Sandra Bullock is making a
speech to a guy in a coma.
Motivation
Motivation
 A reason that explains
or partially explains a
character’s thoughts,
feelings, actions, or
behaviors in a certain
way
How SHOULD the actor
act his/her part?
contradictions
Oxymoron
 a figure of
speech that
combines
apparently
contradictory
terms
Pun
Pun
 The humorous use of a
word or phrase to
suggest two or more
meanings at the
same time
That’s so punny!
Soliloquy
Soliloquy
 a speech in which a
character is alone
(SOLO) on stage and
expresses his/her
thoughts out loud for
the benefit of the
audience.
Hamlet is alone on the stage –
speaking to the skull of his
childhood friend– Yorick
Tragedy
Tragedy
A Dramatic work that
presents the downfall
of a dignified
character involved in
historically or socially
significant events
Opposite of a COMEDY!
Verse
Verse
 - Poetry: literature
written in metrical
form, using figurative
language
 POETRY = VERSE
 Synonyms!!
 They mean the
same thing!!
VERSE VS. PROSE
Sonnet
Sonnet
 A fourteen-line
poem, written in
iambic pentameter,
with one of several
rhyme schemes
This shows a Shakespearean
Rhyme scheme:
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
There are many kinds of sonnets
but they all have 14 lines!!
Iambic Pentameter
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 Iambic Pentameter is the rhythm and meter in
which poets and playwrights wrote in Elizabethan
England. It is a metre that Shakespeare uses.
Heartbeat.
 Quite simply, it sounds
like this: dee DUM, dee
DUM, dee DUM, dee
DUM, dee DUM. It
consists of a line of five
iambic feet, ten syllables
with five unstressed and
five stressed syllables. It
is the first and last
sound we ever hear, it
is the rhythm of the
human heart beat.
25
Pentameter?
26
 Well an ‘iamb’ is ‘dee Dum’ – it is the heart beat.
 Penta is from the Greek word for five.
 Meter is really the pattern
Sooooooooooo, there are five iambs per line!
(Iambic penta meter )
STOP!
Tragic Flaw
Tragic Flaw
 - Fatal error in
judgment or weakness
in a character that
leads to his or her
destruction
What is Romeo’s
TRAGIC FLAW??
Tragic Hero
Tragic Hero
 - Protagonist or main
character in a tragedy;
doomed characters
who face defeat with
great courage and
dignity
DOOMED!
Foil
Foil
 - A character who
sets off another
character by
contrast
 Harry Potter’s foil is
Draco Malfoy
 George’s foil is Lennie
George’s
OPPOSITE
Epithet
Epithet
 - A descriptive
adjective or phrase
used to characterize
someone or something
descriptive information
Allusion
A picture can be
an allusion
Allusion
 a reference in one work
of literature to a
person, place or event
in another work of
literature or in history,
art, or music.
Mickey Mouse is giving acting instructions to a character who is playing the
part of Ahab, a historical figure – that historical figure is the ALLUSION