Literary and Dramatic Elements

Definitions and Examples inRomeo and Juliet

What is drama?O A story that is written to be acted

for an aidienceO Elements include exposition,

complications (rising action), climax, and resolution

What is tragedy?O A play that depicts serious and

important events in which the main character(s) comes to an unhappy end

O The character’s downfall may be caused by a character flaw or by forces that are beyond human control

What is exposition?O The beginning part of a plot that

gives information about the characters and their problems or conflicts

O How the playwright lets us know what is going on in the story

What is scene design?O Sets, lights, costumes, props, all of

which bring a play to life on stageO Furnishings and scenery that

suggest the time and place of the action

What is meter?O The regular patter of stressed and

unstressed syllables in poetryO Meter provides the rhythm of a line

What is iambic pentameter?

O Line of poetry that contains five iambs

O Iambs are units of measure with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

O In Shakespeare, the main characters often speak in poetry and use iambic pentameter, with the “common” people speaking prose

What is blank verse?O Poetry written in unrhymed iambic

pentameterO Most of Shakespeare’s plays use

blank verse, especially when the main characters are speaking

O Contrast to prose

What is a soliloquy?O A long speech in which a character

who is onstage alone expresses his or her thoughts aloud

O The audience overhears the character’s private thoughts

O Contrast to a monologue, which is any extended speech by one person, often expressed to another person

What is an aside?O Words that are spoken by a

character in a play to the audience or to another character but that are not supposed to be heard by the others on the stage

O Often noted through stage directions (italics on text of play)

What is dialogue?O The conversation between

characters in a story or a playO Helps audience learn about the

characters and move the plot forward

What is a couplet?O Two consecutive lines of poetry that

rhymeO Shakespeare often uses couplets to

end important speeches or a scene (signal to audience)

What is dramatic irony?

O When the audience knows something important that a character does not know

What is foreshadowing?

O The use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the plot

O Used to build suspense and anxiety in the audience