Allegory: a play, or plot point in a play, that can be seen to have a political or moral meaning. For example, Macbeth is a moral allegory about the corrupting nature of power.
Analogy: a similarity, or partial similarity between two things, which can be used as part of a comparison.
Antithesis: a person or thing which is the direct opposite of something or someone else
Allusion: a literary, mythological or historical reference.
Antagonist: the main villain in a plot.
Archetype: a recurring symbol or motif in literature or mythology
Aside: a line spoken by a character directly to the audience which is not heard by the other characters on the stage.
Blazon: a literary device made popular by Petrarch whereby the individual physical attributes of a subject (usually female) are catalogued and praised.
Catachresis: the use of the wrong word in the context or alternatively the use of a forced and/or paradoxical figure of speech.
Catalysis: a line of verse is catalectic if it has one syllable missing at the end.
Chorus: a group of actors speaking in unison. Typically they describe or comment on the action of the play.
Clown/The Fool: a recurring character archetype, the Fool may or may not be employed as a jester. They typically satirise other characters and events in the play, and sometimes exhibit wisdom beyond those of higher status than them.
Dialogical encounters: scenes involving a conversation between two or more characters, the opposite of a monologue or a soliloquy
Discourse: discussion of a subject in writing or speech, for example “the critical discourse surrounding the witches in Macbeth.”
Dramatic irony: the situation in a play in which the audience has knowledge that the characters do not.
Duple meter: meter made up of feet of two syllables.
Encomium: a speech or piece of writing that praises someone highly.
Foot: the basic units of meter, feet are usually composed of two or three syllables.
Headless catalysis: similar to catalysis, but the missing syllable is at the start of the line.
Iambic pentameter: a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.
Imagery: visually descriptive language, especially when referring to something else, such as religious imagery.
In media res: in the midst of action; without any prelude. For example, you could say that The Tempest opens in media res, as it begins in the middle of a storm on a sinking ship.
Linguistic trappings: the words, phrases and language techniques associated with a certain concept.
Metadrama: a play that features another play as part of its plot.
Metaphor: a literary device in which one entity is equated with another. For example, ‘when she laughed, she was a hyena’.
Metonymy: a literary technique in which an entity is referred to by the name of something related to it. For example, referring to McDonald’s as ‘the golden arches,’ or referring to lawyers as ‘suits.’
Metre: the rhythm or pattern of beats in a line of poetry.
Monologue/Soliloquy: a (usually lengthy) speech delivered by one actor.
Prose: normal, metrically random speech spoken by some characters in the plays.
Protagonist: the central character in a plot. Typically the hero, but may be flawed.
Scansion: the particular metrical pattern of a line or section of verse. For example, you could say that ‘the scansion strays from Shakespeare’s typical iambic pentameter.’
Stichomythia: fast-paced dialogue between two characters in which the lines alternate between the speakers. Also can be hemistichomythia, in which the characters speak halflines each, or distichomythia, in which they speak two lines each.
Symbolism: the use of symbols in language to represent ideas or other entities.
Synecdoche: a literary device in which a whole entity is referred to by the name of one of its parts or vice versa. For example, saying ‘Australia won the cricket’ instead of ‘the Australian team won the cricket’, or conversely referring to a car as a ‘set of wheels.’
Syntax: the arrangement of words or phrases to create structure and meaning
Tragic hero: a character, typically the central character of a tragedy, who is initially noble but falls from grace due to some fatal flaw.
Triple meter: meter made up of feet of three syllables. Less common than duple meter.
Ubiquitous: found everywhere. For example, you might say that references to fate and destiny are ubiquitous in Romeo and Juliet.
Verse: poetic, metrically even language spoken by some characters in the plays.
