| Aside | Definition: part of an actor’s lines supposedly not heard by others onstage and intended only for the audience.Example: Romeo-“O blessèd blessèd night! I am afeard , being in night, all this is but a dream, too flattering-sweet to be substantial”Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 139-141 Page 59 |
| Conflict | Definition: the struggle found in fictionExample: External: Man vs. Man–Capulets vs. Montagues External: Man vs. Fate–Romeo vs. Fate-Capulet’s ballInternal: Man vs. Self–Juliet vs. Juliet-to get married or not |
| Couplet | Definition: Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhymeExample: “But passion lends them power, time means, to meet, Temp’ring extremities with extreme sweet.” Act. 2 Scene 1 Lines 156-157 Page 49 |
| Epithet | Definition: A word or phrase preceding or following a name, which serves to describe the characterExample: “The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.” Act 1 Scene 3 Line 75 Page 29 |
| Soliloquy | Definition: Is when a character is alone on stage thinking his/her thoughts aloud. It can also be an actor talking to himself/herself oblivious to any hearers presentExample: Friar Lawrence explains the herbs and says that people are like plants, where they can be both good and evil. Act 2 Scene 3 Line 1-30 Page 65 |
| Foil | Definition: A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast–emphasizes differences between 2 charactersExample: “Enough of this, I pray thee hold thy peace. Yes, madam, yet I cannot choose but laugh.” Lady Capulet vs NurseAct 1 Scene 3 Lines 50-51 Page 27 |
| Metaphor | Definition: Comparison of 2 unlike thingsExample: “The earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb; What is her burying grave, that is her womb.”Act 2 Scene 3 Lines 9-10 Page 65 |
| Simile | Definition: comparison of 2 unlike things using “like” or “as.”Example: “And freckled darkness like a drunkard reels.”Act 2 Scene 3 Line 3 Page 65 |
| Pun | Definition:a word or phrase that is used in such a way to suggest more than one possible meaning Example: “With nimble soles, I have a soul of lead.”Act 1 Scene 4 Line 15 Page 31 |
| Analogy | Definition: comparison of 2 pairs which have the same relationship–similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar Example: “Compare her face with some that I shall show, and I will make thee think thy swan a crow.”Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 85-86 Page 23 |
| Paradox | Definition: a true statement which contradicts itself. A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true: the paradox that standing is more tiring than walking OR stonewalls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cageExample: “My only love sprung from my only hate.”Act 1 Scene 5 Line 137 Page 45 |
| Imagery | Definition:words appealing to one of one’s senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, smell.Example: “As is a wingèd messenger of heaven Unto the white-upturnèd wond’ring eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him, When he bestrides the lazy puffing clouds, And sails upon the bosom of air.”Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 28-32 Pages 53-55 |
| Dramatic Irony | Definition: When an audience perceives something that a character in the literature does not know.Example: “Where the dev’l should this Romeo be? Came he not home tonight?”Act 2 Scene 4 Lines 1-2 Page 71 |
| Situational Irony | Definition: discrepancy between the expected result and actual result.Example: “Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe: A villain that is hither come in spite, to scorn at our alemnity this night…Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone.”Act 1 Scene 5 Lines 60-62, 64 Page 41 |
| Verbal irony | Definition:author says one thing and means something else.Example: “God ye good den, fair gentle woman.”Act 2 Scene 4 Line 90 Page 75 |
| Monologue | Definition: an extended, uninterrupted speech or poem by a single person. The person may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing other persons, e.g. an audience, a character, reader, or an inanimate object.Example: Mercutio-Gives a speech to Romeo about Queen Mab and how she is the deliverer of dreams. He says that she is the reason for Romeo’s dreams and how chi,dish he is acting. |
| Oxymoron | Definition: two contradictory words together “found missing”Example: “O heavy lightness, serious vanity.”Act 1 Scene 1 Line 169 Page 15 |
| Personification | Definition:giving human qualities to animals or objectsExample: “To be consorted with the humorous night.”Act 2 Scene 1 Line 31 Page 51 |
| Allusion | Definition: a literary reference to a familiar person, place, thing or event.Example: “From forth day’s path and Titan’s fiery wheels.”Act 2 Scene 3 Line 4 Page 65 |
| Alliteration | Definition:the repetition of a initial consonant sounds in words: “it is the happy heart that breaks.”Example: “O mickle is the powerful grace that lies.”Act 2 Scene 3 Line 15 Page 65 |
| Hyperbole | Definition: an exaggeration or overstatement: “I have seen a river so wide it had only one bank.”Example: “Two of the fairest stars in all the heavens.”Act 2 Scene 2 Line 15 Page 53 |
| Symbol | Definition: person, place, thing, or event used to represent something else, e.g. a dove symbolizes peaceExample: “So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows.”Act 1 Scene 5 Line 47 Page 41 |
| Protagonist(hero) | Definition: main character(s) of the storyExample: “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadventures piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.”Prologue Lines 6-8 Page 3 |
| Antagonist(villain) | Definition: character(s) or thing working against the protagonist-heroExample: “The fearful passage of their death-marked love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage.”Prologue Lines 9-10 Page 3 |
| Motivation | Definition: a reason that explains or partially explains why a character thinks, feels, acts, or behaves a certain wayExample: “The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men.”Act 1 Scene 1 Line 17 Page 5 |
| Theme | Definition: message or lesson conveyed by a written text. This message is usually about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas. Most themes are implied rather than explicitly stated.Example: “And but thou love me, let them find me here; My life were better ended by their hate, Than death proroguèd, wanting of thy love”Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 76-78 Page 57 |
| Cause and Effect | Definition: noting a relationship between actions or events such that one or more are the result of the other or others.Example: “But Montague is bound as well as I, In penalty alike, and ’tis not hard I think, For men so old as we to keep the peace.”Act 1 Scene 2 Lines 1-3 Page 19 |
Romeo and Juliet Act II Lit terms
November 22, 2019