Dramatic Devices

Question 1

Dramatic Irony

Answer 1

The reader or audience has knowledge of some critical piece of information, while the character or characters to whom the information pertains are “in the dark”.

Question 2

Paradoxical lines

Answer 2

Lines that appear to contradict themselves. These create equivocation i.e. ambiguous language to conceal the truth

Question 3

Pun

Answer 3

Figure of speech that plays on words with multiple meanings.

Question 4

Motif

Answer 4

An element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature; these are often collections of related symbols and help develop the central themes of a text.

Question 5

Soliloquy

Answer 5

A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage.

Question 6

Personification

Answer 6

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

Question 7

Foreshadowing

Answer 7

A literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don’t actually occur until later in the story.

Question 8

Metaphor

Answer 8

A figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. This can be explicit e.g. “Love is a battlefield.” or implicit e.g. “He was wounded by love.”

Question 9

Simile

Answer 9

A figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things; usually using the connecting words “like” or “as,” but can also use other words that indicate comparison.