Literary Terms

Question 1

Antagonist

Answer 1

Character who is the main opposition to the protagonist

Question 2

Authorial voice

Answer 2

The author, as distinct from the characters she/he has created, speaking directly to the reader

Question 3

Denouement

Answer 3

End of the play, in which plot the strands are drawn together, questions answered and conflict is resolved

Question 4

Dialogue

Answer 4

Line spoken by characters to each other

Question 5

Dramatic irony

Answer 5

When the audience is aware of key information of which at least one character on stage is unaware

Question 6

Dramatic tension

Answer 6

Uncertainty of outcome, usually caused by conflict that the audience feels must be somehow resolved; suspense

Question 7

Epigraph

Answer 7

Quotation placed at the beginning of a poem novel or play, hinting at its meaning

Question 8

Expressionist

Answer 8

Presenting a distorted, exaggerated form of reality. The Expressionist movement started in Germany in the early 20th century in visual arts, and exercised a considerable influence on drama and film as well as literature

Question 9

Figurative language

Answer 9

Language in rich by figures of speech such as a metaphor

Question 10

Foreshadow

Answer 10

Hint at what is to come later in the narrative

Question 11

Hubris

Answer 11

The overweening pride that is the cause of the downfall of the tragic hero

Question 12

Harmartia

Answer 12

The fatal flaw of a tragic hero, for example hubris

Question 13

Melodrama

Answer 13

Play with the sensational plot, violent, often bloodthirsty incident, and with Over simple characterisation of heroes and villains

Question 14

Morality play

Answer 14

A type of mediaeval or Tudor plate with stock characters which aims to educate the audience morally

Question 15

Pathos

Answer 15

Quality which evokes strong feelings of pity and sorrow. This quality can of course be tinged with mawkish sentimentality

Question 16

Tableau Vivant

Answer 16

A living picture, a group of silent motionless actors representing a dramatic event

Question 17

Trope

Answer 17

Any figure of speech in which a word is used to represent something else – metaphors and similes or tropes

Question 18

Unities

Answer 18

The rules demanding unity of time, place and action in a play. Comes from Aristotle and is regarded by literary theorists as imperative for the construction of a drama

Question 19

Solipsism

Answer 19

A self centred view of the world which holds that nothing of relevance exists outside oneself

Question 20

Sophism

Answer 20

And argument intended to mislead

Question 21

Double entendre

Answer 21

And ambiguous remark; often a person with sexual connotations

Question 22

Malcontent

Answer 22

A person common in Jacobean society as well as drama, the role carries connotations of melancholy and dissatisfaction, quite often recently so, and is often directed against the excesses of court life

Question 23

Senecan tragedy

Answer 23

The Roman poet Seneca adapted Greek drama for non-theatrical presentations for lighting certain essential characteristics such as revenge disaster declamation