What is dramatic irony? | When the audience knows something a character doesn’t. |
What is structure? | The overall design of the play – how the plot is revealed, what events happen when, which scenes focus on thoughts and feelings, and which scenes build towards a dramatic climax. |
What is blank verse? | Blank verse is a type of poetry that follows these three rules: The lines usually don’t rhyme Each line has 10 or 11 syllables Each line has 5 big (stressed) beats. |
What are rhyming couplets? | A pair of lines that rhyme and have metre. |
What is a paradox? | A statement that contradicts itself or cancels itself out. |
What is an oxymoron? | Where two words contradict each other. |
What is allusion? | Reference to a historical event, work of art, mythical/ literary figure, religious text, etc. |
What does ‘aside’ mean? | A comment made by an actor. It is heard by the audience but not by the other actors. |
What is equivocation? | A deliberate misleading statement. It is not technically a lie, but it is also not the whole truth. |
Hertswood GCSE English – Macbeth: Literary Terms
January 3, 2020