Macbeth Tropes and Terms

Trope	Figurative use of an expression. Never taken literally.
Simile	A comparison of two unlike things using ‘like’ or ‘as.’
Metaphor	A comparison of two unlike things.
Personification	Giving human qualities to inanimate objects.
Allegory	An extended metaphor.
Apostrophe	Addressing someone or something that isn’t physically present.
Hyperbole	Extreme exaggeration.
Onomatopoeia	Words that sound like the effect they represent.
Tragedy	A type of drama where the chief character undergoes a morally significant struggle that ends disastrously. High -> low.
Rhythm	The recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Meter	The recurrence in poetry of a rhythmic pattern.
Iambic Pentameter	A poetic meter of 5, 2-syllable feet per line, with the accent falling on the even-numbered syllables.
Blank Verse	Unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Symbol	Something that stands for something else and itself.
Protagonist	Chief character. The character with a choice!
Antagonist	Factor working against the protagonist.
Soliloquy	A speech delivered while the speaker is alone. Intended to inform the audience what the character is thinking.
Dramatic Irony	Words or acts that carry a meaning unperceived by the speaker, but understood by the audience.
Comic Relief	A humorous scene, incident, or speech in a serious fiction or drama.
Exposition	Introductory material. Creates tone, gives setting, introduces characters, and supplies the other facts necessary to understanding the story.