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. |
Macbeth Tropes and Terms
December 14, 2019