act | Shakespeare’s plays are usually divided into five ______ – which are subdivided into scenes. There was not necessarily any clear division between the ______ in a performance. |
aside | A line spoken to one or more characters which cannot be heard by the remaining characters. An ______ can also be addressed to the audience. |
bathos | Low comedy. Sexual jokes etc. |
blank verse | Unrhymed iambic pentameter |
comedy | A drama that is light, humorous and satirical in tone and often ends happily. |
dialogue | When two or more characters talk with each other |
dramatic irony | occurs when a situation is understood by the audience, but not by the characters on stage |
epilogue | Usually spoken by a main character at the end of a play, the _____ concludes the play and is often an apology for the play – or a request for applause. |
exit/ exeunt | “He/she leaves.” “They leave.” |
Fool | A type-character often kept at court to entertain the nobles. There were “wise” _______, intelligent men hired for entertainment purposes, and natural _______ – idiots kept for amusement. Shakespeare’s _______ are usually “wise”. |
Foreshadowing | When characters on stage say something that hints at something that will happen later on |
Monologue | A line spoken by one person. |
Pathos | Strong emotion. Often used as a comic device, because exaggerated emotions are often funny. In Shakespeare’s works this comic device is most often employed in connection with lower class characters who accidentally make themselves appear hilarious. |
Prologue | The introduction to/ presentation of the play. Often given to the audience by the character “Chorus”. Often in verse. |
Prose | Shakespeare moved between verse and ______ in his plays. _______ is characterised by run-on-lines of varied length, no rhyme and no metre. Shakespeare usually has the lower classes speak in ______. _______ is also used when the characters talk about the menial things in life. |
Pun | Word play that makes use of a word that has several meanings. usually bathos |
Rhyming couplet | Shakespeare often used a __________ (two lines) to indicate something important in a play – or a shift on stage, for instance an important character entering the stage, a scene/act ending etc |
Scene | The subdivision of an act. There was no marked division between the _______ in an Elisabethan performance. |
Soliloquy | A line in which a character talks to him-/herself and reveals his or her private thoughts. Convention dictates that other characters on stage cannot hear the _______, but usually the character is alone on stage. |
Stage direction | The kind of dramatic discourse that gives the director and/or actors information relating to the performance of the play |
Tragedy | A drama in which the main character suffers extremely as a result of his tragic flaw. Shakespeare’s ________also have comic scenes. Sometimes these scenes are a kind of “comic relief”, but in most cases they are in the plays because Shakespeare had to cater to a very varied audience |
Verse | Shakespeare moved between _______ and prose in his plays. ________ is characterized by rhythm and meter. Shakespeare’s _______ is written in iambic pentameter. Sometimes the lines are rhymed – usually to indicate a particularly important point, or the end of a scene/act. _______ is usually reserved for the higher classes among the characters – or for people who speak about lofty topics such as love. |
Alonso | King of Naples, who profited from the seizure of Prospero’s dukedom |
Ferdinand | Alonso’s son, who falls in love with Miranda |
Miranda | Prospero daughter, who was exiled with her father |
Ariel | A spirit of the air, who helps Prospero in exchange for the promise of freedom |
Caliban | Prospero’s slave on the island, half witch and half devil |
Antonio | Prosperous brother, who seized his dukedom |
Stefano | Alonso’s butler, who plots with Caliban to murder Prospero |
Trinculo | Alonso’s jester, who plots with Caliban to murder Prospero |
Sebastian | Alonso’s brother, who plots to murder the king (Alonso) and seize his throne |
Prospero | protagonist, rightful duke in Milan |
The Tempest and Shakespeare Background quiz
July 13, 2019