Lit Terms, Figurative Lang, Fate in Romeo & Juliet

​Literary Terminology, Figurative Language, and Fate
Romeo & Juliet

By Daphne Marquis

Objective

You will...

Learn and apply literary terms, drama vocabulary, and the idea of fate by taking notes and answering questions.

Poll

How are you feeling about reading Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet?

• I am excited!

• I think I am on board.

• I'm indifferent, not excited or dreading it.

• Ms. Marquis, please don't make me do this...

Tragedy

A subcategory of drama; depicts the downfall of a good person through some personal flaw; produces suffering and insight to the protagonist

a speech given by a single person to an audience
A monologue is given with other characters on stage, though the speaker may be addressing only the audience

Monologue

conversation between two or more people

Dialogue

With all drama comes...

Soliloquy

from the Latin solus ("alone") and loqui ("to speak")
a speech that one gives to oneself
In a play, a character delivering a soliloquy talks to themself — thinking out loud — so that the audience better understands what is happening to the character internally.
A soliloquy is given when the actor is alone on the stage and revealing their inner-thoughts

Multiple Choice

What is the main difference between a monologue and a soliloquy?

• A monologue reveals internal struggle; a soliloquy is directed toward the audience.

• A monologue is spoken to others; a soliloquy is spoken when the character is alone.

Aside

words spoken by a character to another, which are not "heard" by the other characters on stage during a play

think side conversations or remarks

Stage Directions

descriptions in a play that tell the reader about the setting and explain how characters should move or act

Character Flaws

 an undesirable quality that a character has

Word Cloud

Can you think of some common character flaws?

Think of stories you've read, movies you've watched, or shows you follow...

Tragic Hero

 a character who is nobly or virtuously born, who has some character flaw that leads to a major decision that causes catastrophe for him/herself and/or others. 

Fate and irony usually play a role too

Other types of characters...

sometimes a character, sometimes not
a literary device used in plays to introduce light entertainment between tragic scenes

Comic Relief

a character who is deliberately shown in contrast to another character to highlight or emphasize a particular quality of that second character

Foil

Let's review

​an incongruence between expectations and events

Multiple Choice

What is dramatic irony, as explained in the video?

• When a character says the opposite of what they mean.

• When a situation turns out exactly as expected.

• When the audience knows more than the characters do.

• When characters talk directly to the audience.

Open Ended

Give one example of situational irony as described in the video.

Figurative Language review...

direct comparison of two unlike things

Metaphor

an indirect comparison of two unlike things using the word like or as

Simile

Literary Terminology
review...

implied or direct reference to a familiar/famous person, place, event, or literary work

Allusion

when the author provides hints of future events

Foreshadowing

Literary Terminology...

play on words; involve words with similar or identical sounds but with different meanings

Pun

a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction to each other (e.g. jumbo shrimp)

Oxymoron

Motif

a recurring concept, object, or idea throughout a text that helps develop themes

remember: themes are whole sentences, lessons learned; motifs are often one word or one idea

Juxtaposition

when an author places two things side by side to highlight their differences or similarities and create meaning

foils are character representations of juxtaposition, but juxtaposition does not always include the use of character foils

Fate

the idea that the characters’ lives and deaths are controlled by destiny and are unavoidable, no matter what choices they make

In Shakespeare's prologue to Romeo & Juliet, he refers to the main characters as "star-crossed lovers" indicating that their tragic ending was predetermined and had nothing to do with the choices each of them make throughout the play.

Draw

Take one of the terms your learned today and draw a visual representation of the definition. Label your drawing with the term itself.