Shakespearean Drama

Tragedy

• is a drama that ends in catastrophe-most often death-for the main character and often for other important characters as well

Tragic Hero

• is the main character-usually someone who is nobly born and who may have great influence in his or her society

• This character also has one or more fatal character flaws-a weakness or a serious error in judgment-that leads to his or her downfall.

• Although the events in a tragedy are often set in motion by an action of the tragic hero, fate may also seem to play a role in the course that the events take.

Comic Relief

• a humorous scene, incident or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity

• By providing contrast, comic relief helps the audience to absorb the earlier events in the plot and get ready for the ones to come.

Allusion

• is a brief reference, within a work, to something outside the work that the reader or audience is expected to know

• The writer might allude to a historical or current event or to a line from another work of literature.

Foil Character

• is a character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character in the same work

• By using a foil, the writer highlights the other character’s traits or attitude.

Soliloquy

• a speech that a character gives when he or she is alone on stage

• Its purpose is to let the audience know what the character is thinking.

Aside

• is a character’s remark, either to the audience or to another character, that others on stage are not supposed to hear