Juliet

Literary
Terms

By: Alyssa Watson, Cassidee Hoffmann, and

Alex Hohol
 Plot
• Sequence of events in a story. Most literary essay
tasks will instruct the writer to “avoid plot
summary;” the term in therefore rarely useful for
response or critical analysis. When discussing plot,
it is generally more useful to consider and analyze
its structure, rather than simply recapitulate “what
happens.”

•
 Setting
• The time and place where a story occurs. The setting
can be specific or ambiguous. Also refers directly
to a description thereof. When discussing or
analyzing setting, it is generally insufficient to
merely identify the time and place; an analysis of
setting should include a discussion of its overall
impact on the story and characters.
 Point of View
• The identity of the narrative voice; the person or entity
through whom the reader experiences the story.
May be third-person or first person. Point of view is
a commonly misused term; it does NOT refer to the
author’s or character’s feelings, opinions,
perspectives, biases, etc.
 Characterization
• The author’s means of conveying to the reader a
character’s personal life history, values, physical
attributes, etc. Also refers directly to a description
thereof.
 Theme
• The main idea or message conveyed by the piece. A
theme should generally be expressed as a complete
sentence; an idea expressed by a single word or
fragmentary phrase is usually a motif.
 Alliteration
• The repetition of consonant sounds within close
proximity, usually in consecutive words within the
same sentence or line.
 Allusion
• A brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or
fictitious, or to a work of art. Casual reference to a
famous historical or literary figure or event. An
allusion may be drawn from history, geography,
literature, or religion.

•
 Analogy
• A literary analogy is a comparison in which the subject
is compared point by point to something far
different, usually with the idea of clarifying the
subject by comparing it to something familiar.
Analogies can provide insights and also imply that
the similarities already present between the two
subjects can mean even more similarities. Anne
Bradstreet's "The Author to Her Book" contains an
analogy that compares the book to a child.
 Antagonist
• The counterpart to the main character and source of a
story’s main conflict. The person may not be “bad”
or “evil” by any conventional moral standard, but
he/she opposes the protagonist in a significant way.
 Aside
• A dramatic device in which a character speaks to the
audience.
 Blank Verse
• A non-rhyming piece of poetry, usually written in
iambic pentameter.

•
 Climax
• The turning point in a story, at which the end result
becomes inevitable, usually where something
suddenly goes terribly wrong; the “dramatic high
point” of a story.
 Comic Relief
• The inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty
dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to
relieve tension.
 Conflict
• A struggle between opposing forces which is the
driving force of a story. The outcome of any story
provides a resolution of the conflict(s); this is what
keeps the reader reading. Conflicts can exist
between individual characters, between groups of
characters, between a character and society, etc.,
and can also be purely abstract.
 Couplet
• A pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines
that rhyme and have the same meter
 Diction
• Refers to the writer's or the speaker's distinctive
vocabulary choices and style of expression.
 Dramatic Irony
• When the audience or reader is aware of something
important, of which the characters in the story are
NOT aware.
 Dramatic Structure
• The structure of a dramatic work such as a play or
film.

•
 Epithet
• A word which makes the reader see the object
described in a clearer or sharper light. It is both
exact and imaginative.
 Figurative Language
• Any use of language where the intended meaning
differs from the actual literal meaning of the words
themselves. There are many techniques which can
rightly be called figurative language, including
metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification,
onomatopoeia, verbal irony, and oxymoron.
 Foreshadowing
DONE
• Where future events in a story, or perhaps the outcome, are
suggested by the author before they happen. Foreshadowing
can take many forms and be accomplished in many ways,
with varying degrees of subtlety. However, if the outcome is
deliberately and explicitly revealed early in the story, such
information does NOT constitute foreshadowing.

• “I fear too early; for my mind misgives

Some consequence yet
hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's
revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely
death.
But He that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail! On, lusty
 Foil DONE
• A character who is meant to
represent characteristics,
values, ideas, etc. which are
directly and diametrically
opposed to those of another
character, usually the
protagonist.

• Hamlet and Laertes are young

men who behave very
differently. While Hamlet
delays in carrying out his
mission to avenge the death
of his father, Laertes is quick
and bold in his challenge of
the king over the death of his
father. Macbeth
 Imagery
• Language which describes
something in detail, using
words to substitute for
and create sensory
stimulation, including
visual imagery and sound
imagery. Also refers to
specific and recurring
types of images, such as a
food imagery and nature
imagery.

• “A serpent stung me, so the

whole ear of Denmark, Is
by a forged process of my
death.” Act
One Scene Five of Hamlet
 Irony
• Where an event occurs which is unexpected, in the
sense that it is somehow in absurd or mocking
opposition to what would be expected or
appropriate. Mere coincidence is generally not
ironic; neither is mere surprise nor are any random
or arbitrary occurrences.

• Macbeth shows Irony when he kills his King,

in hope of becoming King. He tries
to find peace within himself,
but never finds it. Macbeth

•
 Metaphor
• A direct relationship where one thing or idea
substitutes for another.

• Romeo-“But, soft! What light through yonder window

breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
Act Two Scene Two
of Romeo and Juliet
 Monologue
• An extended uninterrupted speech by a character in a
drama.

• “Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle

toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee!I have
thee not, and yet I see thee still.Art thou not, fatal
vision, sensibleTo feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceedingfrom the heat-oppressed brain?” –
Macbeth Act Two of Macbeth

•
 Oxymoron
• A contradiction in terms.

• “Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!

O heavy lightness, serious vanity;
Misshapen chaos of well-
seeming forms! Feather of
lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!” –Romeo.
Act One of Romeo and Juliet

•
 Personification
• 1-where inanimate objects or abstract concepts
seemingly endowed with human self-awareness;
where human thoughts, actions, perceptions, and
emotions are directly attributed to inanimate
objects or abstract ideas.
2-where an abstract concept, such as a
particular human behavior or a force of nature, is
represented as a person.

• Juliet-“For thou wilt lie upon the wings

of night / Whiter than new snow on a
raven's back. /
Come, gentle night,
come, loving, black-brow'dnight”
Act Three
Scene Two of Romeo and Juliet
 Protagonist
• The main character in a story, the one with whom the
reader is meant to identify. The person is not
necessarily “good” by any conventional moral
standard, but he/she is the person in whose plight
the reader is most invested.

• In Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, the character

of Hamlet is the protagonist. He is the main
character, and the main focus.
 Meter
• Is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. The number
of feet within a line.

• Romeo and Juliet is written in prose and iambic

pentameter with sonnets as well as blank verse,
with many rhythmic structures.

• - / - / - / - / - /

• But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

Act Two Scene Two of Romeo and Juliet

•

•
 Pun DONE
• A figure of speech which consists of a deliberate
confusion of similar words or phrases for rhetorical
effect, whether humorous or serious. It can rely on
the assumed equivalency of multiple similar words,
of different shades of meaning of one word, or a
literal meaning with a metaphor. Bad puns are often
considered to be cheesy.

• Mercutio-"Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you

dance.” Romeo-"Not I, believe me. You have
dancing shoes With nimble soles. I have a soul of
lead…” Act
One Scene Four of Romeo and Juliet
 Rhyme Scheme
DONE
• A series of rhymed words at the ends of lines.

•    Two households, both alike in dignity,     In fair

Verona, where we lay our scene,     From ancient
grudge break to new mutiny,     Where civil blood
makes civil hands unclean.     From forth the fatal
loins of these two foes     A pair of star-cross'd
lovers take their life;     Whole misadventured
piteous overthrows     Do with their death bury their
parents' strife.     The fearful passage of their death-
mark'd love,     And the continuance of their
parents' rage,     Which, but their children's end,
noughtcould remove,     Is now the two hours' traffic
of our stage;     The which if you with patient ears
attend,     What here shall miss, our toil shall strive
to mend. –Chorus The Prologue to Romeo and Juliet
 Simile DONE
• An indirect relationship where one thing or idea is
described as being similar to another. Similes
usually contain the words “like” or “as,” but not
always.

• “My love is like a red, red rose”-Robert Burns

 Situational Irony
• Where an event occurs which is unexpected, in the
sense that it is somehow in absurd or mocking
opposition to what would be expected or
appropriate. Mere coincidence is generally not
ironic; neither is mere surprise nor are any random
or arbitrary occurrences.

• In Act Two Scene One of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo

sneaks away from the Capulet home. He came to
the party to see his one true love, Rosaline, but
instead found a new love, Juliet. Mercuito and
Benvolio try to find where Romeo escaped to the
back of the house. Mercuito believes he left to go
see his love Rosaline. When in fact Romeo is going
to see his love, but his one love is now Juliet.

•
 Soliloquy
• A literary device often used in drama whereby a
character relates his or her thoughts and feelings
without addressing any of the other characters.
“ To b e , o r n o t to b e : th a t is th e q u e stio n : W h e th e r 'tis n o b le r in th e m in d to su ffe r. T h e
slin g s a n d a rro w s o f o u tra g e o u s fo rtu n e , O r to ta ke a rm s a g a in st a se a o f tro u b le s, A n d
b y o p p o sin g e n d th e m ? To d ie : to sle e p ; N o m o re ; a n d b y a sle e p to sa y w e e n d . T h e
h e a rt-a ch e a n d th e th o u sa n d n a tu ra lsh o cks T h a t fle sh is h e ir to , 'tis a co n su m m a tio n
D e vo u tly to b e w ish 'd . To d ie , to sle e p ; To sle e p : p e rch a n ce to d re a m : a y , th e re 's th e
ru b ; Fo r in th a t sle e p o f d e a th w h a t d re a m s m a y co m e W h e n w e h a ve sh u ffle d o ff th is
m o rta lco il, M u st g ive u s p a u se : th e re 's th e re sp e ct T h a t m a ke s ca la m ity o f so lo n g life ;
Fo r w h o w o u ld b e a r th e w h ip s a n d sco rn s o f tim e , T h e o p p re sso r's w ro n g , th e p ro u d
m a n 's co n tu m e ly , T h e p a n g s o f d e sp ise d lo ve , th e la w 's d e la y , T h e in so le n ce o f o ffice
a n d th e sp u rn s T h a t p a tie n t m e rit o f th e u n w o rth y ta ke s, W h e n h e h im se lf m ig h t h is
q u ie tu s m a ke W ith a b a re b o d kin ? w h o w o u ld fa rd e ls b e a r, To g ru n t a n d sw e a t u n d e r a
w e a ry life , B u t th a t th e d re a d o f so m e th in g a fte r d e a th , T h e u n d isco ve r'd co u n try fro m
w h o se b o u rn N o tra ve lle r re tu rn s, p u zzle s th e w illA n d m a ke s u s ra th e r b e a r th o se ills
w e h a ve T h a n fly to o th e rs th a t w e kn o w n o t o f? T h u s co n scie n ce d o e s m a ke co w a rd s
o f u s a ll; A n d th u s th e n a tive h u e o f re so lu tio n Is sicklie d o 'e r w ith th e p a le ca st o f
th o u g h t, A n d e n te rp rise s o f g re a t p ith a n d m o m e n t W ith th is re g a rd th e ir cu rre n ts tu rn
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 Sonnet
• One of the poetic forms that can be found in lyric poetry
from Europe.

• Romeo-“If I profane with my unworthiesthand

This holy shrine, the gentle
sin is this: My lips,
two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender
kiss.” Juliet-Good pilgrim, you do
wrong your hand too much, Which
mannerly devotion shows in this,
For saints have hands that pilgrims’
hands do touch, And palm to palm is
holy palmers’ kiss.”
Romeo-“Have not saints lips, and holy palmers
too?” Juliet-“Ay, pilgrim,
lips that they must use in prayer.”
Romeo-“O, then, dear saint, let lips do what
 Symbol
• Using an object or action that means something more
than its literal meaning.

• "What's in a name? That which we call a roseByany

other name would smell as sweet.” –Juliet
Act Two Scene Two of Romeo and Juliet
 Tragedy
• Where a story ends with a negative or unfortunate outcome which
was essentially avoidable, usually caused by a flaw in the
central character’s personality. Tragedy is really more of a
dramatic genre than a literary element; a play can be referred
to as a tragedy, but tragic events in a story are essentially part
of the plot, rather than a literary device in themselves. When
discussing tragedy, or analyzing a story as tragic, look to the
other elements of the story which combine to make it tragic.

• The story of Romeo and Juliet is a

Tragedy. Throughout the entire story
line there is a sense of
sadness since
it is a forbidden love. What makes it
a true tragedy though is the fact
that the two
main characters commit
suicide
 Verbal Irony
• Where the meaning of a specific expression is, or is intended to
be, the exact opposite of what the words literally mean.

• Mercuito-“Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, ‘tis enough. Where

is my page?— Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.”
Romeo-“Courage, man. The
hurt cannot be
much.”
Mercuito-“…Ask for me
tomorrow, and you shall find
me a graveman…”

Act Three Scene One of Romeo and Juliet