Transcript Literary Devices - Buena Park High School

Literary Devices
Allusion
Definition: a reference to a well known
person, place, event, literary work, or
work of art.
 Example: Mercutio references Queen Mab.


“ O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you”

Act I, scene iv, line 53
Analogy

Definition: makes a comparison between
two things that are similar in some way
but otherwise unalike.
 Example:
Juliet uses an analogy to explain the
silliness of hating someone because their
name is Montague: “What’s in a name? That
which we call a rose/ By any other name
would smell as sweet” (Act 2, scene 2, lines
43-44).
Antagonist
Definition: a character or force in conflict
with the main character.
 Example: Tybalt is an antagonist against
Romeo.

 “I
will withdraw; but this intrusion shall/
convert to bitt’rest gall”

Act I, scene 5, lines 90-91
Aside
Definiton: a short speech delivered by an
actor directed toward the audience not the
characters on stage.
 Example: Romeo tells the audience his
thoughts: “Shall I hear more, or shall I
speak at this?” (Act 2, scene 2, line 37).

Blank Verse
Definition: poetry written in unrhymed
iambic pentameter lines
 Example: Most of Romeo and Juliet is
written in blank verse.

Characterization
Definiton: The act of creating and
developing a character
 Example: Tybalt is a flat/static character
who is pugnacious and angry.

Climax
Definition: the high point of interest or
suspense.
 Example: When Romeo takes poison and
Juliet stabs herself.

Conflict
Definition: a struggle between opposing
forces.
 Example: Paris tries to arrest Romeo in
the tomb: “Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile
Montague” (Act 5, Scene 3, line 54).

Couplet
Definition: a pair of rhyming lines of the
same length and meter.
 Example:

“The which if you with patient ears attend,/
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.”
Act I, Prologue, Lines 13-14
Diction

Definition: the words the author chooses
to use (formal, informal, etc.)
 Example:
Shakespeare uses an eloquent style
that contributes to the romance and tragedy
of the play.
Dramatic Irony
Definition: The audience knows information
that the characters do not know
 Example: Romeo tells Juliet when he thinks she
is dead that “death’s pale flag is” not on her face
(Act V, Scene v, line 96). What we know that
Romeo does not is Juliet is not dead that is why
her face doesn’t look so.

Epithet
Definition: a characterizing word or phrase
accompanying or occurring in place of the
name of a person or thing
 Example:

 star-crossed
lovers = Romeo & Juliet
Figurative Language

Definition: writing or speech not meant to
be interpreted literally.
 Example:
“…now thou art so low, / As one
dead in the bottom of a tomb” (Act 3, Scene
5, lines 55-56).
Foil
Definition: A character foil is a character
whose traits are opposite to the protagonist.
 Example: Tybalt is Romeo’s character foil.

Foreshadowing
Definition: clues that suggest events that
occur later in the story.
 Example: “I fear, too early; for my mind
misgives…By some vile forfeit of untimely
death” (Act I, Scene iv, lines 106 & 111).

Iambic Pentameter

Definition: is a commonly used metrical
line in traditional verse; it describes the
particular rhythm that the words establish
in that line.
 Example:
Shakespeare wrote many lines in
Romeo and Juliet using iambic pentameter,
the balcony scene is one example.
Imagery

Definition: the creation of word pictures
for the reader to imagine
 Example:
“It is some meteor that the sun
exhales/ To be to thee this night a
torchbearer/ And light thee on thy way to
Mantua” (Act 3, Scene 5, lines 13-15).
Metaphor
Definition: comparing two unlike things. The
analogy is implied, not stated.
 Example: The Friar compares Romeo to and
ill-beseeming beast because he looks like a
man, but he is acting like a woman.

Motivation

Definition: a reason that explains or
partially explains why a character thinks,
feels, acts, or behaves in a certain way.
 Example:
The Friar agrees to marry Romeo
and Juliet because he wants the two
households to get along: “For this alliance
may so happy prove/ To turn your
households’ rancor to pure love” (Act 2, scene
3, lines 91-92).
Protagonist

Definition: the main character
 Example:
Romeo and Juliet
Pun
 Definition:
– a humorous play on words
that is similar in sound but different in
meaning
Example:
Mercutio: That dreamers often lie.
Romeo: In bed asleep…
Act I, scene v, line 52
Repetition
Definition: the use of any element of
language – a sound, a word, a phrase, a
clause, or a sentence – more than once.
 Example: Mercutio repeats the phrase “A
plague on both your houses” (Act 3, scene
1, lines 94 & 100).

Monologue
Definition: A speech by one character in a
play.
 Example: Prince Escalus’ speech banning
the fighting between the Montagues and
Capulets. (Act I, scene 1, lines 72-94).

Oxymoron

Definition: An oxymoron are contradictory or
opposite words together.
Example:
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire,
sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not
what it is!
Romeo, lines 171-2
Personification
Definition: a nonhuman subject is given
human characteristics.
 Example: Capulet explains how he feels
about his daughter’s death: “Death, that
hath taken her …ties up my tongue and
will not let me speak” (Act 4, scene 5,
lines 31-32)

Simile
 Definition:
Comparing two unlike things
using the words like or as
 Example: The Friar explains to Romeo why
he should slow down with his love for Juliet:
“These violent delights have violent ends/
And in their triumph die, like fire and
powder” (Act 2, Scene 6, lines 9-10).
Situational Irony
Definition: Something happens that
you/characters don’t expect.
 Example: Romeo is a romantic; he doesn’t like
fighting, he ends up killing Tybalt.

Soliloquy
Definition: a long speech expressing the
thoughts of a character alone on stage.
 Example: The speech when Juliet is
waiting for Romeo to return to her for
their wedding night. (Act 3, scene 2, lines
1-34).

Sonnet
Definition: a 14 line lyric poem, usually
written in iambic pentameter
 Example: the Prologue is a 14 line poem
in iambic pentameter

Symbol

Definition: anything that stands for or
represents something else.
 Example:
The mask symbolizes secrecy and the
ability to act not as yourself.
That I have worn a visor and could tell
A whispering tale in a fair lady’s ear,
Capulet, Act I, scene v, lines 20-22
Suspense
Definition: a feeling of uncertainty about
the outcome of events in a literary work.
 Example: When Friar John tells Friar
Lawrence that the letter to Romeo in
Mantua never got delivered:

Friar: “Bare my letter then to Romeo?”
John: “I could not send it – here it is again –”
Act 5, scene 2, lines 13-14
Theme
Definition: a central message or insight
into life revealed through a literary work.
 Example:

 Young
Love: Love without the knowledge and
careful planning of adulthood.
 Romeo
is making arrangements to marry Juliet within 24
hours of meeting her.
Verbal Irony
Definition: Saying one thing but meaning
another
 Example: Mercutio is looking for Romeo after
the Capulet party and he calls to him, “The ape
is dead, and I must conjure him./I must conjure
thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes.”
