Terms to Know for Romeo and Juliet

Important Figurative Language to Remember:

A pun is a humorous play on words.

Comic relief is the use of comedy within a tragedy to provide “relief” from seriousness or sadness.

An allusion is a reference to a well-known work of art, music, literature, or history.

A metaphor is a direct comparison between two unlike things.

Personification occurs when an inanimate object or concept is given the qualities of a person or animal.

An oxymoron describes when two juxtaposed words have opposing or very diverse meanings.

A paradox is statement or situation with seemingly contradictory or incompatible components.

A hyperbole is an exaggeration for emphasis; overstatement

An understatement is the opposite of a hyperbole; to make little of something important.

Important Dramatic Conventions and Literary Devices to Remember:

A. A soliloquy is a speech in which a character reveals his or her thoughts to the audience, but not to the other
characters; it is usually longer than an aside and not directed at the audience.

B. The aside is spoken by an actor in order to be heard by the audience but supposedly not by the other actors.
These lines—much shorter than the soliloquy—usually represent the inner thoughts of the speaker.

C. A monologue is an extended speech by one character on stage for all to hear. The speech is usually for other
characters and not the audience.

D. A foil is a character whose qualities or actions usually serve to emphasize the actions of qualities of the main
character (the protagonist) by providing a strong contrast. On occasion, the foil is used as a contrast to a
character other than the main one.

E. Allusions are indirect references to a person, place, poem, book, event, etc., which is not part of the story, that
the author expects the reader will recognize.

F. Irony—many different types are found in Romeo and Juliet, including:

1. Verbal Irony: a difference between what is literally stated and what is implied
2. Dramatic Irony: a contradiction between what a character thinks or says and what the audience knows
to be true
3. Situational Irony: when the result of an action creates an unexpected/unwanted effect.
4. Cosmic Irony: the suggestion that a god or fate controls and meddles with human lives, creating an
unexpected/unwanted effect.

G. An apostrophe is an address to someone who is absent and cannot hear the speaker, or to something
nonhuman that cannot understand. An apostrophe allows the speaker to think aloud, and reveals those
thoughts to the audience.