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AP Literature - Drama Terms Flashcards

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5780990541AsideWords spoken by an actor directly to the audience that are not "heard" by the other characters on stage during a play. In Shakespeare's Othello, lago voices his inner thoughts a number of times as "asides" for the play's audience0
5780990542CatastropheThe action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement of a play. One example is the dueling scene in Act V of Hamlet.1
5780990543CatharsisThe purging of the feelings of pit and fear that, according to Aristotle, occur in the audience of tragic drama. The audience experiences catharsis the end of the play following the catastrophe.2
5780990544Comic ReliefThe use of a comic scene to interrupt a succession of intensely tragic dramatic moments. The comedy of scenes offering comic relief typically parallels the tragic action that the scenes interrupt. Comic relief is lacking in Greek tragedy, but it occurs regularly in Shakespeare's tragedies. One example is the opening scene of Act V of Hamlet in which a gravedigger banters with Hamlet.3
5780990545Deus ex MachinaA god who resolves the entanglements of a play by supernatural intervention. The Latin phrase roughly translates "a god from the machine" or "a god in the machine." The phrase refers to the use of artificial means to resolve the plot of play.4
5780990546Fourth WallA term to describe the invisible wall between the audience and the actors on-stage. This is because in promscenium theaters, the set was unusually three walls wall of a room. The audience was therefore "The Fourth Wall" and ignored by the actors. When an actor addresses the audience directly, it is called "Breaking the Fourth Wall."5
5780990547GestureThe physical movement of a character during a play. Gesture is used to reveal character and may include facial expressions as well as movements of other parts of an actor's body. Sometimes a playwright will be very explicit about both bodily and fail gestures, providing detailed instructions in the play's stage directions.6
5780990548Hamartia ("tragic error")A fatal error or simple mistake on the part of the protagonist that eventually leads to the final catastrophe. A metaphor from archery, hamartia literally refers to a shot that misses the bull's-eye. Hence it need not be an egregious "fatal flaw" (as the term hamartia has traditionally been glossed). Instead, it can be something as basic and inescapable as a simple miscalculation or slip up.7
5780990549Hubris ("violent transgression")The sin par excellence of the tragic or over-aspiring hero. Though it is usually translated as pride, hubris is probably better understood as a sort of insolent daring, a naughty overstepping of cultural codes or ethical boundaries.8
5780990550Implied Stage Action/DirectionActions in a play suggested within the dialogue itself.9
5780990551MonologueA speech by a single chapter without another's response.10
5780990552Nemesis ("retribution")The inevitable punishment or cosmic payback for acts of hubris.11
5780990553PsychomachiaA Latin phrase that means spirit war. It is the conflict in every human heart between good and evil; the conflict of the soul.12
5780990554Recognition (Anagnorisis)The point at which a chapter understands his or her situation as it really is. Sophocie's Oedipus comes to this point near the end of Oedipus the King; Othello comes to a similar understanding of his situation in Act V of Othello.13
5780990555Reversal (Paripateia)Th point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the protagonist (a change in his or her situation from seemingly secure to vulnerable). Oedipus and Othello's recognitions are also reversals. They learn that that did not expect to learn.14
5780990556SoliloquyA speech in a play presents in performance, including the position of actors on stage. If there are no other chapters present, the soliloquy represents character thinking aloud. Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech is an example15
5780990557Stage DirectionA playwright's descriptive or interpretive comments that provide readers (and actors) with information about the dialogue, setting, and action of a play. Modern playwrights, including Ibsen, Shaw, Miller, and Williams tend to include substantial stage directions, while earlier playwrights typically used them more sparely, implicitly, or not at all16
5780990558StagingThe spectacle a play presents in performance, including the position of actors on stage, the scenic background, the props and costumes, and the lighting and sound effects. Tennessee Williams describes these in his detailed stage directions for The Glass Menagerie and also in his production notes for the plays.17
5780990559Tragic HeroA privileged, exalted character of high repute, who, by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory into suffering. Aristotle devised the following principle in regards to tragic heroes.18
5780990560TragedyA type of drama in which the charter experience several of fortune, usually for the worse. In tragedy, catastrophe and suffering awaiting many of the charter, especially the hero. Example include Shakespeare's Othello and Hamlet; Sophocle's Antigone and Oedipus the King, and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.19
5780990561Tragic FlawA weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the fall of the tragic hero. Othello's jealousy and too trusting nature is one example; Hamlet's inability to take action is another20
5780990562SubplotA subsidiary or subordinate or parallel plot in a play that coexist with the main plot. The story of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern forms a subplot with the overall plot of Hamlet, as does the conflict with Fortinbras.21

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