Shakespeare Terms

1. two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme; couplets often signal the EXIT of a character or end of a scene
3. fourteen-line lyric poem that is usually written in iambic pentameter and that has one of several rhyme schemes
6. the audience or reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know
7. a play on the multiple meanings of a word, or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings
10. a group who says things at the same time
12. a play, novel, or other narrative that depicts serious and important events in which the main character comes to an unhappy end
15. humor added that lessens the seriousness of a plot
16. an unusually long speech in which a character who is on stage alone expresses his or her thoughts aloud
18. written in unrhymed iambic pentameter each line of poetry contains 5 iambs, or metrical feet, that consist of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
19. event or detail that is inappropriate for the time period

2. a short introduction at the beginning of a play that gives a brief overview of the plot
4. direct, unadorned form of language, written or spoken, in ordinary use
5. character who changes as a result of the story’s events
8. words that are spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another character but that are not supposed to be overheard by the others onstage
9. a story written to be acted for an audience
11. a combination of contradictory terms
13. character who is used as a contrast to another character; writer sets off/intensifies the qualities of 2 characters this way
14. a speech by one character in a play
16. character who does not change much in the course of a story
17. a writer or speaker says one thing, but really means something completely different