Ague
A fever, sickness or shaking
the excess or deficiency of four distinct bodily fluids in a person directly influencing health and temperament.
Anaphora
Parallelism create when successive phrases or lines begin with the same words
An error of chronology or timeline in a literary piece.
Cuckoldry
The type of hat that a jester or fool wears.
When a woman cheats on her husband, she makes him a cuckold.
Epistrophe
An arrangement of words addressing a non-existent person or abstract idea as if it were present.
the repetition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases or clauses or sentences.
Half Rhyme
An incomplete rhyme, ending at the line and not continuing to the next
a rhyme of only partial matching sounds
Metonymy
substituting a concept or idea with something associated with it
When body parts are used to describe someone
Motif
A thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially something abstract.
Any element, subject or idea, or concept that is constantly present through the entire body of literature
Oxymoron
Two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect
A statement that appears to be contradictory but upon close examination makes sense.
Paradox
A contradictory statement that makes sense.
To expose and criticize foolishness.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech where a part of something is used to refer to the whole.
Substituting a concept or idea with something associated with it.
Antic disposition
Acting sarcastic and angry as a mask.
Pretending to be mad.
Anachronism
A purposeful change in the plot that is unexpected.
Anything out of time or place; an error in chronology or the timeline.
Vice
A evil characteristic that is used as an example.
Stock character from medieval morality plays.
Carnivalesque
A medieval trope; where wildness is purged for a short time in order for society to accept authority the rest of the time.
When a foolish play is put on to represent the importance of authority by inverting societal roles.
Satire
To ridicule a person accidentally or in reference.
To expose and criticize foolishness and corruption by using humour, irony and exaggeration or ridicule.
Body Politic
A metaphor of a nation as a body, needing every part to function.
The head of the Roman state, which had the strength of authority.
Primogeniture
The right of the first born to inherit his father's money and titles.
The law that replaced the idea of all sons inheriting the family wealth and property.
In-Built Stage Directions
Words within a text that give hints as to what the actors should be doing in a scene.
Directions written by shakespeare in sidenotes to instruct actors.
Metatheatricality
When a character is being overdramatic.
Theatre as self-conscious of being a drama.
Bathos
Shift from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Creating pity for a character.
Metaphor
A thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, especially abstract.
Using parts to refer to the whole.
Soliloquy
The speech of a character that only the audience and not the other characters can hear.
An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud whilst alone onstage.
Conceit
An elaborate metaphor.
To be arrogant and cocky.
Humours
The humour or comedy of a play as given by the characters.
Excess or deficiency of four distinct bodily fluids in a person directly influences their temperament and health.
Allusion
Distorting reality.
A reference to things outside of the text.
Pathos
Shift from the ridiculous to the sublime.
Evoking pity for a character.
Dramatic Irony
Where a character does not know something that the audience does.
Humour unrecognized by a character.
Foreshadowing
To show, indicate, or suggest in advance of what is to come.
Alluding to darker events.
Blazon
Cataloguing the love's physical features in comparison to other objects of beauty.
