Literary Elements in Romeo and Juliet
Pun play on worlds that sound the same
Aside one character speaks privately and directly to the audience
Heroic couplet pair of rhymed lines
Blank verse unrhymed iambic pentameter
Anachronism detail out of proper time
Sonnet - 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme
Iambic pentameter - unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, ''pent'' means ''five.''
Shakespearian rhyme scheme
Foil – character in literature that has qualities that are in sharp contrast to another character, thus emphasizing the abilities of each. How is Mercutio a foil to Romeo? -- - - character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character in the same work
Foreshadowing – refers to hints in the text about what will occur later (Romeo’s dream)
Hyperbole – obvious exaggeration (Romeo’s declaration of love for Rosaline) equates Juliet’s home with heaven, compares banishment to death
Pun – play on words
Conflicts -
Metaphor- direct comparison of unlike things w/o using like or as
- Juliet’s eyes to stars, Romeo to a rose or god, love to a winged creature, night to a mask
Imagery – language that appeals to the five senses and adds emotion and power to writing
- List images of light, dark and fire in Scene ii. – game
Soliloquies – alone on stage, allows characters to reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings to the audience
Malapropism – comic mistake uttered by certain characters
- Nurse suggests that she is uneducated
Theme – underlying meaning or message of a work of literature
Oxymoron – contradictory words are paired (lots in scene ii)
Repetition – used to increase the tension and emotional impact of a speech or scene (as used in MLKJr’s “I have a Dream” speech)
Comic Relief – Peter and musicians scene
Irony (Romeo’s opening soliloquy in Act V Scene I)
Dramatic Irony – audience knows more than some of the characters in the play
Personification – human characteristics to nonhuman things or objects
Tragedy - Character who is in some way better than we are but suffers a change in fortune from happiness to misery because of a mistake he is led to by tragic flaws. The hero moves us to pity because since he is not an evil man, his misfortune is greater than he deserves but he moves us also to fear because we recognize similar possibilities of error in ourselves
Tragic flaw – personality characteristic that will be the character’s undoing
- Does not have to be bad, example, ability to not tell a lie (Jim Carey, Liar Liar
Plot Sequence – diagram it!
Comic relief – humorous scene, incident, or speech that relieves the emotional intensity.
Allusion – brief reference within a work to something outside the work that the reader or audience is expected to know; meant to enhance the meaning of the story.
Ex. Shrek