William Shakespeare

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William ShakespearesRomeo and
JulietVocabulary Packet
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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 1

• Drama- a composition designed for performance in
  a theater
• Tragedy- a play which shows dramatic
  representations of serious actions that lead to a
  disastrous conclusion. In a tragedy, the main
  character(s) come to an unhappy ending.
• Blank verse- lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter
• Iambic pentameter- lines with five metrical feet
  of iambs (unstressed, stressed). Sounds most like
  natural speech.

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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 2

• Prose- inclusive term for all lines which are not
  patterned into the metric verse. In the case of
  Romeo and Juliet, all lines which are not in
  iambic pentameter
• Couplets- two consecutive lines of poetry that
  rhyme
• End-stopped lines- a line that ends with
  punctuation.
• Run-on lines- a line that does not end with
  punctuation and that has meaning which is
  completed in the lines below it.

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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 3

• Soliloquy- the act of talking to oneself, whether
  silently or aloud. Playwrights use this device as
  an easy way to convey information about a
  characters motives and state of mind or for
  purposes of exposition in order to guide the
  audiences judgments and reactions.
• Aside- the character expresses his/her thoughts
  or intentions to the audience in a short speech.
  The other characters onstage cannot hear an
  aside.
• Foreshadowing- the use of clues to hint at events
  that will occur later in the plot.

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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 4

• Suspense- the uncertainty or anxiety that the
  audience feels about what is going to happen
  onstage.
• Simile- a figure of speech that makes a
  comparison between two unlike things, using an
  explicit word such as like, as, than, or
  resembles.
• Metaphor- a figure of speech that makes a
  comparison between two unlike things, in which
  one thing becomes another without the use of the
  words like, as, than, or resembles.

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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 5

• Personification- a special kind of metaphor in
  which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about
  as if it were human.
• Imagery- language that appeals to the senses.
• Pun- a play on words. The words are identical or
  similar in sound but have sharp diverse meaning.
• Allusion- a reference to a statement, person,
  place, event or thing that is known from
  literature, history, religion, myth, politics,
  sports, science, or pop culture.

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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 6

• End-stopped lines- a line that ends with
  punctuation.
• Run-on lines- a line that does not end with
  punctuation and that has meaning which is
  completed in the lines below it.
• Thrust stage- a stage that thrusts into the
  theater with the audience sitting on three or
  more sides. This is also known as an arena stage.
  
• Comic relief- humorous characters, situations,
  and scenes that Shakespeare uses to ease tension
  in his tragedies.

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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 7

• Farce- type of comedy in which ridiculous and
  often stereotyped characters are involved in
  far-fetched and very silly situations.
• Protagonist- chief characters that the audiences
  interests centers on.
• Antagonist- the important opponent to the
  protagonist. The antagonist and protagonist are
  linked by conflict..

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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 8

• Conflict- a struggle or clash between opposing
  characters or between opposing forces.
• External conflict- the character struggles
  against an outside force.
• Internal conflict- the character experiences a
  struggle within his/her mind

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Shakespearean Drama Vocabulary Page 9

• Exposition- the part of a plot that reveals
  essential information about the characters and
  their problems or conflicts.
• Dramatic irony- when the audience knows something
  important that the characters are not aware of
• Situational irony- when what occurs onstage is
  the opposite of what the audience expects
• Verbal irony- when the character says one thing
  but means another

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Archaic Vocabulary Page 10 (These words meanings
have disappeared from common use)

• a- he
• a- on
• an and- if
• but- if, or only
• hap or happy- luck or lucky

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Archaic Vocabulary Page 11 (These words meanings
have disappeared from common use)

• Jack- a common fellow, ordinary guy
• maid- young unmarried girl
• mark- listen
• Marry!- a mild oath
• nice- trivial, foolish
• owes- owns

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Act I Vocabulary Page 12

• humor- mood or moisture
• to mark- a verb meaning to listen, or to take
  notice of.
• shrift- a confession the forgiveness given by a
  priest for confessed sins.
• Soft!- Quiet! Hush! Slow up! Stop!

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Act I Vocabulary Page 13

• withal- with that with
• Anon!- At once! Soon! Coming!
• Gooden- Good evening.
• crowkeeper- scarecrow
• Cholar - anger