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Drama Terms
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Aside | A remark or passage by a character in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by other characters in the play. |
Foil | A character who acts as a contrast to another character. |
Foreshadowing | A warning or indication of a future event. |
Verbal Irony | Occurs when someone says one thing but means something else. |
Situational Irony | Takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen. |
Dramatic Irony | Occurs when a character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better. |
Dramatic Monologue | When a character speaks to one or more listeners whose responses are not known. |
Protagonist | The leading/central character or in a drama, movie, novel or other fictional text. His/her actions initiate and drive action. |
Pun | A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings. |
Soliloquy | A long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are onstage. |
Tragedy | A story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end. |
Tragic Flaw | A fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. This is usually a combination of fate, an error in judgment, or a personality failure. |
Tragic Hero | A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who, by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory into suffering and/or death. |