Macbeth Ters

• Allude, allusion


  Making reference to something without mentioning it directly e.g. " The porter alludes to the Gunpowder Plot in his soliloquy

  
• Chiasmus


  The use of two or more clauses, balanced on reversing one e.g. "Fair is foul and foul is fair."

  
• Despot, Despotic


  Controlling and tyrannical, could be used to describe Macbeth or Lady Macbeth

  
• Dramatic Irony


  A situation understood by the audience but not the characters in the play, e.g. "The dramatic irony of Duncan stating that Macbeth's castle has a pleasant seat."

  
• Diabolic, Diabolical


  Characteristic of absolute evil

  
• Embody, Embodies


  To typify, symbolise, represent or stand for something, "some claim that Lady Macbeth embodies evil."
• Equivocal, Equivocator


  Open to more than one interpretation, ambiguous. Someone who doesn't tell the whole truth, speaks ambiguously and is deceptive
• Foreshadows, foreshadowing


  To give a warning or indication of future events. Ominous clues.

  
• Hallucination


  A vision or illusion. Seeing something that is. to physically present

  
• Hamartia


  A fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. E.g. "Macbeth's hamartia is his ambition and pride."

  
• Hubris


  Excessive pride and ego

  
• Iambic pentameter


  A line of verse with 10 syllables, in a pattern of one stressed, one unstressed

  
• Juxtaposition


  Placing two things close to each other for contrasting effect. E.g. "The porter's scene juxtaposes the drama of the murder and is darkly comic."
• Machiavellian


  Cunning, scheming, unscrupulous, especially in politics

  
• Pathetic fallacy


  Using nature, often the weather, to communicate human emotion

  
• Pivotal moment


  The moment in a narrative after which events are changed forever

  
• Prose


  Natural verse usually used by servants, porters, characters of a lesser status
• Blank verse


  Is a literary device defined as un rhyming verse written in iambic pentameter ( it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell )
• Protagonist


  Protagonist is the main character in the play, usually the hero

  
• Antagonist


  The adversary of the hero or protagonist

  
• Tragic hero


  Is a literary character who makes a judgement error that inevitably heads to his/her own destruction

  
• Regicide


  The act of killing a king

  
• Soliloquy


  A character of addressing themselves, speaking their thoughts aloud

  
• Subjects


  All people who are the subjects of a King's authority
• Supernatural


  Things which are not logical, physical and of this world such as witches, spells and curses

  
• Divine right of kings


  The doctrine that kings and queens have a God-given right to rule and that rebellion against them is a sin. A monarch is subject to no early authority

  
• Treason, Treachery


  The act of betraying or planning to betray the king, punishable by death

  
• Tyrant, tyrannical


  A villainous ruler and one who has overthrown the legal ruler to take control, by using aggressive and cruel tactics

  
• Valiant


  Brave heroic, confident and dauntless

  
• Catharsis


  The emotional cleansing felt by the audience where all the emotional tensions of the tragedy would be resolved

  
• Paradox


  A seemingly absurd contradiction

  
• Iambic tetrameter


  Eight syllables with four stressed, four unstressed