Key terms

• exposition

  the part of a play that introduces important background information to the audience; e.g. information about the setting, events occurring before the main plot, characters' back stories, etc
• jacobean

  relating to the reign of James 1 of England
• paradox

  a statement that is self-contradictory because it often contains two statements that are both true, but in general, cannot both be true at the same time
• dramatic irony

  when the audience knows something that the characters do not/have yet to learn
• hamartia

  a personal error in a protagonist's personality that brings about their tragic downfall in a tragedy, also known as a 'fatal flaw'
• tragedy

  the conventional description of a play that portrays human suffering and the decline and death of a hero or heroine
• hubris

  the pride before the fall - the point at which the protagonist(s) seems to be on top of the world
• peripeteia

  the abrupt turn of events which begins the final tragedy - the point at which events begin to turn against the protagonist(s)
• catharsis

  a purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic on its audience
• rising action

  a series of events that build up tension and suspense, leading to a climactic point in the play
• patriarchy

  a system of society where the father is the head of the family and men have authority over women and children
• soliloquy

  when a character speaks to himself or herself, relating thoughts or feelings, thereby also sharing them with the audience, longer than asides and take the form of speeches in the play
• euphemism

  the substitution of a mild, indirect or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh or blunt
• pathos

  a quality of a play's action that stimulates the audience to feel pity for a character
• damnation

  the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions committed on earth
• regicide

  the act of killing a king
• biblical allusion

  an indirect reference to something from the Bible
• apparition

  a supernatural appearance of a person or thing, especially a ghost; spectre or phantom
• conjuring

  to summon (a devil or spirit) by magical or supernatural power
• treason

  the crime of trying to overthrow your country's government or helping your country's enemies during war, the offense of attempting overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or their family
• vices

  types of immoral or wicked behaviour
• equivocation

  use of ambiguous expressions in order to mislead
• downfall

  a dramatic descent from power, happiness and stability to a wretched state, and, in a tragedy, usually concluding in their death
• symbolism

  the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense
• hysteria

  a psychological disorder characterised by conversion of psychological stress into physical symptoms
• nihilism

  the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated, often associated with extreme pessimism and radical scepticism that condemns existence, true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalty and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy
• climax

  a moment/scene of high drama where the action builds to a point of tension for the characters
• kinship

  both the relationship between members of the same family and a feeling of being close or similar to other people
• succession

  the right, act, or process by which one person succeeds to the office, rank, estate or the like of another
• tyrant

  a cruel and oppressive leader, leaders may be tyrannical in order to hold onto their power
• lineage

  descendants of a common ancestor considered to be the founder of the line
• resignation

  the acceptance of undesirable but inevitable situation or circumstances