Grade 9 Key Terms

• Allegory


  When characters and plot represent ideas that relate to morality, politics, or religion.
• Allusion


  A way of making reference to something else without explicitly stating what it is you're referring to.
• Anagnorisis


  The point in a text when a key character realises another character's true identity, or they come to understand the true nature of their circumstances.
• Androgynous


  having the characteristics or nature of both male and female, neither specifically feminine nor masculine.
• Antagonist


  A character who opposes someone or something, often the protagonist. They are generally considered the 'bad guys' in a text.
• Archetype


  A stereotype of a character or thing. It is a model around which certain character types are built.
• Biblical


  Relating to the Bible
• Blank Verse


  Unrhymed metered lines, primarily written using iambic pentameter.
• Caricature


  A depiction of a person in which key characteristics are exaggerated for comic effect or to imply a grotesque quality.
• Catharsis


  Releasing strong or repressed emotions.
• Connotation


  When a word, phrase, or other component of a text is intended to carry a certain meaning (i.e. the way the colour red is intended to convey anger).
• Conscience


  A moral sense of right and wrong.
• Dichotomy


  A division into two opposite groups (i.e. peace and war, love and hate).
• Divine Right of Kings


  A belief asserting that a monarch derived their authority from God, and thus any attempt to depose or murder the king is an attempt on God himself.
• Dramatic Monologue


  A section of text in which the speaker addresses the audience directly.
• Emasculation


  Making a man feel less masculine by taking away his power.
• Epitome


  A person or item which is a perfect representation of something else, particularly a quality or concept.
• Euphemism


  Language used to imply something unpleasant or impolite.
• Facade


  A deceptive outward appearance used to conceal a person's true personality or feelings.
• Femme Fatale


  A woman who tries to achieve her hidden purpose by employing her femininity and skills of charm and seduction.
• Foil


  A character with qualities that contrast another.
• Foreshadowing


  A warning of events to come in a text
• Great Chain of Being


  The belief that God created the world with a clear hierarchical structure encompassing all matter and life.
• Hamartia


  A character's fatal flaw.
• Heathen


  Someone who doesn't participate in a well-known religion. This is most often used in regards to Christianity.
• Hubris


  Exaggerated self-confidence which often leads to a character's downfall.
• Hyperbole


  Figurative speech used for exaggeration.
• Ideology


  A body of beliefs and ideals that dictates how a person thinks and acts. It can also be used in relation to political and religious beliefs.
• Irony


  Expression of an emotion or thought by using language which typically means the opposite. It is often amusing, which injects a degree of comedy into a text.
• Juxtaposition


  Two opposite things placed next to each other for contrast.
• Microcosm


  A community or situation intended to represent the characteristics of something much larger.
• Morality

  Principles regarding the differentiation between right and wrong.
• Motif


  A repeating idea used to dictate tone and emphasise themes.
• Nihilism


  Rejection of religion and the belief that life is meaningless.
• Oxymoron


  A figure of speech in which two contradictory terms are used consecutively.
• Peripeteia


  An unexpected change in circumstances or reversal of fortune.
• Personification


  Giving human characteristics to non-humans or inanimate objects.
• Proseor Free Verse


  A passage of text written without any metrical structure.
• Protagonist


  The leading character in a text.
• Redemption


  Being saved from sin or error.