Macbeth (paper 1)

• Allegory


  A story, character, place or event is used to convey a hidden meaning, typically moral or political, about real-world events or issues
• Allusion

  An indirect reference to another event, person or work which the writer assumes the reader is familiar
• Archetype

  The first real example or prototype of something; an ideal model or the perfect image or something
• Bathos


  An anti-climax which is abrupt; usually humour that comes from an odd and sudden change in tone
• Biblical

  Relating to the bible; religious connotations
• Blazon

  A poem in which the speaker describes a woman's physique by focusing on and listing various individual parts of a woman's body
• Caricature

  An imitation where particular notable characteristics are exaggerated to a comic or grotesque effect
• Colloquialism

  An informal phrase common at its time of utterance
• Comic relief

  Relief from tension caused by the introduction of a comedic element
• Connotation

  Using text to create implied meaning without explicitly referring to said meaning
• Dichotomy

  A division or contrast between two opposed things
• Double entendre


  Words or phrases that have a double meaning and is deliberately ambiguous, especially when one of the meanings is risque
• Dysphemism

  A substitution of a more offensive term for one considered less so
• Epithet

  A word or phrase applied to a person to describe an actual or credited quality
• Epitome


  A perfect example or embodiment of a concept
• Epizeuxis


  The repetition of words in succession within the same sentence
• Euphemism

  The substitution of a harmless term for one that is considered as offensively risque or explicit
• Extended metaphor


  A metaphor that continues over many sentences and could even extend throughout the entire play
• Foreshadowing


  An indication that an event will occur later in the narrative
• Grotesque


  Ugly and distorted, physically or figuratively, in a way that is comic or repulsive
• Hyperbole

  Use of exaggerated statements
• Imagery

  Use of language which is visually descriptive or symbolic
• Irony


  Embedding a meaning by using language typically implying the opposite of what the writer is intending to express, often for a humorous effect
• Juxtaposition

  Comparing two concepts, characters, or clauses, in close proximity in a passage for the effect of contrast
• Manifestation

  A physical expression or realisation of an abstract idea through a character, object, place or event
• Motif


  An element that reoccurs, such as a word, phrase, idea, image, action, character or symbol that appears throughout the play for emphasis
• Oxymoron

  Two opposing terms are placed next to each other
• Parable

  A story used to teach a moral or spiritual lession, typically told in the Bible by Jesus
• Pathetic fallacy

  Attributing human qualities to nonhuman things
• Personification

  Giving something non-human a human trait, capability, or personality
• Pun


  A play on words which suggests multiple meanings
• Satire

  Criticizing people through the use of humour or irony
• Semantic field


  A writer uses words which are linked by a theme or topic throughout a text or passage
• Sibilance

  The repetition of an "s" sound in a word, sentence, or section of text
• Similie

  Comparing something to something else in a nonliteral way, in order to convey a particular impression or effect
• Simile


  Comparing something to something else in a nonliteral way, in order to convey a particular idea or quality of the original thing
• Symbolism


  Using one object or character to represent a wider concept running throughout the novel
• Trope


  A particular type of character, event or setting that is used frequently in stories
• Zoomorphism

  Imagery representing animal forms
• Anaphora

  Repeating a sequence of words at the beginning of adjacent clauses