Macbeth key terms

• Allegory


  A story, character, place, or event is used to convey a hidden meaning, typically moral or political, about real-world events or issues (e.g. Duncan's death is an allegory for the risks of killing your king)
• 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 of something
• Bathos


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


  Language that relates to the bible and thus has 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 word or phrase used in normal or familiar conversation
• Comic relief


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


  An impression, idea, or feeling associated with a word or phase beyond its literal 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 risqué. (For example: In Elizabethan England, the use of the word "die" referred to both death and orgasm)
• Dysphemism


  The 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. (For example: "star crossed lovers" = Romeo and Juliet)
• Epitome


  A perfect example of a specific quality
• 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 risqué or explicit
• Extended metaphor


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


  A device in which an author suggests certain plot developments that might come later in the play
• Grotesque


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


  An extravagant exaggeration of fact, used either for serious or comic effect
• Ideology


  A system of beliefs and ideals, typically forming a framework for a political policy or a religion
• Imagery


  Use of language which is visually descriptive or symbolic
• Irony


  The use of words where the meaning is contrary to what is expected to actually occur
• Juxtaposition


  A literary technique that places two opposing words, phrases or events side by side, often for the main purpose of comparing or contrasting them. (For example - "Here is much to do with hate, but more to do with love.")
• 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


  A form of paradox that combines a pair of contrasting terms into a single, sometimes unique expression. (For example - When Juliet says "O happy dagger")