You will need to know the following literary terms as we read The Tragedy of Macbeth
1. Comedy: A dramatic work with a happy ending. It doesn’t have to necessarily be funny.
2. Tragedy: A work in which the main character, or tragic hero, comes to an unhappy end.
3. Comic Relief: A light and mildly humorous scene immediately following a serious scene.
4. Catharsis: A cleansing of emotions.
5. Hubris: an excessive pride that leads a tragic hero to challenge the gods.
6. Tragic Hero: The main character in a tragedy, who possesses a tragic flaw, leading to his downfall.
7. Tragic Flaw: A fatal error in judgment or weakness of character that leads directly to the Tragic Hero’s downfall.
8. Antagonist: The person or force with whom the hero battles
9. Protagonist: The central character in a story.
10. Catastrophe: The tragic resolution of the series of events after the Tragic Hero succumbs to his tragic flaw.
11. Soliloquy: A speech that a character makes alone on stage, to reveal his or her thoughts to the audience.
12. Aside: A remark a character makes to the audience or another character, but others on stage are not supposed to hear.
13. Verse Drama: A play in which the dialogue consists entirely of poetry with a fixed rhythm.
14. Meter: A fixed pattern of rhythm
15. Irony: The contrast between appearance or expectation and reality
16. Dramatic Irony: What appears to be true to one or more characters in a play is seen false to the audience.
17. Foreshadowing: A writer’s use of hints or clues to suggest what events will occur later in the story.
18. Theme: A central idea conveyed by a work of literature.