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    Romeo and Juliet Literary Terms

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    This document provides definitions and examples of various literary terms found in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It defines terms like setting, figurative language, inference, foreshadowing, oxymoron, allusion, imagery, metaphor, soliloquy, pun, aside, hyperbole, simile, protagonist, antagonist, theme, personification, dramatic irony, sonnet, rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets, and dramatic foil, and provides examples for each from Romeo and Juliet.

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    Romeo and Juliet Literary Terms

    Uploaded by

    grace_bollman
    1K views24 pages
    This document provides definitions and examples of various literary terms found in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It defines terms like setting, figurative language, inference, foreshadowing, oxymoron, allusion, imagery, metaphor, soliloquy, pun, aside, hyperbole, simile, protagonist, antagonist, theme, personification, dramatic irony, sonnet, rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets, and dramatic foil, and provides examples for each from Romeo and Juliet.

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    This document provides definitions and examples of various literary terms found in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It defines terms like setting, figurative language, inference, foreshadowing, oxymoron, allusion, imagery, metaphor, soliloquy, pun, aside, hyperbole, simile, protagonist, antagonist, theme, personification, dramatic irony, sonnet, rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets, and dramatic foil, and provides examples for each from Romeo and Juliet.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    1K views24 pages

    Romeo and Juliet Literary Terms

    Uploaded by

    grace_bollman
    This document provides definitions and examples of various literary terms found in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It defines terms like setting, figurative language, inference, foreshadowing, oxymoron, allusion, imagery, metaphor, soliloquy, pun, aside, hyperbole, simile, protagonist, antagonist, theme, personification, dramatic irony, sonnet, rhyme scheme, iambic pentameter, rhyming couplets, and dramatic foil, and provides examples for each from Romeo and Juliet.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 24

    Romeo and Juliet Literary Terms

    Setting
    • setting: a story’s time, place, and background

    • Romeo and Juliet probably takes place around


    1200 or 1300 A.D., when Italian families were
    feuding.
    Figurative Language
    • Figures of Speech:  Specific tools writers use to
    paint "word pictures.“
    • Example: Juliet uses the sea as a simile to help
    Romeo understand how much she loves him:
    “My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
    My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
    The more I have, for both are infinite."
    (2.2.133–136)
    Inference
    • Inference: To reason from circumstance; surmise
    • Example: It appears that the Friar sees men and
    women in their traditional perspectives. One
    place in the text particularly lead me to believe
    this. In Act II, scene iii, the Friar notes about
    Romeo:
    Young men's love then lies
    Not truly in their hearts,
    but in their eyes.
    Foreshadowing
    • foreshadowing: events which hint of things to
    come
    • Example: In the Prologue to Act 1, the Chorus
    foreshadows what will happen in the play. One
    thing that will happen is that a feud will be
    renewed violently, as “civil blood makes civil
    hands unclean” (4).

    • Sir Isaac Newton about to invent gravity.


    Oxymoron
    • oxymoron: bringing together two contra-
    dictory terms
    • Example: In Act 1, Scene 1, line 181, Romeo
    uses several oxymora (the plural of
    “oxymoron”) to describe the relationship of
    love and hate. He says, “O brawling love, O
    loving hate.”
    Allusion
    • allusion: reference to historical or literary
    figure, event, or object
    • Example: In Act 1, Scene 1, line 217, Romeo
    says that Rosaline “hath Dian’s wit.” He is
    alluding to Diana, goddess of chastity, who
    opposed love and marriage. In other words,
    Rosaline thinks like Diana and will not fall in
    love with Romeo.
    Imagery

    • imagery: representation in words of a vivid


    sensory experience

    • Example: In Act 1, Scene 5, lines 55 and 56,


    Romeo uses imagery to describe Juliet’s beauty
    when he says, “So shows a dove trooping with
    crows / As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.”
    Metaphor
    • metaphor: an implied comparison between
    two unlike things, without “like” or “as”.
    • Example: In Act 2, Scene 2, line 3, Romeo uses
    a metaphor, saying, “Juliet is the sun,”
    meaning that Juliet is bright and beautiful.
    Soliloquy
    • soliloquy: a speech an actor gives as though
    talking to himself or herself
    • Example: Romeo starts his famous soliloquy
    about Juliet with the words, “But soft, what
    light through yonder window breaks” (II.ii.2).
    He is speaking to himself about Juliet.
    Pun
    • Pun/Homonym: "Use words
    that sound alike but have
    different meanings to create
    humor."
    • Example: Mercutio's in Act III, when he realizes he
    has been fatally wounded:
    ...ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a
    grave man.
    Grave meaning "serious", but in this case, dead.
    Aside
    • aside: words spoken by an actor supposedly
    heard only by the audience
    • Example: Romeo uses asides as he is listening
    to Juliet’s soliloquy in Act 2, Scene 2. In line
    27, he says, “She speaks.” He is not talking to
    Juliet, the only other person on stage. Only
    the audience is intended to hear this line.
    Hyperbole
    • hyperbole: a figure of speech in which the
    truth is exaggerated for emphasis or
    humorous effect

    • Example: In Act 2, Scene 2, line 140, Juliet says


    that her “bounty is as boundless as the sea.”
    In other words, she says what she has to offer
    Romeo is wider than the ocean.
    Simile
    • simile: a direct comparison of unlike things
    using “like” or “as”
    • Example: In Act 2, Scene 6, lines 8-10, Friar
    Lawrence uses a simile to warn Romeo about
    being too passionate too soon.
    He says: “These violent delights have violent
    ends And in their triumph die, like fire and
    powder, Which, as they kiss, consume.”
    Protagonist
    • protagonist: the main character in a piece of
    literature
    • Example: In this play, Romeo is one
    protagonist.
    Antagonist
    • antagonist: the person or force opposing the
    main character

    • Example: Tybalt is one antagonist in the play,


    because he opposes Romeo, who is a
    protagonist.
    Theme
    • theme: the main idea of a piece of literature

    • Example: One theme of Romeo and Juliet


    might be that “haste makes waste.” In other
    words, hurrying too much often leads to
    problems.
    Personification
    • Personification: When a non-human is given
    human characteristics

    • Example: Romeo says: "Arise, fair sun and kill


    the envious moon"
    Dramatic Irony
    • dramatic irony, a situation where the reader
    knows more than the characters do
    • Lady Capulet's misunderstanding of Juliet's
    feelings is ironic. She believes Juliet is
    "evermore weeping for [her] cousin's death,"
    when she sees her sorrow. The reader knows
    she’s weeping for Romeo.
    Sonnet
    • William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets.
    • A sonnet, a form of poetry invented in Italy,
    has 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme.
    • The topic of most sonnets written in
    Shakespeare's time is love–or a theme related
    to love.
    Rhyme Scheme
    In Shakespeare’s sonnets, the rhyme scheme
    is as follows: 
    ............First stanza (quatrain): ABAB 
    ............Second stanza (quatrain): CDCD 
    ............Third stanza (quatrain): EFEF 
    ............Couplet: GG. 
    Iambic Pentameter
    • iambic pentameter, with stresses regularly
    punctuating every other syllable. A line of
    iambic pentameter is five iambic feet in a row:
    da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
    • ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ /
    But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
    Rhyming Couplets
    When two rhyming lines are found together,
    this is called a rhyming couplet.
    • Found in the last two lines of a sonnet.
    • Used to emphasize a point.
    Dramatic Foil
    Dramatic Foil: a pair of opposite characters.

    Example: Romeo is the ultimate "head in the clouds"


    lover.  He broods over Rosaline, then he completely
    loses it over Juliet.  He is the incurable romantic.
    Benvolio is the voice of reason.  He's the one who
    tries to remind Romeo that there are other fish in
    the sea when Romeo is depressed over Rosaline.

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