Literary Elements

Literary Elements Romeo and Juliet

Alliteration • Repetition of consonant sounds at beginning of words. • Act I, scene iii: Juliet says, “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move.”

Allusion • Reference to a literary or historical character or event • Act I, scene i: • Romeo alludes to Cupid and Diana from Roman mythology

Antagonist • A character or force in conflict with a main character.

An apostrophe • Character speaks to a person or idea that isn’t or can’t be present • Act III, scene iii: Nurse says, “O, Tybalt, Tybalt, the best friend I had! (He’s dead)

Aside • Lines spoken by an actor to himself or directly to the audience. • Act III, scene 5: Juliet responds to Lady Capulet, “Villain and he be many miles asunder.”

Comic relief • Humor inserted into the play to break a serious mood • Act V, scene 5: Conversation between Peter and themusicians.

Dramatic Irony • When a character’s words or actions have one meaning for the character and a different meaning for the audience or reader. • Act III: Juliet’s despair is interpreted by her father as sadness for Tybalt’s death when in fact she is in despair over Romeo’s banishment.

Foil • A character that highlights or brings out the personality traits of another character in the play. • Act I, scene 1 Benvolio, who tries to quiet the brawling servants, is a foil to the fiery Tybalt. Also, his calm and sensible disposition is a foil to the moody and emotional Romeo.

Foreshadowing: • Use of clues to suggest what is going to happen. • Prologue at the beginning of the play describe the lovers as “star-crossed”

Imagery • Language that appeals to the senses.

metaphor • Compares too dissimilar things. • Act II, scene ii: Romeo says, “Juliet is the sun!”

Monologue • A lengthy speech delivered by a character and is addressed to other characters in the play, not the audience. • Act I, scene 4: Mercutio’s speech to Romeo about Queen Mab, • Act III: Friar Lawrence’s speech to Romeo about being fortunate

Oxymoron- • Description that contains a self-contradiction. • Juliet says to Romeo, “Parting is such sweet sorrow…” • Damned saint • Honorable villain

Personification • Object is given human or animal characteristics • Act II, “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon who already sick and pale with grief…”

Prologue • Brief opening section of the play spoken by a single actor called “the chorus” • Welcomes the audience and gives them a taste of the story.

Protagonist • Main character in a literary work

Pun • A play on the multiple meanings of a work, or on two words that sound alike but have different meanings. • Romeo and his friend Mercutio clown around a the start of the play • Romeo and Mercutio trade wits in a series of more sophisticated puns • Some are barely understandable today

Rites of passage • Romeo discovers the difference between infatuation and love • Juliet realizes there is more to life than being a dutiful daughter

simile • Compares two different terms using like or as. • Act II, scene ii: Romeo watches Juliet from afar. Romeo says, “For thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head, as if a winged messenger of heaven.”

Soliloquy • A long speech delivered by a character alone on stage to let the audience know what the character is thinking and feeling.

Tragedy • A drama in which events turn out disastrously for the main characters, often resulting in death.

Tragic flaw • The weakness in the tragic hero, which leads to their downfall. • Romeo’s tragic flaw could be reacting without thinking– impulsiveness.

Literary Elements