Antagonist
person or force working against the protagonist
anthropomorphism
an animal that takes on human characteristics
antihero
protagonsit in a modern work who does not exhibit the qualities of the traditional hero
archetype
detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to be universal
Aside
in drama, a convention by which actors speak breifly to the audience, supposedly without being heard by the other actors on stage
caricature
exaggeration of specific features of appearance or personality
bildungsroman
novel that recounts the development of an individual from childhood to maturity, to the point at which the protagonist recognizes his or her place and role in the world
catharsis
the emotional effect a tragic drama has on its audience; a cleansing’ Aristotle said tragedy provided the audience with the opportunity to purge the emotions of pity and fear
character
figure in literary work
flat characters
defined by a single idea or quality
round characters
have three dimensional complexity of real people
static characters
dont change significantly over the course of a work
dynamic characters
change in response to circumstance and experience
characterization
various means by which an author describes and evelops the characters in a literary work
direct characterization
narrators description
indirect characterisation
character’s action, dialogue, other characters’ comments about them
dialogue
converstaion between two or more characters in a literary work
epiphany
moment of sudden revelation or insight
foil
a character who, by his contrast with the main character, serves to accentuate that character’s distincive qualities or characteristics
hubris
excessive pride that constitues the protagonist’s tragic flaw and leads to his/her downfall
narrator
a speaker through whom an author presents a narrative, often but not always a character in the work
protagonist
character around which the action is centered
soliloquy
a speech in which a character, alone on a stage, addressses him/herslef; it is a thinking out loud, a dramatic means of lettig an audience know a character’s thoughts/feelings or some other important information
tragic hero
the central character in a tragedy who experienced a tragic downfall. the tragic hero has a tragic flaw which is the error, misstep, frailty, or flaw that causes the downfall of the tragic hero.
