ambiguity
if you say that there is ambiguity in something, you mean that it is unclear or confusing, or it can be understood in more than one way
prose
Prose means writing that does not follow a meter or rhyme scheme
Soliloquy
A speech delivered by a character alone on stage, revealing their innermost thoughts.
e.g. Macbeth - “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” which shows his inner conflict with murdering King Duncan
Aside
A short comment or speech directed to the audience which is not heard by the characters
e.g. Macbeth’s - after hearing the witches’ prophecy he asides which shows his ambitious thoughts.
Prolepsis
A flash-forward or anticipation of future events.
e.g. Lady Macbeth - her invocation of darkness and death in “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts…” which foreshadows the murders
Apostrophe
A way of speech where one of the characters directly address a that isn’t there or an object that isn’t there.
e.g. Macbeth - speech in “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” This is an apostrophe because of when he addresses the dagger: “Come, let me clutch thee.”
Hubris
Overconfidence and an excessive amount of pride that leads to a character’s downfall
e.g. Macbeth - overconfidence when he believed he is invincible due to the witches’ prophecies.
Iambic Pentameter
A common meter in Shakespeare’s plays, consisting of lines with ten syllables in an unstressed-stressed pattern.
e.g. Macbeth - “If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly”
Anagnorisis
The moment when a character realises a critical truth
e.g. Macbeth’s - realisation that the witches have deceived him (“They have tied me to a stake”)
Trochaic Tetrameter
A meter with four trochaic feet per line (stressed-unstressed pattern), often used to distinguish supernatural characters such as witches
e.g. The witches’ chant - “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble”
Prose
Prose is defined as writing that does not follow a meter or rhyme scheme
e.g. “A short story in prose”
Lament
A passionate expression of grief or sorrow
e.g. “his mother’s night-long laments for his father”
Subversive
Seeking or intended to subvert an established system or institution
e.g. “subversive literature”
Ambiguity
If you say that there is ambiguity in something it means it is unclear or confusing or it can be understood in more than one way
e.g. “we can detect no ambiguity in this section of the Act”
