Paper 1 response requirements Key Terms

Dramatic Irony

A situation in which the audience knows more about the events of a story than the characters do, creating tension and engagement.

Tragic Hero

A protagonist in a tragedy who possesses noble qualities but has a tragic flaw that leads to their downfall.

Soliloquy

A speech given by a character alone on stage, revealing their thoughts and feelings.

Iambic pentameter

A metrical line of five feet, each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Tragedy

A genre that depicts the downfall of a noble character due to a tragic flaw or fate.

Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses and creates mental pictures.

Dramatic Irony

A situation where the audience knows more about the circumstances than the characters, creating tension.

Foreshadowing

A literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story.

Soliloquy

A speech in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud, often while alone on stage.

Foreshadowing

A literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story.

Iambic Pentameter

A metrical pattern in poetry consisting of five iambs per line, commonly used by Shakespeare.

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, often used in Shakespeare's plays to convey a natural flow of speech.

Irony

A literary device where the intended meaning is opposite to the literal meaning, often used to create humor or emphasize a point.

Character Arc

The transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story, crucial for audience engagement.

Tragedy

A genre of drama that typically involves serious themes and ends in disaster for the protagonist, often due to a tragic flaw.

Revenge

The act of retaliating against someone for a wrong or injury, often a central theme in literature, particularly in revenge tragedies.

Metafiction

A form of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, often blurring the boundary between fiction and reality.

Intertextuality

The relationship between texts and how they reference or influence each other.