Vocabs
A GLOSSARY OF DRAMATIC TERMS
• Act: acting happens in plays or movies and it’s carried out by actors.
• Antagonist: a character who is the main enemy of the protagonist.
• Anti-climax: a sudden, unexpected falling action that leads the audience to feel bored and disappointed.
• Catharsis: A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.
• Climax: when the progression of the story reaches its greatest intensity.
• Comic relief: Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
• Complication: conflict between characters.
• Conflict: when two characters oppose each other will generate a conflict.
• Denouement: the conclusion or resolution of a plot.
• Dramatic Irony: the audience knows what’s going on but the characters have no clue about it.
• Dramatic Tension: the use of stage direction, dialogues, probs, sounds to increase the intensity in the play and therefore create tension
• Ellipsis: a gap in speech which indicates feelings of suspension or nervousness in the character.
• Empathy: is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being.
• Exposition: is the portion of a story that introduces important background information to the audience
• Foil: a foil is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character
• Foreshadowing: hints of what is about to happen in the play.
• Greek Tragedy: the main character is doomed for disaster/ inevitable tragic outcome
• Irony: the opposite implication of what being said or meant.
• Nemesis: An opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome. • Pathos: an element which stimulates the audience to feel pity, sympathy or sorrow for the
• Act: acting happens in plays or movies and it’s carried out by actors.
• Antagonist: a character who is the main enemy of the protagonist.
• Anti-climax: a sudden, unexpected falling action that leads the audience to feel bored and disappointed.
• Catharsis: A release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit.
• Climax: when the progression of the story reaches its greatest intensity.
• Comic relief: Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.
• Complication: conflict between characters.
• Conflict: when two characters oppose each other will generate a conflict.
• Denouement: the conclusion or resolution of a plot.
• Dramatic Irony: the audience knows what’s going on but the characters have no clue about it.
• Dramatic Tension: the use of stage direction, dialogues, probs, sounds to increase the intensity in the play and therefore create tension
• Ellipsis: a gap in speech which indicates feelings of suspension or nervousness in the character.
• Empathy: is the capacity to recognize emotions that are being experienced by another sentient or fictional being.
• Exposition: is the portion of a story that introduces important background information to the audience
• Foil: a foil is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character
• Foreshadowing: hints of what is about to happen in the play.
• Greek Tragedy: the main character is doomed for disaster/ inevitable tragic outcome
• Irony: the opposite implication of what being said or meant.
• Nemesis: An opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome. • Pathos: an element which stimulates the audience to feel pity, sympathy or sorrow for the