Literary Terms Related to Drama (3)

episode: a scene.  The term is now used for any scene in a novel or an installment of a TV series.  The first episode (providing exposition) was the prologue, the final episode the epilogue.

hamartia: (hahm-mar-TEE-uh): according to Aristotle, an error of judgment that causes the downfall of a tragic protagonist.  The concept is often identified with the tragic flaw or fatal weakness in character, such as the jealousy of Othello or the pride of Oedipus.

catastrophe: the resolution of the plot of a tragedy, depicting the final downfall of the protagonist.

catharsis: according to Aristotle, the purging of pity and fear that tragedy causes in viewers.

aside: a dramatic convention: a speech to the audience, understood to be the speaker’s thoughts.

soliloquy: (plural soliloquies) a speech in a play made by a character who is alone on stage, understood as the character’s thoughts.

monologue: a lengthy speech by a single character in a play, either alone or to others (like Helena’s speech at the end of scene 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream).  Distinguished from a soliloquy because the speaker is not necessarily alone on stage.