A theatrical aside is most often a monologue in which characters share their thoughts and feelings with the audience—without anyone else on stage hearing them. Sometimes, an aside can also be a short scene between…
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Dumb Show
A dumb show is a pantomime, almost like the theatrical equivalent of a wordless movie montage. In Jacobean theater, pantomimes were often used to fill audiences in on major plot events without dramatizing them in…
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Knave
A knave is a trickster or a rascal. In The Changeling, the word generally implies both dishonesty and cleverness. Lollio is particularly fond of this word, as he simultaneously sees himself as a knave and…
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Maid
In the vernacular of early modern English, the word “maid” was frequently used to refer to a female virgin. The explicitly gendered nature of the word points to the double standards around male versus female…
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Rapier
A rapier is a thin sword with a sharp, light-weight blade; rapiers were usually used for thrusting at a close distance, meaning that anyone who wanted to kill someone with a rapier would have to…
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