Pathetic Fallacy

Pathetic Fallacy 


Definition:
A literary device which gives human qualities or emotions to inanimate objects of nature. 

Example from Macbeth: 
“The night has been unruly. Where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i’ th’ air, strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatched to the woeful time. The obscure bird
Clamored the livelong night. Some say the Earth
Was feverous and did shake.”

(Act II, Scene III)

Function: 
Pathetic fallacy is used to bring inanimate objects to life so that the reader can make connections between what is going on in the story and what is going on with nature. The night that Duncan was killed, the Earth seemed to be in turmoil which reflects what was going on inside Macbeth's home. 

Other Example: 

 "I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills." 

William Wordsworth, "I wandered lonely as a cloud" 

Non-original mnemonic

Original mnemonic: 
The trees watched as the pathetic girl took a rough fall down the hill.