This question is based on General Literary Principles. In a tragic play the device used to reduce tension is known as

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks for the device a playwright uses in a tragedy to reduce tension. The key phrase is "reduce tension" in a serious, tragic play.

Step 2: Explain the concepts

• Comic relief: A humorous scene, character, or remark placed in a serious or tragic work to ease the emotional strain on the audience. Examples are the Porter scene in Shakespeare's Macbeth and the Gravediggers in Hamlet.
• Rhetoric: The art of persuasive or effective speech, like Mark Antony's speech in Julius Caesar. It is not designed to reduce tension.
• Anti-climax: A sudden drop from something serious or important to something trivial. It is often unintended or used for ironic effect, and it is not the standard device for easing tension in tragedy.
• Climax: The highest point of tension in the plot, which is the opposite of reducing tension.

Step 3: Eliminate the options

• D (climax) increases tension, so it is out.
• B (rhetoric) is about persuasive language, so it is out.
• C (anti-climax) is a disappointing drop in importance, not a deliberate tension-easing technique, so it is out.
• A (comic relief) is the device used on purpose to lighten the mood in a tragedy.

Step 4: Answer The correct answer is **A.

Exam tip: Link "tragedy + lighten the mood" with comic relief. Link "highest point of tension" with climax. Link "sudden fall into the trivial" with anti-climax.