Oh spite! Oh Hell!! I see you are all bent To set aganist me for your merriment.   The lines illustrate__________

Analyze the question: The lines are from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act 3, Scene 2), where Helena says, "O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent / To set against me for your merriment." We need to name the device the lines illustrate.

Concept: Let's look at each option.

• Epitaph: a short inscription or verse written in memory of a dead person, usually on a tombstone. Nothing here mourns or commemorates anyone.
• Epigram: a short, witty, and often satirical saying. The lines are an emotional outburst, not a witty remark.
• Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which the speaker directly addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or a thing as though it could hear. Examples are "O Death, where is thy sting?" and "O Hell!"
• Allusion: an indirect reference to a person, event, or work known from history, myth, or literature. No such reference appears here.

Solution: The speaker cries out "Oh spite! Oh Hell!!" These are exclamatory addresses to abstract ideas (spite, hell), marked by the interjection "O/Oh". This is the classic form of apostrophe. Helena is expressing distress and anger at being mocked, and she calls on these abstract forces to voice her feelings.

Although the second line, "I see you are all bent...", speaks to real people, the exclamatory invocation in the first line is what the question is testing.

Answer: C. Apostrophe

Exam tip: When you see "O..." or "Oh..." followed by an abstract idea, a thing, or an absent person, think apostrophe. Also remember that an epitaph is for the dead, an epigram is witty and brief, and an allusion is a reference to something else.