DramaDrama

Understanding a PlayUnderstanding a Play

Plot Mountain in DramaPlot Mountain in Drama

Exposition:

• Opening moments

• Location (symbols and metaphors)

• Meeting of characters

• What happened before the curtain rose

• What is happening now

Exposition:

• Opening moments

• Location (symbols and metaphors)

• Meeting of characters

• What happened before the curtain rose

• What is happening now

Rising Action:• We get involved

• Puts forces on crash course to meet each other• Protagonist/Antagonist-journey towards each

other• Dramatic situation: Usually describes the protagonist’s motivation and the forces that

oppose its realization

Rising Action:• We get involved

• Puts forces on crash course to meet each other• Protagonist/Antagonist-journey towards each

other• Dramatic situation: Usually describes the protagonist’s motivation and the forces that

oppose its realization

Climax:

• Basic meeting of protagonist/antagonist

• Tension reaches its greatest height

• Does NOT HAVE to be dramatic

• Dramatic question about to be answered

Climax:

• Basic meeting of protagonist/antagonist

• Tension reaches its greatest height

• Does NOT HAVE to be dramatic

• Dramatic question about to be answered

Falling Action:

• Events that occur as a result of the climax

• We know the action will end soon

• Recognizable in tragedies: the protagonist’s fortunes proceed downhill to an inexorable end

Falling Action:

• Events that occur as a result of the climax

• We know the action will end soon

• Recognizable in tragedies: the protagonist’s fortunes proceed downhill to an inexorable end

Resolution/Denouement:

• Final moments of the play

• All the action is tied up

• Characters may be enriched and wiser

Resolution/Denouement:

• Final moments of the play

• All the action is tied up

• Characters may be enriched and wiser

CharactersCharacters

Protagonist:• The leading character(s)

• Usually a good force and the one the audience roots for

Antagonist:• The character that comes in conflict with the main

character• Does not always have to be “bad” or a person

Protagonist:• The leading character(s)

• Usually a good force and the one the audience roots for

Antagonist:• The character that comes in conflict with the main

character• Does not always have to be “bad” or a person

ForeshadowingForeshadowing

• Always a type of foreshadowing in a play

• Can take place as early as the exposition

• Always be looking for clues while reading

• Always a type of foreshadowing in a play

• Can take place as early as the exposition

• Always be looking for clues while reading

Dramatic Question(s)Dramatic Question(s)

• The primary unresolved issue in a drama as it unfolds

• The result of artful plotting, raising suspense and expectation in a play’s action as it moves

toward its outcome

• The primary unresolved issue in a drama as it unfolds

• The result of artful plotting, raising suspense and expectation in a play’s action as it moves

toward its outcome

SubplotDouble plot

SubplotDouble plot

• A secondary arrangement of incidents

• Involves someone besides the protagonist

• Usually occur in Shakespeare’s plays

• A secondary arrangement of incidents

• Involves someone besides the protagonist

• Usually occur in Shakespeare’s plays

Stage BusinessStage Business

• Nonverbal action that engages the attention of an audience

• Can be as small as a doorknob turning, creating SUSPENSE

• Nonverbal action that engages the attention of an audience

• Can be as small as a doorknob turning, creating SUSPENSE

UnitiesUnities

• 3 formal qualities recommended by Italian Renaissance literary critics to unify a plot in

order to give it a cohesive and complete integrity

• Action: Single series of interrelated actions—must be entirely serious or funny

• Time: play takes place within 24 hours• Place: play takes place in a single location

• 3 formal qualities recommended by Italian Renaissance literary critics to unify a plot in

order to give it a cohesive and complete integrity

• Action: Single series of interrelated actions—must be entirely serious or funny

• Time: play takes place within 24 hours• Place: play takes place in a single location

Closet DramaCloset Drama

• A play designed to be read aloud rather than performed

• Do you think Trifles fits this definition?

• A play designed to be read aloud rather than performed

• Do you think Trifles fits this definition?

ConventionsConventions

• Customary methods of presenting an action, usual and recognizable devices that an audience

is willing to accept

• Ex.: classical Greek theater or the Elizabethan theater

• Customary methods of presenting an action, usual and recognizable devices that an audience

is willing to accept

• Ex.: classical Greek theater or the Elizabethan theater

SoliloquySoliloquy

• A dramatic monologue in which we seem to overhear the character’s innermost thoughts

uttered aloud

• A dramatic monologue in which we seem to overhear the character’s innermost thoughts

uttered aloud

ThemeTheme

• The general point or truth about human beings that may be drawn from the play

• The general point or truth about human beings that may be drawn from the play

COMEDYCOMEDY

An important difference between comedy and tragedy lies in the attitude toward human failing

that is expected of us.

Comedies present situations differently so there is a clear line between humor and tragedy.

An important difference between comedy and tragedy lies in the attitude toward human failing

that is expected of us.

Comedies present situations differently so there is a clear line between humor and tragedy.

ComedyComedy

• Originated in festivities to celebrate spring

• Ritual performances in praise of Dionysus

• Whatever makes us laugh (broad definition)

• Can be an entire play or only a part in the play (comic character or a comic situation)

• Originated in festivities to celebrate spring

• Ritual performances in praise of Dionysus

• Whatever makes us laugh (broad definition)

• Can be an entire play or only a part in the play (comic character or a comic situation)

Satiric ComedySatiric Comedy

• Human weakness or folly is ridiculed from a vantage point of supposedly enlightening

superiority

• Tends to be critical of people, their manners, and their morals

• Human weakness or folly is ridiculed from a vantage point of supposedly enlightening

superiority

• Tends to be critical of people, their manners, and their morals

High ComedyHigh Comedy

• Relies more on wit and wordplay than on physical action for its humor

• Points out the pretension and hypocrisy of human behavior

• Avoids jokes about physical appearance

• Relies more on wit and wordplay than on physical action for its humor

• Points out the pretension and hypocrisy of human behavior

• Avoids jokes about physical appearance

EpigramEpigram

• Brief and witty statement that memorably expresses some truth, large or small

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked

about.”

• Brief and witty statement that memorably expresses some truth, large or small

“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked

about.”

Comedy of MannersComedy of Manners

• A type of High Comedy

• A witty satire set in elite or fashionable society

• Popular in the Restoration Period (period after 1660 when Charles II reopened the London

playhouses after being closed by the Puritans for being “immoral”)

• A type of High Comedy

• A witty satire set in elite or fashionable society

• Popular in the Restoration Period (period after 1660 when Charles II reopened the London

playhouses after being closed by the Puritans for being “immoral”)

Low ComedyLow Comedy

• Opposite extreme of humor• Places great emphasis on physical action and visual

gags• Verbal jokes do not require much intellect to appreciate• Revels in making fun of whatever will get a good laugh

• Satirizes human failings• Drunkenness, stupidity, lust, senility, trickery, insult,

clumsiness

• Opposite extreme of humor• Places great emphasis on physical action and visual

gags• Verbal jokes do not require much intellect to appreciate• Revels in making fun of whatever will get a good laugh

• Satirizes human failings• Drunkenness, stupidity, lust, senility, trickery, insult,

clumsiness

BurlesqueBurlesque

• A type of Low Comedy

• A humorous parody or travesty of another play or kind of play

• Usually makes fun of serious situations

“Scary Movie(s)” Anyone?

• A type of Low Comedy

• A humorous parody or travesty of another play or kind of play

• Usually makes fun of serious situations

“Scary Movie(s)” Anyone?

FarceFarce

• Another type of Low Comedy

• Features exaggerated character types in ludicrous and improbable situations, provoking

laughter about sexual mix-ups, crude verbal jokes, horseplay, etc.

• Descendant of commedia dell’arte

• Another type of Low Comedy

• Features exaggerated character types in ludicrous and improbable situations, provoking

laughter about sexual mix-ups, crude verbal jokes, horseplay, etc.

• Descendant of commedia dell’arte

commedia dell’artecommedia dell’arte

• Developed by guilds of professional Italian actors in the mid-sixteenth century

• Playing stock characters, masked commedia players improvised dialogue around a given scenario (brief outline marking entrances of

characters and the main course of action)

• Developed by guilds of professional Italian actors in the mid-sixteenth century

• Playing stock characters, masked commedia players improvised dialogue around a given scenario (brief outline marking entrances of

characters and the main course of action)

Slapstick ComedySlapstick Comedy

• Type of farce

• Features pratfalls, pie throwing, fisticuffs, and other violent action

• “The Three Stooges”

• Type of farce

• Features pratfalls, pie throwing, fisticuffs, and other violent action

• “The Three Stooges”

Romantic ComedyRomantic Comedy

• Plot focuses on one or more pairs of young lovers who overcome difficulties to achieve a

happy ending (usually marriage)

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Plot focuses on one or more pairs of young lovers who overcome difficulties to achieve a

happy ending (usually marriage)

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream

TRAGEDYTRAGEDY

• A play that portrays a serious conflict between human beings and some superior, overwhelming

force

• Ends sorrowfully and disastrously—outcome seems inevitable

• A play that portrays a serious conflict between human beings and some superior, overwhelming

force

• Ends sorrowfully and disastrously—outcome seems inevitable

TragedyTragedy

• Protagonist undergoes a reversal of fortune, from good to bad, ending in catastrophe

• Protagonist undergoes a reversal of fortune, from good to bad, ending in catastrophe

Tragic FlawTragic Flaw

• A fatal weakness or moral flaw in the protagonist that brings him or her to a bad end.

• A fatal weakness or moral flaw in the protagonist that brings him or her to a bad end.

Tragedy Conventional Structure

Tragedy Conventional Structure

Prologue:

Preparatory Scene

Ex. Oedipus asking the suppliants why they have come and the priest telling about the plague

ravaging Thebes

Prologue:

Preparatory Scene

Ex. Oedipus asking the suppliants why they have come and the priest telling about the plague

ravaging Thebes

Parados:

The song for the entrance of the chorus

Episodes:

Action of play (like a scene or act)

Separated by danced choral songs or odes

Parados:

The song for the entrance of the chorus

Episodes:

Action of play (like a scene or act)

Separated by danced choral songs or odes

Exodos:

The last scene in which the characters and chorus concluded the action and departed

The chorus usually has the final lines.

Exodos:

The last scene in which the characters and chorus concluded the action and departed

The chorus usually has the final lines.

Aristotle’s Concept of Tragedy

Aristotle’s Concept of Tragedy

1. Protagonist—the hero or chief character is a person of “high estate” (royalty)

2. Tragic hero is fallible3. Downfall is a result of hamartiathe hero’s

error or transgression or his flaw or weakness of character

4. Hubris extreme pride, leading to overconfidence

1. Protagonist—the hero or chief character is a person of “high estate” (royalty)

2. Tragic hero is fallible3. Downfall is a result of hamartiathe hero’s

error or transgression or his flaw or weakness of character

4. Hubris extreme pride, leading to overconfidence

Aristotle Cont…Aristotle Cont…

5. Purgation (or katharsis) final effect of the playwright’s skillful use of plotting, character, and

poetry to elicit pity and fear from the audience

refers to the feeling of emotional release or calm the spectator feels as the end of tragedy

Taught the audience compassion for the vulnerabilities of others and schooled in justice and

other civic virtues

5. Purgation (or katharsis) final effect of the playwright’s skillful use of plotting, character, and

poetry to elicit pity and fear from the audience

refers to the feeling of emotional release or calm the spectator feels as the end of tragedy

Taught the audience compassion for the vulnerabilities of others and schooled in justice and

other civic virtues

Aristotle Cont…Aristotle Cont…

6. Recognition the discovery of some fact not known before or some person’s true identity

7. Reversal reversal in fortune

Usually occurs when a certain result is expected and instead its opposite effect is

produced

6. Recognition the discovery of some fact not known before or some person’s true identity

7. Reversal reversal in fortune

Usually occurs when a certain result is expected and instead its opposite effect is

produced