Elements of Drama
Drama
1. a form of literature consisting of plays
2. a serious play which focuses on the main character's relationship to society rather than on some tragic flaw in his personality
Act: An act is a major division of the action of a play. Earlier plays were frequently divided into five acts. Modern plays are commonly divided into three acts.
Scene: a division within an act, occurring when there is a change of time or setting.
Elements
Three Unities: unity of action, unity of place, and unity of time
Plot: the system of action organized in terms of the play's beginning, middle, and end.
Dialogue: a conversation between two or more characters in a play; the playwright's principal means of expression
Dialogue serves many functions:
1. It imparts information.
2. It reveals character.
3. It directs attention to important plot elements.
4. It highlights conflict and complications.
5. It prepares for future happenings.
6. It builds suspense.
7. It reveals themes and ideas of the play.
8. It establishes the tone--comic, serious, farcical, or tragic
Obstacles: something--physical, emotional, or mental--which is difficult to overcome
Style
Atmosphere: the mood pervading a literary work which sets up the reader's expectations as to the course of events, whether happy or disastrous
Mood: the feeling a piece of literature evokes in the reader--happy, sad peaceful, etc.
Stream-of-Consciousness: a style of writing in which the thoughts and feelings of the writer are recorded as they occur
Blank Verse: unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter [a line of five iambic feet (u /)]
Conventions
Dramatic Monologue: a single character's speech which indirectly reveals his thoughts to the audience but not to other characters
Internal Monologue: a technique which reproduces the rhythm of consciousness just as it occurs in a character's mind
Soliloquy: a speech delivered by a character when she/he is alone on stage
Aside: a stage device in the character expresses his/her thoughts or intentions in a short speech which, by convention, is inaudible to the other characters on stage
Dramatic Irony occurs when the audience sees a character's mistakes or misunderstandings which the character herself/himself is unable to see
Comic Relief: the introduction of comic characters, speeches, or scenes into a serious or tragic work to reduce tension
Stock Character: character types that recur repeatedly in a particular literary genre and are recognizable as conventions
Stock Situation: often-used incidents or sequences of actions
Caricature: a picture or imitation of a person's features or mannerisms which is exaggerated to be comic or absurd
Pathos: a scene designed to evoke the feelings of tenderness, pity, or sympathetic sorrow from the audience
Tragic Hero: a character who experiences an inner struggle because of some character flaw; the struggle ends in the hero's defeat
Bathos: While striving to be passionate as in pathos, the writer overshoots the mark and drops into the trivial or ridiculous
Types of drama
Comedy is literature which present life situations in a light, humorous, or satiric manner. In comedy, human errors or problems appear funny.
Farce is a type of comedy designed to produce a "belly laugh"; to accomplish this, the writer uses exaggerated characters, places them in improbable situations, and makes wide use of verbal humor and physical horseplay.
Melodrama: an exaggerated, sensational form of drama which is intended to appeal to the audience's emotions (e.g. soap operas)
Parody: a literary form which is intended to mock a particular literary work or its style
Romance: a form of literature which presents life as we would like it to be rather than as it actually is; generally romance deals with adventure, love, and excitement
Satire:a literary tone and technique used to ridicule human vice or weakness
Slapstick: a form of low comedy which makes its appeal through the use of violent and exaggerated physical actions
Tragedy: a literary work in which the hero is destroyed by some e flaw within his character and by forces which she/he cannot control
Tragicomedy: a type of drama which mingled the standard subject matter of both tragedy and comedy; occasionally these plays had double plots--one serious and the comic
Medieval drama
Miracle (Mystery) Plays depicted either stories from Scripture (Old and New Testament) or the life of a saint. Initially brief dramatizations were used as part of liturgical services, but later these developed into complete plays. In the 14th century cycles of plays depicting crucial Biblical events were performed on "pageant wagons".
Morality Plays were dramatized allegories of the Christian quest for salvation. The protagonist represented mankind or "everyman"; the other characters included personifications of virtue and death, as well as angels and demons who battled for a person's soul.
Interludes were short stage entertainments, including secular farces and witty dialogues with a religious or political point.
Dionysus: god of wine, ecstasy and fertility
Dionysian Festival: Tragedies were originally written and performed for Dionysus's festival, which celebrated the coming of spring.
Hubris: character flaw of pride
Peripety: reversal of fortune
Anagnorisis: a discovery that often leads to reversal of fortune
Catharsis: a purging of emotion that occurs at the end of a tragedy as the audience feels pity and fear for the tragic hero; supposed to inspire the audience to lead better lives
Chorus: The Chorus, which sings odes in Greek plays, serves as a narrator to comment on the action from the perspective of the common person. Originally, the Chorus consisted of twelve men; Sophocles expanded it to fifteen, including the choragos (the chorus leader who interacts directly with other actors).
Strophe and Antistrophe: verses that correspond with the chorus' movement as it moves first in one direction and then in the other
Emmeleia: the slow, stately dance of the chorus
Parts of the Greek Play:
Prologue: introduces the action of the play
Parados: song that introduces the chorus
Episodion: a passage of dialogue between the characters and the choragos
Stasimon: song by the chorus which alternated with the episodion
Exodus: departure of the chorus and end of the play
