What is Drama?
Drama: literature in which plot and characters are developed through dialogue and action
Dialogue: conversation between characters; critical for conveying thoughts and feelings, and every twist and turn of the plot in drama
Dialect: regional speech used to emphasize a character’s roots
Elements of Drama
Plot: the sequence of events which move the story along; in drama these are divided into:
Scenes – each scene has a different time or place
Acts – scenes are grouped into acts
Stage directions: done in italic type and separated from dialogue by parentheses
Provide background, ideas for setting/scenery/props
Costumes, lighting, music, and sound effects
Directions to actors – how they should look/move/behave
Dramatic Conventions
Tragedy: a work in which the main character, or tragic hero, comes to an unhappy end
Tragic Hero: the main character of a tragedy who comes to an unhappy or miserable end
Generally a person of importance (king or queen)
Exhibits extraordinary abilities
Tragic Flaw: a fatal error in judgment or weakness of character, directly leads to his or her downfall
Dramatic Conventions
Other Characters
Antagonist (usually “the bad guy”)
Foil – a character who provides a sharp contrast to another character.
Grendel is a foil for Beowulf
Major and minor characters
Dramatic Conventions
Comic Relief: eases the intensity of the action by following a serious scene with a lighter, mildly humorous one
Catharsis: the purging (releasing) of emotions through art
Fate: destiny, an inevitable course of events
Tragic Heroes are usually fated to end up the way they do
Dramatic Conventions
Soliloquy: a speech that a character makes while alone on stage, reveals his or her thoughts to the audience
Monologue: a speech by one actor
Aside: a remark made in an undertone to the audience or another character, but that other characters on stage are not supposed to hear
Dramatic Conventions
Irony:
Verbal Irony: a writer or character says one thing but means another
Situational Irony: a character or reader expects one thing to happen but something else actually happens
Dramatic Irony: the reader knows something that a character does not know
Other Important Literary Terms
Motif: a recurring word, phrase, image, object, idea, or action in a work of literature
Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter
Meter: a fixed pattern of rhythm
Ex: iambic pentameter
The Renaissance Theater
Could not show “reality,” so the audience had to rely heavily on its imagination.
Actors wore elaborate costumes.
Limited props -- scenery was described through the play’s language.
Act and scene divisions were added by later editors to allow for scene changes.
Popular Renaissance Theaters
The Theater – 1st public theater in London
The Curtain – 2nd theater built
The Globe – most famous theater; owned by Shakespeare’s acting company
3 main parts of The Globe:
The building (16-sided polygon)
The stage
The tiring house (backstage)
Admission was 1 penny for general seating