Drama Terms
Monologue
• A long speech by a single character without
another character's response.
Soliloquy
• A speech in a play that is meant to be heard by
the audience but not by other characters on the
stage. If there are no other characters present,
the soliloquy represents the character thinking
aloud.
Prologue
• An introductory section of a literary work that
occurs before the story actually begins.
Sonnet
• A 14 line poem. A Shakespearean sonnet
contains three quatrains followed by a couplet.
Chorus
• An actor in Elizabethan drama who recites the
prologue and epilogue to a play and sometimes
comments on the action.
Quatrain
• A four-line stanza in a poem.
Couplet
• A two line stanza in a poem.
Aside
• Lines whispered to the audience or to another
character on stage (not meant to be heard by all
the characters on stage)
Play
• A dramatic performance on stage for amusement
or recreation.
Act
• One of the main divisions of a play.
Shakespearean plays are made up of 5 acts.
Scene
• A division of an act of a play, usually
distinguished by a change in setting.
Line
• The words spoken by an actor in a play.
Dramatic Genres
Comedy
Drama in which
characters
experience a
reversal of
fortune, usually
for the better.
Comedies usually
end happily.
Tragedy
Mixed Form
Drama in which Drama that
characters
contains elements
experience a
of both Comedy
reversal of
and Tragedy.
fortune, usually
• Melodrama
for the worse. In a • Heroic
tragedy the
Drama
characters usually • Parody
suffer.
• Satire
Stage Direction
• Descriptive or interpretive comments that
provide readers (and actors) with information
about the how to read each line, how to act in a
specific scene, or where to stand, move or look
on stage.
Costume
• A style of dress, including accessories and
hairdos worn on the stage, and usually
associated with a particular region, group, or
historical period.
Prop
• Articles or objects that appear on stage during a
play.