Dramatic Significance:
A close reading of
theatrical excerpts
“Dramatic Significance”
refers to the function
and importance of a
scene, character,
incident, and speech
(dialogue, soliloquy, or
aside)
Determining Dramatic Significance
Does the quotation:
1. Advance the plot:
Plot = series of related events that make up
a story.
Advancing plot = because of this,
something else will happen
2. Establish a conflict:
Internal – character has internal struggle
concerning emotion & decision
External – two or more characters have a
struggle
External – person vs. nature or person vs.
society
3. Illustrate a literary device:
-
foreshadowing
Irony: dramatic, verbal, situational
imagery
atmostphere/mood
figurative language: simile, metaphor,
hyperbole, alliteration, personification,
onomatopoeia
4. Reveal characterization:
- Show us a significant personality trait of a
certain character or show character
development
Through actions and speech of character
- Through actions and speech of other characters
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5. Illustrate a theme
There can be more than one theme in a single
work
Can be illustrated through actions and
speech of characters,“lessons learned”, and
action & events
Look for repetition
6. Provide background information
- History of story
7. Create or withdraw pathos
(pity/compassion) in the viewer/reader
8. Establish or develop relationships between
characters
When Citing Dramatic Significance…
You must include the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The speaker;
To whom the speaker is addressing;
Its meaning, or what is being said, in your
own words;
And most importantly, its significance to
the play as a whole.
Example:
…you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
that you are so.
In Act 1 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the
characters Banquo and Macbeth come
across the three Witches. This passage
represents the first contact Banquo makes
with the witches, and he attempts to
discover not necessarily who, but what
they are. He says they “should be
women” yet they have “beards”, which
“forbid [Banquo] to interpret” their true
form. …
…These few short lines serve to cement the
Three Witches in a paradoxical identity.
Their gender is confused—they seem at
once male and female. They similarly
speak in paradoxes: “fair is foul, and foul
is fair,” and later, “Lesser than Macbeth,
and greater”. …
…By physically embodying and
communicating through paradox, the
Witches gain a supernatural, or at least
unnatural quality to their characterization,
and it leaves the audience with a similar
task to Banquo’s: to “interpret” their true
form and intentions.
You Try!
That, trusted home,
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the thane of Cawdor. But ‘tis strange:
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence.
What might you have found?
Establishes conflict between Banquo &
Macbeth: they respond differently
 Reveals personality trait of Banquo: more
suspicious of the Witches prophecies
 Illustrates a theme: “instruments of
darkness” (Evil)
 Illustrates foreshadowing: “to betray us/ In
deepest consequence” (Macbeth’s death)
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Remember!
The best answer is one that draws evidence
in. Refer specifically to the passage that you
are working with, but also try your best to
bring in specifics from other parts of the
text.
 Also, create balance and symmetry in your
answers. They should have an opening,
relevant evidence, and a closing.
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