Drama
What is drama?
A story that is acted out
 Ex. Plays, movies, tv shows
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Where did drama begin
In religious rituals
 The ancient Egyptians performed
ritual plays as part of celebrations
involving the coronations or deaths
of pharaohs
 In China, religious rites involving
music and dance dramatized people’s
occupations and the accompanying
sensations of joy, fatigue, and
contentment
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The Elements of Drama
Play are about characters- the actors
in dramas; characters are usually
human, but those characters who are
not human represent human
qualities
 The action of the play begins when
the main character- the protagonisttakes steps to get what he/she wants
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The Elements of Drama
In taking action, the character
encounters a conflict- a clash or
struggle between two forces.
 A conflict can take place between
two or more people, between a
person and a force of nature, or
between warring desires or needs in
the protagonist’s mind
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The Elements of Drama
Often the protagonist struggles
against another character- the
antagonist
 When the clash is physical, or
outwardly directed, there is an
external conflict
 When the clash takes the form of a
struggle within the character’s mind,
we have an internal conflict
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The Elements of Drama
During the plot’s rising action, as the
character takes steps to resolve the
conflict, complications develop in
which the protagonist may face one
roadblock after another
 The drama reaches a turning point
when the protagonist makes a choice
from which there is no turning back
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The Elements of Drama
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At this point, the audience experiences
suspense
The actions in the play eventually move
to a climax; this emotionally charged
moment is when we know the
protagonist is either going to win or
lose the struggle
After the climax is the denouement, a
winding down of the plot in which
looses ends come together and the
conflict finally come to a resolution
Types of Drama
1.
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Tragedy
Traditionally has focused on a
dignified, courageous, often high
ranking hero or heroine who fails to
win what he or she wants
What brings about the fall of this
figure is some tragic flaw in
character- pride, ambition, or
jealousy
Types of Drama
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At the end of most tragedies, we do
not feel depressed; instead we feel
pity and relief, having watched a
potentially great human being who
has lost everything but has also
gained wisdom and self-knowledge
Types of Drama
2. Comedy
 A drama with a happy ending
 The word comedy comes from the
Greek work komos, or revelry
 Many classical comedies end in
boisterous celebrations- banquets,
dances, and marriage
Types of Drama
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Often the plot of a comedy involves a
love story that can be summed up in
this way: boy meets girl, boy loses
girl, boy wins girl
Variations and Innovations
Dramatists are innovators- they
experiment with the basic forms of
drama; their plays are neither fully
tragic nor fully comic
 In a realistic drama the hero/heroine
is not heroic; but like ourselves- an
ordinary person who is sometimes
admirable but often less than noble

Variations and Innovations
Since the early 20th century, drama
has often taken the form of social
protest, in which the dramatist’s
purpose is to expose a social or
political problem
 Another technique that
revolutionized modern drama in the
20th century is the use of the absurd
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Variations and Innovations
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In dramas of the absurd, characters
move in a world that fails to make
sense even on the most elemental
level
Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Background
Written by Sophocles @ 430 B.C.
and was performed in Athens
 The Delphic Oracle prophesied to
Laius, king of Thebes, that he would
be killed by his son and that his son
would marry his own mother
 Shocked by the prophesy, the king
and queen decided to kill their firstborn son

Oedipus Background
They gave him to a shepherd to be
put on a mountainside to die.
 The shepherd took pity on the child
and took him to Corinth where he
was adopted by King Polybus and his
queen
 When he was grown, Oedipus
learned that he was not Polybus’s
son, and he went to the Delphi to
learn if it was true

Oedipus Background
The oracle did not answer his
question, but prophesied that he
would kill his father and marry his
mother
 To protect his parents, he decided
not to return to Corinth
 Leaving Delphi, he came upon a man
at a crossroads with 4 attendants
who tried to force him from his path
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Oedipus Background
The man prodded him with his stick
and Oedipus slew him and three of
the attendants
 The fourth man escaped
 The incident wasn’t investigated
because Thebes was having
problems with a Sphinx, a monster
with the body of a winged lion and
the breasts and face of a woman

Oedipus Background
The Sphinx stood on a rock outside
the gates and devoured everyone
who failed to solve her riddle, “What
creature walks on four feet in the
morning, on two at noon and on
three in the evening?”
 Oedipus solved the riddle and the
Sphinx hurled herself to her death on
the rocks below

Oedipus Background
Oedipus was welcomes as a savior of
the city and he was offered the
vacant throne
 He became king and married the
recently widowed queen
 Years later the city of Thebes was
stricken by a plague
 The Delphic Oracle was asked what
could stop the city’s suffering
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Oedipus Background
The oracle told that the plague would
end when the murderer of King Laius
was punished
 Oedipus dedicated himself to solve
the mystery of the murderer and
thereby rid the city of its curse
 The play reads like a murder
mystery, a “Who-done-it?” which
leads to its dramatic conclusion
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