Aspects Melodrama
Answer ONE of the following questions
1. To what extent are definitions of melodrama as a genre called into question by continual
deviations from what might be considered its normative characteristics?
2. Discuss the different ways in which the supernatural manifests itself in melodrama.
3. Discuss the relationship of nineteenth century British melodrama to visual culture.
4. Many melodramas are adaptations. Discuss one or more melodramas you have studied in relation
to their adaptation of original sources.
5. Coventry Patmore talks about ‘the angel in the house’. To what extent is this perception of
nineteenth-century women endorsed and/or contradicted in some of the melodramas you have
studied.
6. How effectively does melodrama deal with social oppression in nineteenth-century England? You
should refer to at least two plays.
7. Compare and contrast the performances of Irving in The Bells and Beerbohm Tree in Trilby.