Drama and Shakespeare
Drama
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A form of literature known as a play.
A serious type of play that concerns the
character versus society.
Drama is a type of literary work intended
to be performed for an audience.
3 Important Elements in Drama
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1. Story - there has to be one
2. Performance - must be acted out.
3. Audience - people who experience the
story
What does an audience need?
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* To use imagination * - Very important
Must have scenery or setting
They must understand a story line
Characters or actors to perform the story
Props are important for the modern audience
Costumes – simple or extravagant
The movements of the characters
Drama Terms
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Allegory - a story in which people, things, and actions
represent an idea or a generalization about life. Often
have a moral or teach a lesson.
Allusion - a reference in literature to a familiar person,
place, or thing.
Anecdote - a short summary of an interesting or
humorous, incident or event.
Aside - words spoken so that the audience can hear but
other characters cannot. The audience learns about the
character’s thoughts and emotions.
Drama Terms cont.
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Character sketch - a short piece of writing that
reveals or shows something important about a
person or fictional character.
Comedy - literature with a love story at its core.
In comedy, human errors or problems may
appear humorous.
Conflict - the struggle in a story that triggers the
action. There must be action in drama.
Drama Terms cont.
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Denouement - the final solution or
outcome of a play or story.
Dialogue - is the conversation carried on
by the characters in a literary work.
Deus ex machina – a person or thing that
suddenly appears providing a solution to
a difficult problem. Usually lowered to the
stage by a crane/lift.
Drama Terms cont.
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Didactic literature – instructs or presents a moral
or religious statement.
Dramatic monologue – where a character speaks
about him/herself as if another person were
present. Reveals something about the character
Elizabethan – refers to the prose and poetry
created during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558 –
1603)
Drama Terms cont.
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Epitaph – a
short
poem/verse
written in
memory of
someone
Drama Terms cont.
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Empathy - putting yourself into someone else’s
place and imagining how that person must feel.
Epithet – a word or phrase used to characterize
a character. (ie. Ms. Know-it-all)
Expressionism - dramatic form which explores
the ultimate nature of human experience.
Drama Terms cont.
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Farce – literature based on a highly
humorous and highly improbable plot.
Flashback – going back to an earlier time
to make something more clear to the
audience.
Foreshadowing – giving hints of what is to
come later in a story.
Drama Terms cont.
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Diction - is an author’s choice of words based on
their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.
Archaic - words that are old-fashioned and no longer
sound natural when used.
Colloquialism - an expression that is usually accepted in
informal situations and certain locations.
Jargon - (technical diction) a specialized language used
by a specific group, such as those who use computers or
those in the medical profession
Drama Terms cont.
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Profanity - language that shows disrespect for someone
or something regarded as holy or sacred.
Slang - language used by a particular group of people
among themselves; it is also language that is used in
fiction to lend color and feeling.
Trite - Expressions that lack depth or originality
(overworked)
Vulgarity - is language that is generally considered
common, crude, gross, and , at times, offensive. It is
often used to add realism to literature.
Drama Terms cont.
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Hubris – “excessive pride” (GK) often
viewed as the flaw that leads to the
downfall of the tragic hero.
Impressionism – the recording of events
or situations as they have been impressed
upon the mind as feelings, emotions, and
vague thoughts.
Drama Terms cont.
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Irony – using a word or phrase to mean the
exact opposite of its literal or normal meaning
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Dramatic – the reader or the audience sees a
character’s mistakes, but the character doesn’t
Verbal – the writer says one thing and means another
Situation – there is a great difference between the
purpose of a particular action and the result.
Drama Terms cont.
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Local Color - the use of details that are
common in a region of the country.
Melodrama - an exaggerated form of
drama; heavy use of romance, suspense,
and emotion.
Miracle Play – early play form (cycle play)
– dramatizing Christian history in episodes
used during the medieval period.
Drama Terms cont.
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Morality play – an allegorical drama (15C)
which made a moral or religious point.
Myth – traditional story that attempts to
explain a natural phenomenon or a certain
belief of society
Narrator - the person who is telling the
story.
Drama Terms cont.
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Parable – short, descriptive story that illustrates
a particular belief or moral.
Paradox – a statement that seems contrary to
common sense yet may in fact be true. “The
coach considered it a good loss.”
Parody – form of literature that mocks a
particular purpose. A comic effect is intended.
Drama Terms cont.
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Pathos - a Greek root meaning suffering
or passion. Describes the part in a play
that is intended to elicit pity or sorrow
from the audience.
Poetic justice - a term that describes a
character “getting what he deserves” in
the end, especially if what he deserves is
punishment.
Drama Terms cont.
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Pun – a word or phrase that is used in such a
way as to suggest more than one possible
meaning.
Quest – features a main character who is
seeking to find something or achieve a goal. The
person must encounter and overcome a series of
obstacles. They return with new wisdom as a
result of their journey.
Drama Terms cont.
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Realism - literature that attempts to represent
life as it really is.
Resolution - same as denouement
Romance – a form of literature that presents life
the way we would like it to be – great
adventure, love, and excitement
Romanticism – a literary movement with an
emphasis on the imagination and emotions
Drama Terms cont.
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Sarcasm - the use of praise to mock
someone or something.
Satire - literary tone used to ridicule or
make fun of a human weakness.
Setting - time and place of a story
Drama Terms cont.
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Soliloquy – a speech delivered by a
character when he or she is alone on
stage
Stereotype - a pattern or form that does
not change.
Script - is the piece of writing that an
actor reads from and memorizes lines.
The original writing from the author.
Drama Terms cont.
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Tragic hero – a
character who
experiences an inner
struggle due to a
character flaw and it
ends in defeat for the
hero.
Drama Terms cont.
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Total effect - is the general impression a
literary work leaves on the reader.
Tragedy - a literary work in which the hero
is destroyed by some character flaw and
by forces beyond his or her control.
Playwright/Dramatist - is the writer of a
play
Drama Terms cont.
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Sequence - is the order of events in which
something happens during the story.
Fade in - where the lights slowly come up
and the scene is before the audience.
Fade out - usually at the end of a scene
the lights usually dim and the acting space
goes dark.
Drama Terms cont.
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Proscenium Arch - a
border which framed
the space on which a
play’s action took
place. A room with
one wall removed. A
19th Century type of
stage.
Drama Terms cont.
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Theatre in the Round
- an open stage,
where the actors are
very close in distance
to the audience.
Audience on three
sides of the stage.
Drama Terms cont.
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Act – a main division of a drama.
Shakespeare’s consist of five acts with
each act subdivided into scenes.
Scene – a small unit of a play in which
there is no shift of locale or time
Rhetoric – the art of persuasion, used by
speakers to add emotion to their words.
Drama Terms cont.
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Stage directions - locations on the stage
that tell actors where to position
themselves. – See handout
Epiphany – a sudden perception that
causes a character to change or act in a
certain way. (An “AH HA” moment.)
Drama Terms cont.
Malapropism – a type of pun, or play on
words, that results when two words
become jumbled in the speaker’s mind.
Naturalism – extreme form of realism –
author shows the relationship between
character and the environment
Drama Terms cont.
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Oxymoron – a combination of
contradictory terms such as “tough love”.
Pathetic Fallacy – a form of personification
giving human traits to nature – howling
wind
Slapstick – a form of low comedy that
often includes exaggerated, sometimes
violent action.
Shakespeare’s Language
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Hoodwinked – tricked
All the world’s a stage – we are all actors
Neither rhyme nor reason
In my heart of hearts
Eat out of house and home
Dead as a doornail
The be-all and the end-all
Shakespeare’s Language
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Knock! Knock! Who’s there?
Full of sound and fury
What the dickens
Laughing-stock
Wear my heart on my sleeve
Pomp and circumstance
Green-eyed monster
Shakespeare’s Language
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Wild-goose chase
A fool’s paradise
To not budge an inch
An eye-sore
Melted into thin air
Laugh yourself into stitches
William Shakespeare
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Born April 23, 1564 in Stratford-uponAvon
Parents John (glovemaker) and Mary
Married November 28, 1582 to Anne
Hathaway (she was 8 years senior and 3
months pregnant)
Shakespeare con’t.
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First child – Susanna May 1583
Second child – Twins Hamnet and Judith –
in 1585.
In his 20s he travels to London and
becomes involved in the theatre (acting
and writing)
Shakespeare con’t.
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Plays written by 1592
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The Comedy of Errors - C
Taming of the Shrew - C
Henry VI parts I, II, III - H
Titus Andronicus - T
Shakespeare con’t.
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1594 Founds The Lord Chamberlain’s Men
acting company – he is a shareholder
Perform at the following:
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The Theatre
The Curtain
The Globe
Shakespeare con’t.
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Plays between 1592 – 1599
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Midsummer Night’s Dream - C
Romeo and Juliet - T
Richard II - H
Much Ado About Nothing - C
Henry V - H
Julius Caesar - T
As You Like It - C
Shakespeare con’t.
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Tragedy strikes in 1596 – Hamnet dies
Tragedy strikes in 1601 – Will’s father dies
Name change – 1603 – Queen Elizabeth
dies King James I renames the company
“The King’s Men”
Shakespeare con’t.
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Plays written between 1600 – 1608
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Twelfth Night *
King Lear*
Hamlet*
All’s Well That Ends Well
Measure for Measure
Othello*
Macbeth *
Anthony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare con’t.
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King’s Men move to an indoor theatre –
The Blackfriars
Plays written between 1608 – 1611
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Pericles
Cymbeline
The Winter’s Tale*
The Tempest*
Shakespeare con’t.
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Semi – Retirement 1611 – It is assumed
that he returns to Stratford; however, he
continues to collaborate with a new
playwright
March 25, 1616 draws up his last will –
leave his wife their “second best bed”
money to some friends for memorial rings
and does not mention any of the scripts.
Shakespeare con’t.
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Curtain Call – April 23, 1616 buried in Holy
Trinity Church
“Good Friend For Jesus Sake Forbeare,
To Digg The Dust Encloased Heare.
Bleste Be Ye Man Yt Spares These Stones
And Curst Be He Yt Moves My Bones.”