Dramatic Structures
What They Are and Why They Are Important
What Are Dramatic Structures?
• Dramatic structures are the different ways of
organizing the events and details in a drama.
• They help a reader understand important
information such as
• plot events
• characters and their relationships to one
another
• what details are most important in the drama
• setting
Structure
#
1:
• What It Is: A text structure where the order of the
events of a text follows the order the events
Chronological
Order
happened in time (ex: the first event occurred
first, the last event happened last, etc...)
• How It Is Helpful to a Reader:
Helps the reader
understand which events happened first, second,
last, etc.
• NOTE: Chronological order can be interrupted by
flashbacks.
• What This Means to You:
You must notice the
order the events occur in a story or drama so that
the plot, conflict, and resolution will make sense.
Structure # 2:
• What It Is: Acts are the large chunks of action in
a drama;Acts
scenes are
chunks of events,
&smaller
Scenes
usually grouped by setting
• How It Is Helpful to a Reader:
Helps the reader
understand when and how the setting of the
drama changes AND how the plot is developing
throughout the drama
• NOTE: A drama can have several or just a few
Acts & Scenes. Each act may have a different
number of scenes.
• What This Means to You:
You must notice when
there is a new Act or Scene. Ask yourself, “What
•
•
Example of
Acts & Scenes
Think of “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”...
The story is divided into 2 Acts based on the main segments of
the action:
•
•
•
Act 1 shows the events that begin to transform the friendly
community into a vicious mob.
Act 2 shows how the vicious mob turns violent and
eventually destroys itself.
Dividing the story into these 2 Acts helps you as a reader
understand the phases the community goes through--peaceful
to vicious/accusing to violent and murderous. Understanding
the phases allows us to truly understand how destructive
people can be when they fight and accuse one another.
Structure # 3:
• What It Is: Conversations between characters in
a drama; dialogue
is one of the main structures
Dialogue
used in a drama
• How It Is Helpful to a Reader:
Helps the reader
understand the characters’ personalities and
motivations, their relationships with each other,
and what they think about the events that are
happening to them
• NOTE: A drama is composed almost entirely of
dialogue.
• What This Means to You:
You must notice who
is talking and pay close attention to what is said.
•
•
•
•
•
Example: Dialogue
Look at what this dialogue tells you about the characters:
Tommy (persistent but a little frightened ): It’s always that way, in
every story I ever read about a ship landing from outer space.
This shows that Tommy really believes that aliens have landed on
Maple Street.
Woman Next Door (to the boys mother, Sally, who stands on the
fringe of the crowd ): From outer space yet! Sally, you better get
that boy of yours up to bed. He’s been reading too many comic
books or seeing too many movies or something!
This shows that WND thinks Tommy is just a silly kid and believes
his ideas are ridiculous.
Structure # 4:
• What It Is: AMonologue
speech given by one character
• How It Is Helpful to a Reader:
Helps the reader
understand the internal thoughts and feelings of
that character
• NOTE: monologues can be delivered inside a
dialogue with other characters
• What This Means to You:
You must notice who
is talking and pay close attention to what is said.
Notice how other characters respond to the
monologue. Ask yourself what the monologue
reveals about the characters’ thoughts and
•
•
•
Example: Monologue
Look at this monologue by Charlie at the beginning of Act 2
when everyone is whispering and staring at Les Goodman’s
house.
Charlie: ...Any guy who’d spend his time lookin’ up at the sky
early in the morning...well, there’s something wrong with that kind
of person. There’s something that ain’t legitimate. Maybe under
normal circumstances we could let it go by, but these aren’t
normal circumstances. Why, look at this street! Nothin’ but
candles. Why, it’s like goin’ back into the Dark Ages or somethin’!
This monologue reveals that Charlie has forgotten all the feelings
of kindness and compassion he once held for his friend, Les
Goodman. He reacts to Goodman’s odd sleeping habits with
suspicion and accusations instead of trusting him like a friend
should.
Structure # 5:
• What It Is: text written in parentheses and/or
italics to
indicate character
movements,
Stage
Directions
instructions for verbal expression, setting, and
props
• How It Is Helpful to a Reader:
Helps the reader
understand characters’ movements and
emotions; helps the reader determine the setting;
makes dramas realistic and believable
• NOTE:
This is the second most common
dramatic structure after dialogue. YOU CAN’T
SKIP STAGE DIRECTIONS.
• What This Means to You: You must use stage
Example: Stage
Directions
• Look at the stage directions at the beginning of Act 1 of “Monsters.”
• The camera moves slowly across the heavens until it passes the horizon
and stops on a sign that reads Maple Street. It is daytime. Then we see
the street below. It is a quiet, tree-lined, small-town American street. The
houses have front porches on which people sit and swing on gliders,
talking across from house to house. Steve Brand is polishing his car,
which is parked in front of his house. His neighbor, Don Martin, leans
against the fender watching him. An ice-cream vendor riding a bicycle is
just in the process of stopping to sell some ice cream to a couple of
kids. Two women gossip on the front lawn. Another man is watering his
lawn with a garden hose. As we see these various activities, we hear
the Narrators voice.
• These stage directions are ESSENTIAL to help you understand the
setting (place and time of day), the relationships between the Maple
Street residents, and to show that life at first is very normal.