Drama
Elements:
 Conflict- the central struggle between two or
more forces in a play.
 Plot – the unique arrangements of events in a
play.
 Subplot – a secondary arrangement of incidents
involving not the protagonist, but someone less
important.
Elements
Protagonist- the primary figure or figures in a play
Exposition- the part of the play in which we meet
the characters, learn about past events, and find
out what is occurring at the moment.
Dramatic Question:
 The problem to be solved or the confusion to be
cleared up through the play.
Climax:
 A moment, usually late in a play, when tension
reaches its greatest height. At this moment, we
sense that the play’s dramatic question is about
to be answered (1124)
Resolution/ Denouement
 The outcome or resolution of the basic problem
which the play addresses.
 Example- The final scene from Hamlet
Rising and Falling Action
 The events in a play which lead toward the
resolution of the dramatic question at the
climactic moment.
 The events occurring after the climax of the play.
Unity of Time, Place &
Action
 An interpretation of the theories of Aristotle to
suggest that a good play must display a unity of
action,time, and place.
 The events must take place within twenty-four
hours in a single location. The play must be
entirely serious or entirely comedic.
Symbols:
 As in fiction and poetry, things suggest larger
meanings.
 The glass unicorn in “The Glass Menagerie”
represents the individual who exhibits a
difference from the larger society. When the
unicorn is broken, the sense of individuality is lost.
Tragedy:
 A play that portrays a serious conflict between
humans and some superior overwhelming forces.
 Aristotle asserts that in a tragedy the
protagonist’s reversal of fortune occurs because
of an error or weakness, generally referred to as a
tragic flaw.
Tragic Style
 According to Aristotle, tragedy should arouse pity
and fear.
 Tragedy distances itself from the protagonist .
 In tragedy, fear or immediate anxiety for our own
well-being emerges.
 We, as an audience, feel our own vulnerability in
the face of life’s dangers and instability because
we see that neither position nor virtue can
protect even the great from ruin (1135).
Comedy: komos (a revel)
 Thought to have originated in festivities to
celebrate spring, ritual performances in praise of
Dionysus, god of fertility and wine(1141).
 The attitude of the audience, when a character,
through weakness or error is in peril, is one of
amusement.
Satiric Comedy:
 “Human weakness or folly is ridiculed from a
vantage point of supposedly enlightened
superiority”(1141).
 Often critical of people for their manners and
their morals.
High Comedy:
 Relies more on wordplay and wit rather than
physical action.
 Points out the pretension and hypocrisy of human
behavior.
 Often uses the epigram, a brief, witty statement
that memorably expresses some truth, large or
small(1142).
Comedy of Manners:
 “A witty satire set in elite or fashionable society.
Low Comedy
 “ It places greater emphasis on physical action
and visual gags, and its verbal jokes do not
require much intellect to appreciate”(1143)
Types of Low Comedy
 Burlesque- “ …a broadly humorous parody or
travesty of another play or kind of play”(1142).
 Farce-”… a broadly humorous play whose action
is usually fast-moving and improbable”(1142).
 Example: “Arsenic and Old Lace”
Commmedia Dell’Arte
 Artist Comedy- An Italian late Renaissance kind
of theater developed by comedians who
traveled from town to town, regaling crowds at
country fairs and market places.
 Familiar characters were Harlequin, a clown;
Columbine, his peppery sweetheart; and
Pantaloon, a doddering duffer (1142)
Slapstick
 A kind of farce featuring pie-throwing, fisticuffs,
and other violent action.
Romantic Comedy
 A comedy which features main characters who
are generally lovers. The plot concerns their
successful strivings to be united.
 The audience views these characters with
kindness.
Theater of Sophocles
 Plays were performed at festivals such as the
Great Dionysia, a citywide celebration of
sacrifices, prize ceremonies, and processions, as
well as three days of drama (1158)
 Three tragic plays, as well as a satyr play, were
offered by various authors.
Staging:
 The Greeks held festivals in hillside amphitheaters
holding as many as 17,000 spectators .
 The performance space consisted of the
orchestra, a level circular dancing space and a
slightly raised stage built in front of the skene or
stage house , originally a canvas or wooden hut
for costume changes.
Deus ex machina (god out
of the machine
 A hook and pulley system for raising and lowering
actors playing gods- any means of bringing a
play to a quick resolution.
Actors in Greek Drama
 The actors used masks ( personae, the source of
our word person). The masks contained
exaggerated mouthpieces sought to augment
the projection of sound. The masks often
represented character types such as the old
king, the young soldier, or the shepherd. Female
roles were played by men.
Dramatic Structure
 The conventional structure allowed for no more
than three actors on the stage at any one time
along with a chorus of fifteen. The actor’s speeches
alternated with the chorus’ singing and dancing.
 Greek chorus – offered commentary, advice,
warning, spectacle, background information and a
means to allow the actors to step away for costume
changes or a respite


Structure of the Tragedy
 Prologue- a preparatory scene
 Parados – the song for the entrance of the
chorus
 Episodes – similar to acts and scenes in modern
plays in which the action occurs
 Exodus- The last scene in which the characters
and the chorus concluded the action and
departed.
Aristotle’s concept of
Tragedy
 Tragic Hero- the protagonist , hero or primary
character who is a person of high estate .
 Hamartia- the error or transgression or tragic flaw
which brings about his fall.
 Hubris- a frequent failure of the Greek hero which
is defined as an excess of pride or defiance of
the Gods.
 Example: Oedipus
Katharsis:
 An idea that tragedy produces a sense of
purification or relief of pent up emotions.
Recognition / Anagnorsis
 The discovery by a main character of some
knowledge previously not revealed or the
perception of one’s true identity. The revelation
of the unthinkable.
 Oedipus discovers that he has killed his father
and married his mother.
Reversal/ peripety
 A response to the revelation. In the case of
Oedipus, he blinds himself and goes into exile.
 Aristotle refers more simply to the action which
intended to be helpful, actually has the opposite
effect .
The Theater of Shakespeare
 Plays were performed in daylight with very simple
scenery. However, the staging was enhanced
through elaborate costumes, music, and sound
effects.
 At the back of the stage were doors for exits and
entrances. Above the stage was a balcony or
porch.
 In the stage floor was a trapdoor .
Shakespearean Theater
 The stage building was round or octagonal with
galleries for the audience.
 The groundlings paid a penny to stand in the
yard in front of the stage.
The Modern Theater
 Realism-”…the attempt to reproduce faithfully
the surface appearance of life, especially that of
ordinary people in everyday situations(1553).
 Prominent playwrights- Ibsen, Chekhov.
Conventions of Realism
 Box set as opposed to the picture frame stage
with action within the proscenium arch.
 Three walls were joined in two corners and a
ceiling tilted as if seen in perspective. Actors
spoke from wherever the dramatic situation
placed them.
 Stanislavsky fostered acting instruction in which
actors matched their own memories for personal
experiences like the character’s experience.
Naturalism
 A kind of realism in fiction and drama dealing
with the more brutal or unpleasant aspects of
reality.
 The characters were seen as products of heredity
and environment
 Examples: Eugene O’Neill- “ The Hairy Ape”
 Arthur Miller was influenced by O’Neill
American Modernism
 Thornton Wilder- “ Our Town” , “The Skin Of Our
Teeth”
 Arthur Miller- All My Sons, Death of a Salesman
 Tennessee Williams- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , A
Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie
Sources:
 Kennedy, X.J., and Dana Gioia. Drama. New
York: Longman,2010. Print.