Drama
What is Drama?
• It is NOT what happens between you and your
girlfriends. 
• Drama has one characteristic peculiar to itself - it is
written primarily to be performed, not read. It is a
presentation of action
– a. through actors (the impact is direct and immediate),
– b. on a stage (a captive audience), and
– c. before an audience (suggesting a communal
experience).
• Of the four major points of view, the dramatist is limited to
only one - the objective or dramatic.
• The playwright cannot directly comment on the action or the
character and cannot directly enter the minds of characters and tell us
what is going on there. But there are ways to get around this limitation
through the use of
–
–
–
1. soliloquy (a character speaking directly to the audience),
2. chorus ( a group on stage commenting on characters and actions), and
3. one character commenting on another (Reuben, n. pag.).
Types of Drama
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Tragedy -- In general, tragedy involves the ruin of the leading characters. To the
Greeks, it meant the destruction of some noble person through fate, To the
Elizabethans, it meant in the first place death and in the second place the
destruction of some noble person through a flaw in his character. Today it may not
involve death so much as a dismal life, Modern tragedy often shows the tragedy
not of the strong and noble but of the weak and mean,
Comedy -- is lighter drama in which the leading characters overcome the
difficulties which temporarily beset them
Problem Play -- Drama of social criticism discusses social, economic, or political
problems by means of a play.
Farce -- When comedy involves ridiculous or hilarious complications without
regard for human values, it becomes farce.
Comedy of Manners -- Comedy which wittily portrays fashionable life.
Fantasy -- A play sometimes, but not always, in comic spirit in which the author
gives free reign to his fantasy, allowing things to happen without regard to reality.
Melodrama -- Like farce, melodrama pays almost no attention to human values,
but its object is to give a thrill instead of a laugh. Often good entertainment, never
any literary value (Drama, n. pag.).
Tragedy
• Aristotle's definition of tragedy: A tragedy is the
imitation in dramatic form of an action that is
serious and complete, with incidents arousing
pity and fear wherewith it effects a catharsis
(release or cleansing) of such emotions.
• The language used is pleasurable and throughout
appropriate to the situation in which it is used.
• The chief characters are noble personages
("better than ourselves," says Aristotle) and the
actions they perform are noble actions (Reuben,
n. pag.).
Acts and Scenes
• Acts are large chunks of play that have
multiple scenes.
• Scenes breaks are usually dictated by
production, such as a change of location, time
elapses, etc.
Characters
• Characters should be listed and a brief
description given of each character:
EXAMPLE:
DANIEL WORKMAN: late forties, missing his right leg below the knee.
NATASCHA WORKMAN: Daniel's daughter. 14, also missing her right leg below the
knee.
MRS. BERRY: Daniel's housekeeper. Late fifties. Has a large tattoo of a rainbow
across her forehead.
MR. BERRY: The butcher, married to MRS. BERRY. Early sixties. Bald.
Tragic Hero
• 1. The tragic hero is a character of noble stature and has greatness.
If the hero's fall is to arouse in us the emotions of pity and fear, it
must be a fall from a great height.
• 2. Though the tragic hero is pre-eminently great, he/she is not
perfect. Tragic flaw, hubris (excessive pride or passion), and
hamartia (some error) lead to the hero's downfall.
• 3. The hero's downfall, therefore, is partially her/his own fault, the
result of one's own free choice, not the result of pure accident or
villainy, or some overriding malignant fate.
• 4. Nevertheless, the hero's misfortune is not wholly deserved. The
punishment exceeds the crime. The hero remains admirable.
• 5. Yet the tragic fall is not pure loss - though it may result in the
hero's death, before it, there is some increase in awareness, some
gain in self-knowledge or, as Aristotle puts it, some "discovery."
• 6. Though it arouses solemn emotion - pity and fear, says Aristotle,
but compassion and awe might be better terms - tragedy, when
well performed, does not leave its audience in a state of
depression. It produces a catharsis or an emotional release at the
end, one shared as a common experience by the audience (Reuben,
n. pag.).
Foil
• A character who provides a strong contrast to
another character.
• A foil may emphasize another character’s
distinctive traits or make a character look
better by comparison.
Dialogue
• A conversation between
characters in a literary
work.
• Dialogue brings characters
to life by revealing their
personalities and by
showing what they are
thinking and feeling as they
react to other characters.
Soliloquies
• A long speech
delivered by a
character who is
alone onstage.
• A soliloquy typically
reveals the private
thoughts and
emotions of the
character.
Asides
• In a play, a comment
made by a character,
but is not heard by the
other characters
onstage.
• Asides are frequently
used to provide
information to the
audience and to reveal
the private thoughts of
characters.
Stage Directions
• Scene Directions
– These start the play or
act and they are pushed
halfway over to the
right side of the page.
This is where you give
the basics of where and
when this particular
scene is set, and what is
happening as the lights
come up and perhaps
what has happened
between the scenes as
it applies to what is on
the stage at that time
(Script Frenzy, n. pag.).
Example:
Scene One
(A truck stop diner in
late August, 1977.
The place is deserted
except for DORA, the
resident waitress…)
WADE: You have coffee on?
Stage Directions
• Staging Directions
Example:
– These describe what
DORA: Pick your poison.
happens on stage
during the scene.
(WADE sidles up to a stool at the
Entrances, exits, major
counter a few down from her).
movements of
characters, new
characters, fights, light WADE: Can I get a grape soda?
changes and being
chased by a bear are
all examples of action
that would require
stage direction (Script
Frenzy, n. pag.).
Stage Directions
• Character Stage Directions
– These are always brief and
fit right under the
character tag, relating to
that character. These
types of directions give a
clue to the style of the
line. Often they are line
directions such as "waving
him off" or "sing-song" or
"whispering to ROBERT".
These should be used
sparingly, as they are
regarded as directorial.
They are needed only
when a reader wouldn't
understand what was
going on without them
(Script Frenzy, n. pag..
Example:
Wade: (Rubbing his belly). Um…yea…
and a sandwich, too.
Works Cited
“Drama,” 2012. 31 January 2012
http://drb.lifestreamcenter.net/Lessons/Dr
ama.htm.
Reuben, Paul. “Elements of Drama,” 2012. 31
January 2012
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/p
al/append/axh.html.
Script Frenzy. “How to Format a Stage Play,” 2012.
31 January 2012
http://scriptfrenzy.org/howtoformatastageplay.