Unit 4: Introduction to Drama

A drama is a story told through characters played by actors. This makes a drama, or play, different from other types of literature. Drama is meant to be spoken, acted out, and given movement.

A comedy, in its original sense, was a play with a happy ending. Today, the term is widely used to refer to any humorous work, especially one prepared for the stage or the screen.

A tragedy was originally a drama that told the story of the fall of a person of high status. In more recent times, the word tragedy has been used both to describe a play about the downfall of a sympathetic character, or protagonist, and a story with an unhappy ending.

An act is a major division of a play.

Acts are often divided into scenes, which are shorter sections that usually mark changes of time and place.

The characters in drama, as in prose fiction, can be classified as protagonists or antagonists, flat or round, and major or minor.

In tragedies, such as The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the main character (or characters, in this case) is frequently a tragic hero.

Tragic heroes have a tragic flaw, or a weakness of personality, that causes them to make unfortunate choices.

A foil is a character who contrasts with a central character in order to highlight each other’s strengths and, more commonly, weaknesses.

A dialogue is a conversation between two or more characters.

A monologue is a long speech made by one character.

A soliloquy is a monologue given by a character alone on stage.

An aside is a statement intended to be heard by the audience but not by certain other characters on the stage.

Theme is a central idea in a literary work.

A motif is a recurring element in one or more works of literature or art.

Stage directions are the notes provided by the playwright to describe how the play should be presented or performed. They are usually printed in italics and may be enclosed in brackets or parentheses.

When you come across lines that are difficult to understand, try paraphrasing them, or restating them in your own words.

Because information in dramas is revealed only through dialogue and stage directions, you will constantly have to make inferences, or educated guesses, about what the playwright is revealing about characters and themes.