Drama II

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Drama II
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Types of Utterance

• Turn allocation
• How many lines is each characters turn?
• Do some characters have longer turns than others,
  if so, why?
• Stichomythia
• Special kind of turn allocation that occurs when
  speakers alternating turns are of one line each
• Repartee
• Quick responses given in order to top remarks of
  another speaker or to use them to ones own
  advantage

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Ex. Stichomythia Repartee

• KING RICHARD Infer fair Englands peace by this
  alliance.
• ELIZABETH Which she shall purchase with
  still-lasting war.
• KING RICHARD Tell her the King, that may
  command, entreats.
• ELIZABETH That, at her hands, which the Kings
  King forbids.
• KING RICHARD Say she shall be a high and mighty
  queen.
• ELIZABETH To vail the title, as her mother
  doth.
• KING RICHARD Say I will love her everlastingly.
• ELIZABETH But how long shall that title ever
  last?
• KING RICHARD Sweetly in force, until her fair
  lifes end.
• ELZABETH But how long fairly shall her sweet
  life last?
• KING RICHARD As long as heaven and nature
  lengthens it.
• ELIZABETH As long as hell and Richard likes of
  it.
• KING RICHARD Say I, her sovereign, am her
  subject low.
• ELIZABETH But she, your subject, loathes such
  sovereignty.
• KING RICHARD Be eloquent in my behalf to her.
• ELIZABETH An honest tale speeds best being
  plainly told.
• KING RICHARD Then plainly to her tell my loving
  tale.
• ELIZABETH Plain and not honest is too harsh a
  style.
• KING RICHARD Your reasons are too shallow and
  too quick.

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Lack of Communication

• The living-room.
• PAM sits on the couch. She reads the Radio Times.
  
• MARY takes things from the table and goes out.
  Pause. She comes back. She goes to the table. She
  collects the plates. She goes out.
• Pause. The door opens. HARRY comes in. He goes to
  the table and opens the drawer. He searches in
  it.
• PAM turns a page.
• MARY comes in. She goes to the table and picks up
  the last things on it. She goes out.
• HARRYS jacket is draped on the back of the chair
  by the table. He searches in the pockets.
• PAM turns a page
• There is a loud bang (off).
• Silence.
• HARRY turns to the table and searches in the
  drawer.
• MARY comes in. She wipes the table top with a
  damp cloth.
• There is a loud bang (off).
• MARY goes out.
• (Edward Bond, Saved, 13)

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Wordplay Pun

• Let her not walk ithsun. Conception is a
  blessing, But as your daughter may conceive
  friend, look Tot. ...
• (Hamlet, II, 2 184-186)
• POZZO I hope Im not driving you away. Wait a
  little longer, youll never regret it.
• ESTRAGON Scenting charity Were in no hurry.
• POZZO Having lit his pipe. The second is never
  so sweet.He takes the pipe out of his mouth,
  contemplates itas the first, I mean. He puts
  the pipe back in his mouth. But its sweet just
  the same.
• (Beckett, Waiting for Godot, I)

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Wit

• LADY BRACKNELL Good afternoon, dear Algernon, I
  hope you are behaving very well.
• ALGERNON Im feeling very well, Aunt Augusta.
• LADY BRACKNELL Thats not quite the same thing.
  In fact the two things rarely go together. Sees
  Jack and bows to him with icy coldness.
• ALGERNON To Gwendolen Dear me, you are smart!
• GWENDOLEN I am always smart! Arent I, Mr
  Worthing?
• JACK Youre quite perfect, Miss Fairfax.
• GWENDOLEN Oh! I hope I am not that. It would
  leave no room for developments, and I intend to
  develop in many directions.
• (Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, I)
  

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Elements of Secondary Text

• Dramatis personae
• Speech prefix / speech heading
• Stage direction (didascaly)

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Example Stage Directions

• VLADIMIR Sometimes I feel it coming all the
  same. Then I go all queer. He takes off his hat,
  peers inside it, feels about inside it, puts it
  on again. How shall I say? Relieved and at the
  same timeHe searches for the word.appalled.
  With emphasis. AP-PALLED. He takes off his
  hat again, peers inside it . Funny. He knocks
  at the crown as though to dislodge a foreign
  body, peers into it again, puts it on again.
  Nothing to be done.
• ESTRAGON with a supreme effort succeeds in
  pulling off his boot. He looks inside it, feels
  about inside it, turns it upside down, shakes it,
  looks on the ground to see if anything has fallen
  out, finds nothing, feels inside it again,
  staring sightlessly before him. Well?.
• ESTRAGON nothing.
• VLADIMIR Show.
• ESTRAGON Theres nothing to show.
• VLADIMIR Try and put it on again. (Beckett,
  Waiting for Godot I)

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Structure in Drama

• Story
• Plot
• Linear
• Non-linear/Mosaic

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Structure Three Unities

• Unity of Action
• Unity of Place
• Unity of Time

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Structure Freytags Pyramid
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Structure Closed Open drama

• Closed drama
• Consists of tightly connected acts which are
  logically built upon each other
• present an unambiguous solution in the end
• Open drama
• Consists of loosely connected, often fragmentary
  scenes
• Present endings which do not bring about any
  conclusive solution or result
• Typically neglects the concept of the unities

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Theater of the Absurd

• Term applied to many of the works of a group of
  dramatists who were active in the 1950s Samuel
  Beckett, Jean Genet, Eugène Ionesco, Edward Albee
• answered to the need of providing an explanation
  of mans apparently purposeless role and position
  in the universe
• lack formal logic and conventional structure
• inexpressible, irrational, ridiculous
• solitude, isolation, hostility
• no illusion of reality, underlines
  constructedness of play
• difference between the characters words and
  actions
• lack of motivation, intention, ability

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Space in Drama

• Stage design
• Lighting
• Auditory sound effects, music
• Special effects

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Space in Drama

• Word scenery the setting is created rhetorically
  rather than by means of painted canvas, stage
  props and artificial lightening, characters
  describe the locale
• Heres neither bush nor shrub to bear off any
  weather at all, and another storm brewing I hear
  it sing i the wind. Yond same black cloud, yond
  huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would
  shed his liquor. If it should thunder as it did
  before I know not where to hide my head, yond
  same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls.
• (Shakespeare, The Tempest, II, 2 19-23)

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Space in Drama

• Setting and Characterisation
• e.g. Beckett Waiting for Godot
• e.g. William Congreves The Way of the World
• Symbolic Space
• e.g. Shakespeares The Tempest
• e.g. Shakespeares Midsummer Nights Dream

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Time

• How are references to time made in characters
  speech, setting, stage directions?
• What is the overall time span of the story?
• How long does the performance take?
• Which general concepts of time are expressed in
  and by a play?

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Time in Drama

• Played time
• Playing time
• Ellipsis, Pause
• Speed-up, Summary
• Slow-down, Stretch

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Example

• Enter Beatrice. A clock strikes one.
• BEATRICE One struck, and yet she lies byt oh
  my fears! This strumpet serves her own ends, tis
  apparent now, Devours the pleasure with a greedy
  appetite And never minds my honour or my peace,
  Makes havoc of my right but she pays dearly
  fort No trusting of her life with such a
  secret, That cannot rule her blood to keep her
  promise. Beside, I have some suspicion of her
  faith to me Because I was suspected of my lord,
  And it must come from her. Hark by my horrors!
  Another clock strikes two.
• Strikes two.
• (Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, The
  Changeling, V, 1 1-12)

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Time Order

• Flashback (analepsis)
• e.g. Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman
• Flashforward (prolepsis)
• e.g. prologue in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet

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Time Frequency

• Singulative an event takes place once and is
  referred to once
• Iterative an event takes place several times but
  is referred to in the text only once
• Repetitive an event takes place once but is
  referred to or presented repeatedly

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Characters in Drama

• Characters represent one of the most important
  analytical categories in drama since they carry
  the plot. Characters interactions trigger and
  move the plot, and their various relationships to
  one another form the basis for conflicts and
  dynamic processes.
• In other words there cannot be a play without
  characters.

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Implicit Figural Characterization

• JIMMY Why do I do this every Sunday? Even the
  book reviews seem to be the same as last weeks.
  Different books same reviews. Have you finished
  that one yet
• CLIFF Not yet.
• JIMMY Ive just read three whole columns on the
  English Novel. Half of its in French. Do the
  Sunday papers make you feel ignorant?
• CLIFF Not arf.
• JIMMY Well, you are ignorant. Youre just a
  peasant. To Alison. What about you? Youre not
  a peasant are you?
• ALISON absently. Whats that?
• JIMMY I said do the papers make you feel youre
  not so brilliant after all?
• ALISON Oh I havent read them yet.
• JIMMY I didnt ask you that. I said
• CLIFF Leave the poor girlie alone. Shes busy.
• JIMMY Well, she can talk, cant she? You can
  talk, cant you? You can express an opinion. Or
  does the White Womans Burden make it impossible
  to think?
• ALISON Im sorry. I wasnt listening properly.
• JIMMY You bet you werent listening. Old Porter
  talks, and everyone turns over and goes to sleep.
  And Mrs. Porter gets em all going with the first
  yawn.
• CLIFF Leave her alone I said.
• JIMMY shouting. All right, dear. Go back to
  sleep. It was only me talking. You know? Talking?
  Remember? Im sorry.
• CLIFF Stop yelling. Im trying to read.
• JIMMY Why do you bother? You cant understand a
  word of it.
• CLIFF Uh huh.

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Means of Characterization

• External appearance
• Body language, gestures, mimics
• Voice of actor / actress
• Dialect, sociolect, colloquialisms
• Telling names

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Example Hamlet
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Characters in Drama

• Major characters
• Protagonist
• Antagonist
• Eponymous hero
• Minor characters
• Foil
• Confidant

• Round characters
• Multi-dimensional
• Dynamic
• Flat characters
• Mono-dimensional
• Static
• Types
• Telling names

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Character Constellation
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Example Romeo and Juliet
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Character Configuration

• Character configuration denotes the sequential
  presentation of different characters together on
  stage. Configurations thus can change when
  characters exit or enter the stage.
• e.g. Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet.

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Dramatic Irony

• Congruent Awareness
• Discrepant Awareness
• Superior awareness
• Inferior Awareness
• "The words or acts of a character in a play may
  carry a meaning unperceived by himself but
  understood by the audience" (Holman, C. Hugh. A
  Handbook to Literature. Indianapolis Odyssey,
  1977. p. 171)

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Types of Stage

• Greek Classicism
• The Middle Ages
• Renaissance England
• Restoration Period
• Modern Times

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Greek Classicism
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The Middle Ages
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The Middle Ages
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Renaissance English

• Apron Stage

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Globe Theatre
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Globe Theatre
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Restoration Period
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Modern Times
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Dramatic Sub-Genres

• Tragedy A serious play whose protagonist dies in
  the end.
• Comedy A humorous play with a happy ending. More
  generally, a play with a nontragic ending.

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Dramatic Sub-Genres

• types of comedy
• High vs. Low Comedy
• Romantic Comedy
• Satiric Comedy
• Comedy of Manners
• Farce
• Comedy of Humours
• Melodrama

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Dramatic Sub-Genres

• types of tragedy
• Senacan Tragedy
• Revenge Tragedy / Tragedy of Blood
• Domestic / Bourgeois Tragedy
• Tragicomedy

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Sources

• Vanderbeke, Dirk. 2003/2004. Introduction to
  Literary Studies. ppt-presentation. Department of
  English Studies, University of Greifswald.
• Meyer, Michael. English and American Literatures.
  2nd ed. Tübingen and Basel Francke, 2005.
• Jahn, Manfred. 2003. Narratology A Guide to the
  Theory of Narrative. Part III of Poems, Plays,
  and Prose A Guide to the Theory of Literary
  Genres. English Department, University of
  Cologne.
• Lethbridge, Stefanie and Jarmila Mildorf. 2003.
  Basics of English Studies Am Introductory course
  for students of literary studies in English.
  English Departments, Universities of Tübingen,
  Stuttgart, Freiburg.
• Manfred Pfister. Das Drama Theorie und Analyse.
  10th ed. Munich Fink, 2000.