Drama/Tragedy Notes

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Drama/Tragedy Notes
Feature Menu
What Is Drama? Structure of a Drama Kinds of
Plays Tragedy Comedy Modern Drama Performance of
a Play The Stage The Characters Review Practice
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What Is Drama?
A play is a story acted out, live and onstage.
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Structure of a Drama
Like the plot of a story, the plot of a drama
follows a rising-and-falling structure.
Climax tension at highest point
Complications tension builds
Resolution conflict is settled, play ends
Expositionconflict is introduced
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Kinds of Plays
A play may be a tragedy, a comedy, or, in modern
drama, a mixture of the two.

• A tragedy depicts serious and important events
  that end unhappily.

• A comedy ends happily. Although most comedies are
  funny, they may also make us think and question.

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Kinds of Plays
Quick Check
Which plot would be a tragedy, and which would be
a comedy?
1. A young woman wants to marry her love, but her
mother disapproves of him. After many setbacks,
the suitor wins the mothers approval and the
lovers marry.
2. A young man, blinded by passion, worsens a
feud between his family and his lovers. The play
ends with the deaths of the two lovers.
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Kinds of Plays
Quick Check
Which plot would be a tragedy, and which would be
a comedy?
1. A young woman wants to marry her love, but her
mother disapproves of him. After many setbacks,
the suitor wins the mothers approval and the
lovers marry.
Comedy
2. A young man, blinded by passion, worsens a
feud between his family and his lovers. The play
ends with the deaths of the two lovers.
Tragedy
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Tragedy
Most classical tragedies deal with serious
subjectsfate, life, and deathand center on a
tragic hero. Tragic heroes

• are usually noble figures

rebelliousness
ambition

• have a tragic flaw, a personal failing that leads
  to their downfall

passion
excessive pride
Innocent heroes
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Comedy
In a comedy, the characters usually face humorous
obstacles and problems that are resolved by the
end of the play. Comic heroes

• may be ordinary people instead of nobility

• eventually overcome their flaws and achieve
  happiness

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Comedy
The conflict in comedies is usually romantic.

• Someone wants to marry but faces an
  obstacleopposing parents or rival suitors.

• Complications can involve misunderstandings,
  mistaken identities, disguises, or transformation.

• The obstacle is always overcome.

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Modern Drama
Many of todays dramas cant be neatly defined as
either comedy and tragedy. Modern plays

• often mix the serious with the humorous

• focus on characters that audiences will identify
  with rather than look up to

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Performance of a Play
Plays are meant to be performed. A play comes to
life in each unique performance.
Stage DirectionsPlaywright describes setting and
actions
InterpretationActors, directors, and designers
interpret these directions creatively
PerformanceAudience experiences the story
through the actors speech and actions
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The Stage
A stage is like a small world unto itself. A stage

• can be grand or intimate

• has its own coordinates

upstage
stage left
stage right
downstage
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The Stage
The stages set might be
realistic and detailed
abstract or minimal
A set can be changed from scene to
scenesometimes with machinery and sometimes
with just a change in lighting.
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The Stage
Other important elements of set design are
costumes and props.

• Costumes tell us about the characters and the
  time and place. They can be elaborate or minimal.

• Props are items that the characters carry or
  handle onstage.

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The Characters
The actors and director bring characters to life
by

• deciding how to interpret and speak the lines of
  the play

Mary Can I make it on my own?

• building on the playwrights stage directions for
  actions and movements

Mary takes off her jacket and faces the
audience.
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The Characters
Characters speech takes the form of

• Dialogueconversation between characters

• Monologuea long speech by one character to one
  or more other characters

• Soliloquya speech by a character alone onstage,
  speaking to himself or herself or to the audience

Asides
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Review
Quick Check
What are the stage directions in this passage?
Gwendolen and Cecily are at the window, looking
out into the garden. Gwendolen. The fact that
they did not follow us at once into the house . .
. seems to me to show that they have some sense
of shame left. Cecily. They have been eating
muffins. That looks like repentance. Gwendolen.
After a pause. They dont seem to notice us at
all. Couldnt you cough? from The Importance of
Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Is this more likely to be a comedy or a tragedy?
Why?
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Review
Quick Check
What are the stage directions in this passage?
Gwendolen and Cecily are at the window, looking
out into the garden. Gwendolen. The fact that
they did not follow us at once into the house . .
. seems to me to show that they have some sense
of shame left. Cecily. They have been eating
muffins. That looks like repentance. Gwendolen.
After a pause. They dont seem to notice us at
all. Couldnt you cough? from The Importance of
Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
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Review
Quick Check
Is this more likely to be a comedy or a tragedy?
Why?
Gwendolen and Cecily are at the window, looking
out into the garden. Gwendolen. The fact that
they did not follow us at once into the house . .
. seems to me to show that they have some sense
of shame left. Cecily. They have been eating
muffins. That looks like repentance. Gwendolen.
After a pause. They dont seem to notice us at
all. Couldnt you cough? from The Importance of
Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Comedyit describes a silly situation in a
humorous tone.
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The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietLiterary Focus
Tragedy
Tragedya narrative about serious and important
events that lead to a disastrous outcome

• A tragedy usually ends with the deaths of the
  main characters.

• Their downfall may be the result of

• character flaws that lead to unwise actions

• fate (events beyond the characters control)

• a little bit of both

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The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietLiterary Focus
Tragedy
Shakespeares tragic plays usually follow a
five-part sequence
Act IIICrisis, or turning point
Act IIRising action, or complications
Act IVFalling action
Act IExposition
Act VClimax and resolution
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The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietLiterary Focus
Tragedy

• Exposition
• establishes setting

• introduces characters

• explains background

• introduces charactersmain conflict

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The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietLiterary Focus
Tragedy
Rising action consists of a series of
complications that occur when the main characters
take action to resolve their problems.
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The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietLiterary Focus
Tragedy
The crisis, or turning point, is the moment when
a choice made by the main characters determines
the direction of the action.

• In a tragedy, the action heads downward, toward
  disaster.

• In a comedy, the action heads upward, toward a
  happy ending.

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The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietLiterary Focus
Tragedy
The crisis is the point when all the forces of
conflict come together to create the greatest
drama and tension of the play.

• Look for the turning point as you read Act III of
  Romeo and Juliet.

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The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietLiterary Focus
Tragedy
Falling action presents events that result from
the action taken at the turning point.

• With each event, we see the characters falling
  deeper into tragedy.

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The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Act IILiterary
Focus Tragedy
Climax is the moment of greatest emotional
intensity in the plot.

• In a tragedy, the final and greatest climax
  occurs near the end of the play and usually
  consists of the deaths of the main characters.

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The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietLiterary Focus
Tragedy
Resolution (or denouement) is the final part of
the play.

• All the loose ends are tied up, and the play is
  over.

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The End
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Structure of a Drama
Conflict is a struggle or clash between opposing
characters or opposing forces.

• External conflict is a characters struggle
  against an outside force, such as another
  character, society as a whole, or something in
  nature.

• Internal conflict is a struggle between opposing
  needs, desires, or emotions within the character.
  

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Tragedy
Innocent Heroes Some tragedies, such as Romeo and
Juliet, portray the suffering of innocent
characters who are not responsible for their own
downfall.
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The Characters
Aside Sometimes a character speaks to the
audience or to another character in an aside,
dialogue that is not supposed to be heard by the
other characters onstage.