Dramatic Conventions and The Renaissance Theater

English 10 What is Drama?  Drama: literature in which plot and characters are developed through dialogue and action  Dialogue: conversation between characters; critical for conveying thoughts and feelings, and every twist and turn of the plot in drama  Dialect: regional speech used to emphasize a character’s roots Elements of Drama  Plot: the sequence of events which move the story along; in drama these are divided into:  Scenes – each scene has a different time or place  Acts – scenes are grouped into acts

 Stage directions: done in italic type and separated from dialogue by parentheses  Provide background, ideas for setting/scenery/props  Costumes, lighting, music, and sound effects  Directions to actors – how they should look/move/behave Dramatic Conventions

 Tragedy: a work in which the main character, or tragic hero, comes to an unhappy end

 Tragic Hero: the main character of a tragedy who comes to an unhappy or miserable end  Generally a person of importance (king or queen)  Exhibits extraordinary abilities

 Tragic Flaw: a fatal error in judgment or weakness of character, directly leads to his or her downfall Dramatic Conventions

 Other Characters  Antagonist (usually “the bad guy”)  Foil – a character who provides a sharp contrast to another character.  Grendel is a foil for Beowulf  Major and minor characters Dramatic Conventions

 Comic Relief: eases the intensity of the action by following a serious scene with a lighter, mildly humorous one

 Catharsis: the purging (releasing) of emotions through art

 Fate: destiny, an inevitable course of events  Tragic Heroes are usually fated to end up the way they do Dramatic Conventions

 Soliloquy: a speech that a character makes while alone on stage, reveals his or her thoughts to the audience  Monologue: a speech by one actor  Aside: a remark made in an undertone to the audience or another character, but that other characters on stage are not supposed to hear Dramatic Conventions

 Irony:  Verbal Irony: a writer or character says one thing but means another  Situational Irony: a character or reader expects one thing to happen but something else actually happens  Dramatic Irony: the reader knows something that a character does not know Other Important Literary Terms

 Motif: a recurring word, phrase, image, object, idea, or action in a work of literature

 Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter

 Meter: a fixed pattern of rhythm  Ex: iambic pentameter The Renaissance Theater

 Could not show “reality,” so the audience had to rely heavily on its imagination.

 Actors wore elaborate costumes.

 Limited props -- scenery was described through the play’s language.

 Act and scene divisions were added by later editors to allow for scene changes. Popular Renaissance Theaters

 The Theater – 1st public theater in London  The Curtain – 2nd theater built  The Globe – most famous theater; owned by Shakespeare’s acting company  3 main parts of The Globe:  The building (16-sided polygon)  The stage  The tiring house (backstage)  Admission was 1 penny for general seating Renaissance London