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Drama, Tragedy & Comedy

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DRAMA, TRAGEDY & COMEDY WHAT IS DRAMA? • A drama is a story that is written through action and dialogue with the purpose of being acted in front of an audience. • In other words, a drama is a play. • The purpose of a drama is to recognize flaws in humans in order to better ourselves and not make the same mistakes as the characters portrayed in the play. DRAMATIC STRUCTURE Like the plot of a story, the plot of a play involves characters who face a problem or conflict. Climax point of highest tension; action determines how the conflict will be resolved Falling action: exhibits the failing Complications fortunes of the hero tension builds Resolution conflict is resolved; Exposition play ends characters and conflict are introduced DRAMA TERMS • Dialogue - The exchange of spoken words between two or more characters in a drama. • Monologue - A speech presented by a single character, most often to express their mental thoughts aloud to directly address another character or the audience. • Soliloquy - A soliloquy is a device often used in drama when a character speaks to themselves, relating thoughts and feelings, thereby also sharing them with the audience, giving the illusion of unspoken reflections. • Aside - An aside is a dramatic device in which a character speaks to the audience. By convention the audience is to realize that the character's speech is unheard by the other characters on stage. • Chorus - a group of actors who describe and comment upon the main action of a drama who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison. TRAGEDY • A tragedy is a play that recounts an important series of events in the life of a significant person. • Tragedies end in catastrophe, which is an unhappy ending where all is lost. • They are centered on the suffering of one central character, the tragic hero. THE TRAGIC HERO • The tragic hero is the character (most often the protagonist) that comes from nobility (a high position such as a king or outstanding person) who experiences a reversal of fortune because of a twist of fate or a flaw/weakness in the character. • Tragic flaw: flaw, error, or defect that leads to the hero’s downfall. • Tragic force: event or force that starts the falling action. TRAGIC FLAWS • The tragic hero’s tragic flaw is often caused by hubris. • Hubris: overwhelming pride that causes misfortune for the protagonist. • The tragic hero’s hubris often leads them to make decisions that end in hamartia. • Hamartia: an error, mistaken judgement, or misstep that causes the tragic hero to fall. COMEDY • A genre of a drama that intends to amuse and is characterized by its happy and lively ending. • The main character is usually an ordinary person who faces conflicts that arise from misunderstandings but that often ends up having a happy resolution. COMEDY • Comedies tend to have ambiguous language as well as complex and unexpected events. • Provokes an intellectual response by the audience in delight or in ridicule. • Conflicts are humorous. • Celebrate a ridiculous life. SETTING THE STAGE • The stage is where the play is performed. • Stages are constructed in two main formats: • Thrust - The audience surrounds the stage on three sides. • In the Round – The stage is surrounded by an audience on all sides. SCENE DESIGN • The scene design is used to transform the stage into what ever setting is dictated by the play. • The scene design consists of: • Props • Sets • Costumes • Lights (in modern theater) THE AUDIENCE • A drama needs an audience to: • Watch the performance of the play • Understand the story • Respond to the characters, the action and the plot • Sometimes the audience is asked to participate in the drama FIN CONFLICT IN LITERATURE A CONFLICT is a struggle between two opposing forces. In literature there are 4 main types of conflict that are either external or internal. This conflict plays out between the PROTAGONIST (the central character) and the ANTAGONIST (the opposing force). External Conflict – between a character and someone/something in the outside world Man vs. Man – a conflict between 2 characters (example: hero vs. villain) Man vs. Nature – a conflict that places a character against the forces of nature (examples: a storm; a virus or disease) Man vs. Society – a conflict that places a character against the laws/ideas of the society (examples: rich young lady falls in love with a poor man, but her family won’t allow it; a character who goes against an unjust and cruel government) Other external conflicts: Man vs. Technology, Man vs. Supernatural Internal Conflict – within the character Man vs. Self – a conflict within the character’s own mind/heart. He/she may struggle to make the right decision, with how to feel about a person or situation, with fear, with trying to find a true identity. Inciting Incident (Force) – the event that triggers every other event in the story. It drives the plot and begins the conflict. Conflict centers itself within the story’s themes. Theme – a recurring idea or message found throughout a text (The main message the author is trying to send you) Some examples are: o Teenage love o Friendship and loyalty o Courage and heroism o Coming of age (growing up) o Strength of character o Alienation/Isolation/Depression (feeling trapped) o Humanity (what it means to be human) o Unfair treatment of people (racism, persecution) !MERICAN FRom Our TOWN -ASTERPIECE Drama by ThornTon WILDER BACKGROUNd Since Our 4OWN first appeared on BrOADWAy in 1938, not a daY has gone by when it has not been staged someWHERe in the world. Set in THE small TOwn of GrOVer’s CORNERS, New Hampshire, the play TRACes the eVERYDAY EXPERIENCes of TWo neighboring fAMILIES, the Gibbses and the Webbs. Spanning a dozen years aT the beginning of the TWENtieth cENTURY, Our 4OWN has seVERAL unusual Touches: it is perFormed on a stage bare of all scENERY; it depicts some CHARACters from beYond the grAVe; and it emploYs a fOLKSy but omniscienT narrATOR called the Stage ManagER, who rEVeals past and future eVENts and cOMMENts on the gEOLOGy of the region, as well as the histORy and sociology of the TOwn. LITERARy ANALYsis Both the title and the CHARACters in Our 4OWN ARe ALLEGorical. As a typical small TOwn Of its time, inhabited By typical American FAMILIES, GrOVer’S Corners rEPRESENts the life of eVERy small-tOwn American family—yOURS, mine, ours. The scene on the opposite page depicts GeorGe Gibbs and Emily Webb aT THE ThornTon WILDER beginning of their cOURTSHIP. They arEN’t sure of one another yet, and THEy haVE DIFFering opinions about men and women. As rEADERS, we fACe TWo TASKs when We study DIALOGUE or CHARACters in cONFLICT. One is To make infERENCes about the charACters THEMSELVes. The other is To look for clues To how THEy view THE READING 2 Make infERENCes about World and To wAtch as difFering vieWs deVelop so THAT we can idenTIFy the play’S theme and gENRe in difFERENT culturAL THEME—the message it eXPResses for the author. and historical cONTExts. 4 MakE INFERENCes about the strucTURE DISCUSS and elements of drama. AnalyzE Working in a small grOUP, haVe TWo group members read the dialogue the themes and charACteristics in in this eXCERPT aloud. Then, look for clues THAT GeorGe and Emily are fond of one DIFFERENT periods of American drama. ANOTHER. Does one charACter criticize the other as a wAy of hiding afFECtion? If so, WHAT clues show you the underlying fondness? WhaT difFering staTEMENts do Emily and GeorGe make about being male or female? Do THEy settle their difFERENCe by the end of the scene? AFter you haVe discussed these questions with your grOUP, SHARe your insights with the class as a whole. GeorGE. Emily, why are you mad at me? Emily. I’m not mad at you. GeorGE. You’ve been treating me so funny lately. Emily. Well, since you ask me, I might as well say it right out, George,— (She catches sight of a teacher passing.) Good-by, Miss Corcoran. GeorGE. Good-by, Miss Corcoran. —Wha—what is it? Emily (not scoldingly; finding it difficult to say). I don’t like the whole change that’s come over you in the last year. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings, but I’ve got to—tell the truth and shame the devil. 10 GeorGE. A change? —Wha—what do you mean? Emily. Well, up to a year ago, I used to like you a lot. And I used to watch you as you did everything . because we’d been friends so long . and then you began spending all your time at baseball . and you never stopped to speak to anybody any more. Not even to your own family you didn’t . and, George, it’s a fact, you’ve got awful conceited and stuck-up, and all the girls say so. They may not say so to your face, but that’s what they say about you behind your back, and it hurts me to hear them say it, but I’ve got to agree with them a little. I’m sorry if it hurts your feelings . but I can’t be sorry I said it. GeorGE. I . I’m glad you said it, Emily. I never thought that such a thing was hap- 20 pening to me. I guess it’s hard for a fella not to have faults creep into his character. (They take a step or two in silence, then stand still in misery.) Emily. I always expect a man to be perfect and I think he should be. GeorGE. Oh .
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