Andrzej Diniejko

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

OF LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

3.1

INTRODUCTIO

N TO DRAMA

Synopsis

• In this module we shall learn about

drama, theatre, dramatic literature

and its structural elements.

• Next we shall discuss the features of

tragedy and comedy as well as a few

other dramatic forms.

• You should remember a number of

terms related to dramatic literature.

• Finally, suggestions will be given how

to read and analyse a dramatic play.

What is drama?

•Drama is not literature but

theatre.

•However, a written play is

part of literature.

Past & present

•The epic deals with the

past, the lyric deals with
the present, whereas the
drama unites the past with
the present.

Origin of the term

•The term ‘drama’ comes

from Greek. It means action.

•Drama is thus imitated

human action on a stage.

Purpose of drama

•Its aim is to expose some

enduring aspects of human

existence.

Classical drama

• In the classical drama we see

an enormous action which is a
manifestation of fate.

• Characters are struggling

against fate in vain.

Modern drama

•In the modern drama

interest is focused rather
on characters than fate.

Media

Dramas are performed in various

media:

* theatre,

* radio,

* film, and

* television.

Drama as a literary text

•Drama as a form of literary

composition can be
expressed in verse or
prose.

A dramatic play

•A dramatic play is almost

always designed to be
acted by actors on a stage
before an audience.

Theatre performance

•However, at the theatre, the

audience watches a version
of the play which has
already been interpreted by
the stage manager, actors,
costume designers, etc.

Stage performance

•Stage performances offer a

multi-sensory access to
plays and they can make
use of multimedia
elements, such as:

•music, sound effects,

lighting, stage props, etc.

A dramatic play as text

• Reading limits the visual

perception and thus draws
upon one primary medium:
the play as text.

Main elements of drama

•Action and characters

(protagonists) are the two
main elements of the
drama.

The elements of drama

We can distinguish the

following elements of drama:

•Story, plot, setting and

staging, characters,
dialogue, monologue and
soliloquy, theme, and
motifs, conflict, tension,
crisis, atmosphere.

Story & Plot

•A dramatic plot differs from a

story of the play.

•A story is a complete account of

events, whereas plot is only what

the audience can see and hear on

the stage.

•The same story can be told in

many different ways

.

Plot structure

•There are several types

of dramatic structure.

•The main two structures

are called the climactic
structure and the
episodic structure.

•However, we may find a

number of traditional
dramatic plays which
combine the climactic
and episodic structure.

Climactic structure

• Its plot begins quite late in the

story and there are a limited
number of characters and scenes.

• The events have usually a cause-

and-effect-structure.

• Examples of plays with a climactic

plot structure include
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,
Hamlet and Macbeth.

Episodic structur

e

I. Plot begins relatively early in the

story and moves through a series

of episodes

II.  Covers a longer period of time:

weeks, months, and sometimes

years

III. Many short, fragmented scenes;

sometimes an alternation of short

and long scenes

Rising action

•A set of conflicts and crises

that constitute the part of
a play's plot leading up to
the climax.

Climax

•The turning point of the

action in the plot of a play
or story. The climax
represents the point of
greatest tension.

Falling action

In the plot of a play, the
action following the climax
of the work that moves it
towards its denouement or
resolution.

Physical & psychological

plot

•We may also distinguish

between a physical plot and a

psychological plot.

•The latter is an invisible

chain of “mental” events or

thoughts occurring in the

mind of the protagonist.

The psychological plot in

Hamlet

• For example, the psychological

plot in Hamlet concerns the
thoughts of Prince Hamlet.

• Frequently, the physical and

psychological plots are
interwoven in a play.

Major & minor plot

•Thus in drama, plot is a

sequence of related
events. Quite often a
play may have a major
plot and a minor plot.

Major plot

•The major plot refers to the

main action whereas the
minor plot develops
parallel to the major one
but it has secondary
importance for the play.

Acts & scenes

•Plot in a dramatic play

is usually segmented
into acts and scenes.

Nontraditional structure.

•Some recent drama, however,

defies the above definitions –

its form is ambiguous.

•Avant-garde drama often

arranges events in a random

or illogical way to suggest the

chaos or absurdity of life.

•An example of such a play is

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for

Godot.

Themes & motifs

•The theme or themes of

a dramatic play may be

presented explicitly or

implicitly.

Theme

•Sometimes the theme is

suggested in the title as in

George Bernard Shaw’s play,

Mrs Warren’s Profession or

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for

Godot.

•A playwright can use many

themes and motifs to expand his

story.

Themes & motifs

•Themes are ideas conveyed

by a literary text.

•Motifs are repeated

symbols that represent
those ideas.

Romeo and Juliet

•For example, one of the

the themes of
Shakespeare's Romeo and
Juliet, is "marrying without
parental consent.

Theme in Macbeth

• The major theme of Macbeth

is that too much ambition
leads to destruction. Another
theme is: fate versus free will.

Romeo and Juliet

•Motifs in Romeo and Juliet

include

Themes in Hamlet

•Themes in Hamlet include

the nature of filial duty and
the dilemma of the idealist
in a real world.

Themes & motifs in King

Lear

• Themes and motifs in King

Lear include: senility, filial
responsibility, irrational
actions, appearances,
deceptions, treason and
murder.

Conflict

•Conflict is the struggle

between the protagonist
and an opposing force.

Types of conflict

Internal conflict, or person-

against-self:

• the protagonist struggles within

himself or herself. The

protagonist is pulled by two

courses of action or by differing

emotions.

Interpersonal conflict,

or person-against-
person: pits

•the protagonist has a

conflict with another
character (antagonist).

Conflict of person-against-

society:

• the protagonist is in conflict with

the values of his or her society.

Conflict of person-against-

nature:

• the protagonists is threatened by an

element of nature.

Conflict of person-against-fate.

•Several types of conflict

may be present in any one
dramatic play.

Conflict

• Conflict is clash of actions, ideas,

desires, or tension raised in the
play that must be resolved.
Conflict can be physical
(external) or psychological
(internal), intellectual or ethical.

•We can further distinguish five

types of conflicts in fictional
literature (not only in drama):
person against person; person
against self; person against
society; person against fate;
person against nature.

Protagonist & Antagonist

•Conflict often involves a

protagonist struggling
against an antagonist in
order to solve a
problem.

Characters

•These are the people

presented in the play
that are involved in the
perusing plot. 

•Each character should

have their own distinct
personality, age,
appearance, beliefs,
socio economic
background, and
language.

Dramatis Personae

• Characters or Dramatis Personae

may usually be classified as

protagonists and antagonists.

• We can also distinguish between

active (dynamic) and static

(passive) characters.

• The latter are usually stock

characters.

Characters

• Literary characters may be major or

minor, static (unchanging) or dynamic

(capable of change).

• In Shakespeare's Othello, Desdemona is

a major character, but one who is static.

• Othello is a major character who is

dynamic, exhibiting an ability to change.

• Characters in a tragedy are as a

rule more complex than in a

comedy.

• The visible elements of a

dramatic character include

physical features, clothing,

movements and gestures.

• However, in attempting to fully

understand a dramatic

character, we must look into his

or her inner traits, such as

language and thought.

Eponymous hero

• Hamlet.

• Romeo and Juliet.

• Othello

Dialogue

•Dialogue is what

characters say to each
other.

•Dialogue is often rich in

subtext.

Subtext

•Subtext: the hidden or

implicit connotative
meaning of a text.

Dialogue

• Dialogue is essential in a

drama because it (1)
advances the plot, (2)
reveals characters, their
moods, relationships to each
other, (3) foreshadows
events, etc.

Aside

• Sometimes a character makes

a comment, known as an

aside, which other characters

are not supposed to hear.

• In Shakespeare's Othello,

Iago voices his inner thoughts

a number of times as "asides"

for the play's audience.

Monologue & soliloquy

• A monologue is when a

character speaks alone.

• A special kind of monologue in a

traditional drama is soliloquy

when a character steps to the

side of the stage to think aloud.

• The most famous soliloquy is

perhaps Hamlet’s “To be or not

to be.”

”To be or no to be”

• To be or not to be, that is the

question;

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to

suffer

The slings and arrows of

outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of

troubles,

And by opposing, end them. To die,

to sleep;[…]

Dramatic irony

• In dramatic irony the audience

knows more than the
characters in the play.

• For example, in Shakespeare’s

Romeo and Juliet, the audience
knows that Juliet is not dead,
whereas Romeo does not.

Dramatic irony

• The discrepancy between the

audience’s and characters’
knowledge of certain
information leads to
dramatic irony.

Three unities

• In the Poetics, Aristotle said

that a tragedy should have a
single action, take place within
a short time, and be confined
to one location (one day, one
major action and one setting).

• Unity of time, place and action.

Freytag’s Pyramid

climax

or turning point

rising action falling action

exposition

exposition

catastrophe

catastrophe

Flashback & flasforward

• Flashback: In Arthur Miller’s

Death of a Salesman, the
unemployed and desolate
salesman Willy Loman recalls
his happy family life in the
past.

Ab ovo, in medias res, in

ultimas res

• Ab ovo:

the play starts at the beginning of

the story and provides all the
necessary background information
concerning the characters, their
circumstances, conflicts, etc.

In medias res

In medias res:

the story starts somewhere in

the middle and leaves the
viewer puzzled at first.

In ultimas res

In ultimas res:

the story begins with its actual

outcome or ending and then
relates events in reverse order,
thus drawing the audience’s
attention on the ‘how’ rather than
the ‘what’ of the story.

Plays which use this method are

called analytic plays.

Setting and staging

• In a drama setting is the locale

or place of action.

• For example, the principal

setting of Hamlet is the castle of
Elsinore in medieval Denmark.

• The setting of Macbeth is

medieval Scotland.

Staging

• Staging is a specific realisation of

setting on the stage.

• In medieval drama a multiple setting

was used. All scenes were

simultaneously performed on several

detached locations called ‘mansions’

or ‘houses’.

• In modern drama multiple setting is

achieved by frequent changes in

scenery. Staging may thus also refer

to the use of scenery and properties

or props in a theatre performance.

Stage direction

• A playwright's descriptive or

interpretive comments that provide
readers (and actors) with
information about the dialogue,
setting and action of a play.

Genre

• Drama is divided into the

categories of tragedy, comedy,
melodrama, and tragicomedy. 
Each of these genre/forms can
be further subdivide by style
and content.