Studying Drama:

Terms and Concepts

 

 

Basic Types of Drama

Tragedy—a serious play showing the protagonist moving from good fortune to bad and ending in death or a deathlike state. In classical tragedy, a tragic hero (of noble standing) becomes guilty of overweening pride, called hubris, and commits some deed which ultimately destroys him and those around him. Quite often, a theme of tragedy is that individualism and individual pride can lead to ruin. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and Racine’s Phaedra are examples.

 

Comedy—a play characterized by humor and by a happy ending, often a marriage scene in which all or most of the characters are present. In comedy, good life comes from shedding strict individualism, which can isolate one, in favor of belonging to a genial and enlightened society. There are two basic types:

 

  1. Satiric Comedy—here, a character or characters mechanistically follow the letter of societal and moral customs and end up standing in the way of their own and everyone else’s happiness. These characters are often irate, hardheaded moralists who seem to be concerned more with following rules than with actual morals. An ancient Roman formula for satiric comedy says that it “chastens morals with ridicule.” Moliere’s Tartuffe is an example.
  2. Romantic Comedy—here, there is a pair or pairs of delightful people who engage our sympathies as they overcome obstacles on the way to the altar. Here also are characters who stand in the way of happiness, but in romantic comedy that is not the emphasis—the emphasis is on festivity. Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is an example.

 

 

Tragicomedy—a mixture of tragedy and comedy, usually a play with serious happenings that expose the characters to the threat of death but that ends happily. Strindberg’s Miss Julie is an example. (In fiction, the works of Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor are often given as examples.)

 

 

Elements of Drama

* Many of these elements are features of other genres of literature as well.

 

Irony—contrast of some sort. There are three main types:

 

  1. Verbal Irony—contrast between what is said and what is meant, a form of sarcasm, and the speaker is well aware of the irony and does it consciously. For example, saying “what a great guy” about someone who just conned you out of $25.
  2. Dramatic Irony—contrast between what the audience knows (a murderer waits in the bedroom closet) and what the character knows and/or says (the intended victim remarks that he’ll sleep well tonight. We know otherwise).
  3. Situational Irony—contrast between what is intended and what is actually accomplished (Macbeth usurps the throne, which is exactly what he’d wanted, but it leads to misery rather than the happiness he’d hoped for).

 

Satire—literary form that entertainingly attacks folly or vice in order to reform it by laughing at it. In other words, a literary manner that blends a critical attitude with humor and wit for the purpose of improving human institutions or humanity in general. Satirists are conscious of the frailty of humans and attempt through laughter not so much to tear them down as to inspire a remodeling. Often involves an author or character adopting a mask that’s extreme and exaggerated in order to provoke a response. Swift’s A Modest Proposal is an example in fiction/prose. Moliere’s Tartuffe is an example from drama.

 

Theme—what the work is about, an underlying idea of a work, a conception of human experience suggested by the details of the work. The theme of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is often said to be expressed in this line from the play: “Vaulting ambition o’erleaps itself.”

 

Plot—on a surface level, what happens in the work. To analyze plot, you would look at why things happen the way they do. Or, you could trace the lead character (called protagonist in fiction) as he or she overcomes obstacles or conflict to reach a goal. Conflict can be between a character and 1) another character, 2) obstacle in the environment (maybe Nature itself), or 3) it could be conflicting desires within the character him- or herself.

 

Characters and their Motivations—what their personalities are and why they do what they do.

 

Dramatic Conventions—gestures, costumes, setting (time and place), props. In analyzing these, always go beyond the surface. Why are these conventions the way they are? What work are they doing in the play? How do they shape the way you read and interpret and respond to the play?

 

You’ve probably noticed that Drama has a lot of elements in common with Fiction. Why do you think this might be?