Drama as a Literary Genre: Structure, Stage Directions, and Characters

The Features of a Dramatic Text

Performer Heritage Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella, Margaret Layton @ 2016 ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

The Structure of a Play

A play consists of a number of acts divided into scenes. All Shakespearian plays are made up of five acts:

• Act 1: introduction;
• Act 2: development;
• Act 3: crisis or turning point;
• Act 4: complications;
• Act 5: denouement = the resolving of all difficulties. Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

Elizabethan Tragedies Structure

Elizabethan tragedies:

• are generally introduced by a prologue, spoken by the chorus
• provides information about the main character / the subject of the play
• often end with an epilogue
  • requests applause
  • is usually played by a central character Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

Plot and Setting in Drama

• The plot the story-line of a play
• The sub-plot a secondary plot. It usually mirrors the themes of the main plot but presents them from a different perspective
• Place and time can be inferred both from the dialogue and the stage directions An open place. Thunder and lightning. (W. Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 1) Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

Stage Directions

• Stage directions are the instructions a playwright gives to the director and the actors about how a play should be staged.
• They provide information about
  1. the setting;
  2. the characters' actions and movements;
  3. the style of acting. Exeunt all but TITANIA [and the sentinel]. Enter Oberon. He drops the juice on TITANIA's eyelids. (W. Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 2, Sc II) Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

Characters in Drama

The number of characters, which in the past were called Dramatis Personae, may vary but always includes:

• a hero, the protagonist of the play who is not necessarily 'heroic', noble and brave;
• a heroine, the play's main female character;
• an antagonist, who is the hero's main opponent, usually the play's villain. Characters can be divided into main or minor according to how important they are for the story. Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

Character Introduction Methods

The character can be introduced through:

• dialogue, that is, his interaction with other characters;
• soliloquy and monologue, which reveal his thoughts, feelings and personality;
• asides;
• stage directions
  • how the character changes, why and when;
  • his/her motivation to action;
  • his/her relationship with other characters. Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

Dramatic Techniques: Dialogue

Dialogue is the main support of drama since:

• it creates the action;
• it provides details about the characters and their relationships;
• it contributes to theme development;
• it gives information about the past;
• it can foreshadow subsequent events;
• it may be built to cause specific reactions in the audience. Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

Dramatic Techniques: Soliloquy and Monologue

Soliloquy and monologue are special conventions of Elizabethan drama.

Soliloquy vs. Monologue

soliloquy the character is alone on the stage

monologue there are other characters but the speaker ignores them

These devices enable the playwright to let the audience know:

• the character's thoughts about a specific problem;
• the character's plans for the future;
• the character's feelings and reactions;
• the character's explanation of what happens between scenes. Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

Dramatic Techniques: Asides

Asides are short comments made by a character for the audience alone, usually occurring in or between speeches. Their purposes are:

• to reveal the nature of the speaker;
• to draw the attention of the audience to the importance of what has been said;
• to explain developments;
• to create humour by introducing the unexpected. Performer Heritage ZANICHELLIDrama as a literary genre

The Language of Drama

The language of drama is particularly intense and vivid because it can share the features of everyday speech, of poetry or prose. The normal form of Shakespeare's plays is blank verse but prose and poetry can be intermingled. Another feature of dramatic language is the use of clusters of imagery

Clusters of Imagery

clusters of imagery lots of images of a similar nature linked to a specific theme in the play. Example = the imagery of clothing linked to the theme of 'false appearances' in Macbeth. Performer Heritage ZANICHELLI