1

English III
UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO DRAMA
Drama is a composition in verse or prose intended to portray life or character or to
tell a story usually involving conflicts and emotions through action and dialogue and
typically designed for theatrical performance. The term "drama" comes from a Greek word
meaning "deed" or "act", which is derived from "I do". Drama was introduced to Britain
from Europe by the Romans, and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this
purpose.

PURPOSES FOR DRAMA

• Sharing the human experience – to express or communicate emotion, feelings, ideas,
information through dramatic works
• Passing on tradition and culture – to express or communicate feelings, ideas, information
• Recreational – drama as recreation and for recreational events
• Artistic Expression – drama created with the intent to express or communicate emotion,
feelings, ideas, information

MYSTERY PLAYS
Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in
Europe. Mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches. They
developed from the 10th to the 16th century, reaching the height of their popularity in the
15th century by the rise of professional theatre. Mystery is applied to the stories taken from
the Scriptures narrative, while Miracles are plays dealing with incidents in the lives of Saints
and Martyrs.

MORALITY PLAYS

The morality play is a also known as "interludes", a broader term given to dramas
with or without a moral theme. Morality plays are a type of story in which the protagonist
choose a Godly life over one of evil. The plays were most popular in Europe during the 15th
and 16th centuries. In Morality Plays, serious and comic elements were interwoven.
 2

Characteristics of Morality Plays

 A protagonist who represents humanity.
 Personified good and evil as characters.
 A conflict the protagonist has to overcome that aligns with a piece of moral guidance.
 Strong emphasis on mortality and the difference between good and evil.
 The belief that humans had control, to an extent, over their fate after they died.
 Performed by semi-professional actors.
 The productions relied on public support.
 They were usually short and contained serious and farcical elements.
TYPES OF DRAMA

There are three main forms of drama. They are comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy. All
these types have the common characteristics of drama genre; they are, plot, characters,
conflict, music and dialogue.

Comedy:
Comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and light in its
tone, mostly having cheerful ending. Comedy is a type of drama that aims to make the
audience laugh. Such tradition came from the Ancient Greek theatre, where comedy first
emerged as a form of drama. Comedy could be further divided into subcategories, for
example, dramatic irony, farce, sarcasm, black comedy, etc. Eg. As You Like It, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, All's Well That Ends Well.

Tragedy:
Tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or
sorrowful events that befall a main character. Murders, deaths, insanity, and pain are among
the most common ideas in tragedies. Main characters usually have some kind of weakness or
defect that causes their downfall. Tragedy first appeared in the theatre of Ancient Greece.
Aristotle believed that the main characteristic of tragedy was the change of fortunes of the
main character because of his flaws. The philosopher also believed that such drama has to
implant a feeling of fear and pity in the audience. As drama evolved, more modern script
writers thought that depicting the downfall of a common person will cause the viewer to feel
greater emotions as it will relate more to a character of their own social status. Eg. Romeo
and Juliet , Macbeth and Hamlet.
 3

Tragicomedy:

Tragicomedy is a special kind of drama that combines the features of tragedy and
comedy. It means that such play may be sad but will have a happy ending, or it may be
serious with some elements of humor emerging throughout the whole play. Unlike comedy
and tragedy, tragicomedy emerged a bit later, in the times of Roman Empire. Roman
dramatist Plautus was the first to write a tragicomedy and to use the term. Before Plautus,
there were strict rules about writing drama, it was either comedy or tragedy. These genres
were never mixed together. Plautus was the first to note that in our daily lives we have
features of both tragedy and comedy. Therefore, drama also can combine them both. Eg. The
Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest

ARISTOTLE’S ELEMENTS OF DRAMA

Aristotle, a Greek Philosopher and Scientist wrote about the essential elements of
drama more than 2000 years ago. His concept is still relevant and serves as a model of
dramatic forms.

1. Plot (Mythos)
A plot is the sequence of events that are connected. It is not the narration of what
happened, it is the cause and effect of different events within the drama.
Example: “Husband died and then the wife died” is a story
“Husband died and then the wife died out of grief” is a plot because it is connected.

2. Character (Ethos)
The second essentials of dramas are the characters in the drama. Characters are the
instruments that unfold the plot. It can be a person, an animal, a ghost, an object or anything.
A story can have many characters or just a single character. The character’s conflict can be
inner, natural, or can be caused by another character.
Types of characters:
 Protagonist
 Antagonist
 Foil
 Static
 Dynamic
 4

 Flat
 Round
 Stock

3. Thought/ Theme / Idea (Dianoia)

The third essential of drama is the idea or theme of the drama. The idea of the drama
is supported by the unfolding of the plot and development of the characters.

4. Diction / Dialogue (Lexis)

The third essential element of drama is the words, style and dialects used by the
characters. It is the script of the drama. The choice of words used by the writer determines
how the theme will be revealed, the characters development and the plot unfolding.

5. Music (Melos)
Music refers to anything and everything that the audience hears from the stage. It
includes words, music, background score, sound effects, silences, pauses etc. Music plays a
big role and it contributes to the intensity of the theme, character and plot.
Example: The sound of wind-blowing, lighting, mesmerizing music suggests something
intense happening. While the sound of firecrackers, happy music, suggests something joyous
happening.

6. Spectacle (Opsis)
Spectacle refers to anything and everything that the audience sees. It includes scenery,
makeup, costume, actors movements, lights etc. Just like music, the spectacle is also
important for the intensity of the theme, character and plot.
Example: Bright lights, funny makeup and costume, in a garden backdrop suggests
completely opposite of Dim lights, gloomy makeup and costume in a forest backdrop.
Shakespeare used appropriately spectacle for his dramas. You can easily notice how different
spectacle is used in Macbeth and As you like it.

DRAMATIC STRUCTURE / FIVE-ACT STRUCTURE

Act I: Exposition/Prologue. It introduces the main characters and provides a backstory.
The first act also presents the central conflict through an “exciting force” or “inciting
incident.”
 5

Inciting Incident/Point of Attack: The conflict or problem of the play is introduced. The
Protagonist takes their first action against the conflict.

Act II: Rising action/Complication. In the second act of the five-part story structure, the
conflict begins to increase as the characters try to achieve their goals and the narrative
builds toward the climax. The protagonist tries to fid ways to solve or end the conflict,
whereas the antagonist may setup blocks against it.

Act III: Climax/Crisis. The third act contains the climax, the moment where the tension
reaches its peak in a major scene. It is the highest point of emotional intensity. This is
where the conflict is addressed. The protagonist either succeeds or fails but the conflict is
ended.

Act IV: Falling action/Denouement. The elements of act four—also called the falling
action—include the series of events that lead to the resolution. In the fourth act reveals the
“final suspense”, a moment in which the audience experiences doubt about their
expectations of how the story will unfold.

Act V: Resolution/Conclusion/Epilogue. The final act is the end, resolution of the story.
Here, the loose ends are tied up and bring the narrative to a close, writing either a tragic or
happy ending. The fifth act is also called as “the catastrophe,” the point in a tragedy where
most of the characters die.
Example: Romeo and Juliet
 Exposition: Romeo and Juliet meet while their families, the Montagues and
Capulets, feud.
 Rising movement: Romeo and Juliet fall in love and secretly wed.
 Climax: Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, kills Mercutio, a close friend of Romeo. In return,
Romeo kills Tybalt, resulting in his banishment. The lovers say goodbye.
 Falling action or return: Juliet fakes her death by drinking a potion to avoid an
arranged marriage orchestrated by her father, and she sends Romeo a message
outlining her plan.
 6

 Catastrophe: The message doesn’t reach Romeo in time, and when he discovers
Juliet, he believes she died. Distraught, he drinks poison. Juliet wakes to find
Romeo dead and takes her life with a dagger.

UNITIES OF DRAMA
Classical Greek and Latin dramas were strict in form. The concept of the three unities,
in relation to classical drama, derives from Aristotle’s Poetics but is not directly formulated
by the Greek philosopher.

The classical unities or three unities in drama are:

• The unity of time: The action of the play should take place in a short internal chronology,
ideally, no more than 24 hours. The unity of time limits the supposed action to the duration,
roughly, of a single day.
• The unity of place: A play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to
compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place. It was said that in
drama there should be no change of place, and even if the scene changes it must not be too
great a distance. A public square or palace courtyard would usually serve this purpose well.
Unity of place limits it to one general locality.
• The unity of action: A play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few
subplots. It is the unity of action which makes the plot intelligible, coherent, and individual.
The events and incidents are connected with each other logically and they move towards a
common goal, the Catastrophe. The unity of action limits it to a single set of incidents which
are related as cause and effect, "having a beginning, a middle, and an end.

THE THREE COMPONENTS OF DRAMA

1. Performance - tools used by the director and actors to create characters, emotions, and
feelings that tell the playwright’s story.
Performance Elements:
• Character – characters have goals they want to achieve; ideas, events, people
• Dialogue – A conversation between 2 or more characters to express thoughts,
feelings, and action.
• Monologue – A long speech made by one person, often called a soliloquy.
• Conflict – The struggle between opposing forces, ideas, or interests.
• Motivation – that which propels the character towards his/her goal
 7

• Voice – the voice is one of two primary tools of the actor. Learning to use the voice •
breathing, projection, and diction.
• Sensory Recall – recalling a smell, taste or sound will cause the actor’s reaction to it

2. Technical - Aspects of a play outside of the dramatic elements that aid in telling the story.
Technical Elements:
• Costumes – the clothing that characters wear including hats, accessories, and masks.
Costumes also give information about: Character, Setting, Time, Social Status, and
other important information relative to the plot.
• Music/Sound – music and sound helps create the environment, establish the mood,
and aide in telling the story • Not made by actor • Can be by a live orchestra, taped or
a soundtrack.
• Make-up – helps the actor create a complete character. Make-up is worn by
characters on areas of the body that are visible to the audience (face, arms, legs).

3. Literary - Essential Components needs for a Dramatic Production

Literary Elements:
• Plot or Storyline– The plan of action or events of the story. A plot has a beginning, a
middle, and an end.
• Character – A person portrayed in a drama, novel, or other artistic piece.
• Protagonist – the main character or hero who advances the storyline as he/she
attempts to achieve an important goal.
• Antagonist – the opponent or adversary of the hero or main character of a
drama.

DRAMATIC TERMS:

ACT:
An act is a major division of a theatre work, including a play, film, opera, or musical
theatre, consisting of one or more scenes. An act is a part of a play defined by elements such
as rising action, climax, and resolution.Usually play are divided into three or five acts.
 8

SCENE:
In drama, a scene is a unit of action, often a subdivision of an act. A scene normally
represents actions happening in one place at one time, and is marked off from the next scene
by a curtain, a black-out, or a brief emptying of the stage.

MONOLOQUE:
A monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their
thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience.
In Julius Caesar's Mark Antony says “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I
come to bury Caesar, not to praise him,” he is delivering a monologue to the characters at
Caesar's funeral.

SOLILOQUY :
Soliloquy is a lengthy speech in a play in which a character, who is alone on the stage,
talks to himelf or herself aloud, so that the audience knows their thoughts. Eg. William
Shakespeare's Hamlet, , when Hamlet asks, “To be or not to be…?”, he is speaking to himself
in a soliloquy.

ASIDE:
Aside is when a character in a work of fiction addresses the audience directly for a
moment to either express a truth, reveal a feeling, to make an observation or quippy remark
or comment on the events of the story. This is usually cannot be heard by the other
characters.

SOLILOQUY vs ASIDE:
Both a soliloquy and an aside are used to reveal a character’s secret thoughts and
motives. However, an aside is shorter than a soliloquy—typically only one or two
sentences—and is directed at the audience. Other characters are often present when an aside
is delivered, but they do not hear the aside. In plays and movies, the character making the
aside will often turn away from the other characters and face the audience or camera while
speaking.
 9

CHORUS:
Chorus are those who perform vocally in a group. The chorus in a drama was a group
of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play with song, dance, and
recitation. The chorus speaks directly to the audience and may not interact with the main
characters of a story at all. Their purpose is to underscore the moral themes, actions, character
development, and messages of a story to the audience.

SATIRE:
Satire in literature is a type of social commentary. Writers use exaggeration, irony,
and other devices to poke fun at a social custom or tradition, or any other prevalent social
figure or practice in a clever and intelligent manner.

IRONY:
It is a contradiction that reveal a reality that differs from what appears to be true. It
express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning.

SATIRE vs IRONY:
Irony describes situations that are strange or funny because things happen in a way
that seems to be the ‘opposite’ of what you expected. If an expectation is black, then an ironic
outcome would be white, not off-white or gray. Irony pertains to situations while satire is a
form of expression. Satire means making fun of people by imitating them in ways that expose
their stupidity or flaws.

DRAMATIC IRONY:
It is when a character believes in a different reality from the one the audiences knows
to be truth. Dramatic irony is when the audience understands more about a situation than
some of the characters do. Oftentimes, this understanding leads to an element of suspense
because we know the character(s) will learn the truth eventually – but we don't know when or
how.

IRONY vs DRAMATIC IRONY:

Irony is a literary device commonly used to express a contrary meaning than what can
be observed in a situation. It is when the opposite of the expected results occur, when there is
a contrast between expectations and outcomes. Dramatic irony, however, is when the reader
 10

or the audience is aware of the reality of the situation, but the characters are not. Irony takes
the reader or audience completely by surprise where something contrary of the expected
results take place, in dramatic irony the reader or audience is aware of the situation.

COMIC RELIEF:
Comic relief is the use of humourous scenes, characters, speeches in a drama that
lightens the darkness of the play. It is interposed in the midst of serious or tragic elements in
a drama.

STAGE DIRECTIONS:
It is the instruction written in the script of a play indicating the movement, position, or
tone of an actor, or the sound effects and lighting.

MELODRAMA:
A melodrama is a story or play in which there are a lot of exciting or sad events and in
which people's emotions are very exaggerated. The exaggeration of plot or characters are
done to appeal to their emotions, mostly with stereotyped ones.

TRAGIC HERO:
A tragic hero is a character in a dramatic tragedy who has virtuous and sympathetic
traits but ultimately meets with suffering or defeat. He falls from glory into suffering because
of his tragic flaw or fate. Eg. Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Othello

TRAGIC FLAW:
A tragic flaw , also called as hamartia, is a literary term that refers to a personality
trait of a main character, a weakness or limitations that leads to his or her downfall. Eg.
cowardice, ambition, over-protectiveness, suspicion.

VAGARY:
A vagary is an unexpected, unpredictable and inexplicable change in a situation or in
someone's behavior which you have no control over. Eg: the vagaries of weather, the
vagaries of the economic scene
 11

FOURTH WALL:
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall
separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this wall, the actors
act as if they cannot see the audience.

GREEN ROOM:
Green room is a room in a theater or studio, where performers can relax before or
after their appearances. It is a waiting room or lounge for the use of performers when they are
offstage.

PLOT:
Plot is the sequence of connected events that make up a narrative in a novel and
drama. Generally, a plot in fiction builds up to a climax and ends in a resolution at the finish
of the story.

SETTING:
Setting is the time, place, and duration of a story, play, or novel. A reader responds to
the atmosphere or mood of the setting. The setting is usually conveyed by narrative
description, but it may also be established through character description or dialogue. In
drama, setting is established by stage sets and dialogue.

ANTAGONIST:
An antagonist in literature is usually a character or a group of characters that oppose
the story’s main character, who is known as the protagonist. The antagonist is always the
basic source or cause of the conflict in the story. Eg. Iago in Othello, Lady Macbeth in
Macbeth, Cassius in Julius Caesar.