DRAMA

Antagonist
A person or force which opposes the protagonist in a literary work. In Stephen
Vincent Benet's The Devil and Daniel Webster, Mr. Scratch is Daniel Webster's
antagonst at the trial of Jabez Stone. The cold, in Jack London's To Build a Fire is
the antagonist which defeats the man on the trail.

Aside

A device in which a character in a drama makes a short speech which is heard by the
audience but not by other characters in the play. In William Shakespeare's "Hamlet," the
Chamberlain, Polonius, confronts Hamlet. In a dialogue concerning Polonius' daughter,
Ophelia, Polonius speaks this aside:
How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter.
Yet he knew me not at first; 'a said I was a fishmonger.
'A is far gone. And truly in my youth I suffered much extremity for love,
very near this. I'll speak to him again.-

Catastrophe

The scene in a tragedy which includes the death or moral destruction of the protagonist.
In the catastrophe at the end of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King," Oedipus, discovering the
tragic truth about his origin and his deeds, plucks out his eyes and is condemned to spend
the rest of his days a wandering beggar. The catastrophe in Shakespearean tragedy occurs
in Act 5 of each drama, and always includes the death of the protagonist. Consider the
fates of Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Othello.

Climax

The decisive moment in a drama, the climax is the turning point of the play to which the
rising action leads. This is the crucial part of the drama, the part which determines the
outcome of the conflict. In Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" the climax occurs at the end of
Marc Antony's speech to the Roman public. In the climax to the film "Star Wars," the
empire's death star is ready to destroy the rebel base. Luke Skywalker and rebel pilots
attack the base, and after the deaths of some rebel pilots, Skywalker successfully fires his
missile into the death star's vulnerable spot and destroys the death star, saving the rebel
forces.

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Comedy

A literary work which is amusing and ends happily. Modern comedies tend to be funny,
while Shakespearean comedies simply end well. Shakespearean comedy also contains
items such as misunderstandings and mistaken identity to heighten the comic effect.
Comedies may contain lovers, those who interfere with lovers, and entertaining
scoundrels. In modern Situation Comedies, characters are thrown into absurd situations
and are forced to deal with those situations, all the while reciting clever lines for the
amusement of a live or television or movie audience.

Conclusion

Also called the Resolution, the conclusion is the point in a drama to which the entire play
has been leading. It is the logical outcome of everything that has come before it. The
conclusion stems from the nature of the characters. Therefore, the decision of Dr.
Stockmann to remain in the town at the conclusion of "An Enemy of the People" is
consistent with his conviction that he is right and has been right all along.
...I'll be hanged if we are going away! We are going to stay where we are, Katherine . . . This is
the field of battle ...this is where the fight will be. This is where I shall triumph!

Conflict

In the plot of a drama, conflict occurs when the protagonist is opposed by some person or
force in the play. In Henry Ibsen's drama "An Enemy of the People" Dr. Thomas
Stockmann's life is complicated by his finding that the public baths, a major source of
income for the community, are polluted. In trying to close the baths, the doctor comes
into conflict with those who profit from them, significantly, his own brother, the mayor of
the town.

Dialogue

In drama, a conversation between characters. One interesting type of dialogue,

stichomythia, occurs when the dialogue takes the form of a verbal duel between
characters, as in the following between Hamlet and his mother, Gertrude. (William
Shakespeare's "Hamlet" - Act 3, scene 4)
QUEEN: Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
HAMLET: Mother, you have my father much offended.
QUEEN: Come, Come, you answer with an idle tongue.
HAMLET: Go, Go, You question with a wicked tongue.

Exposition

In drama, the presentation of essential information regarding what has occurred prior to
the beginning of the play. In the exposition to William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet,"
two servants of the house of Capulet discuss the feud between their master and the house

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of Montague, thereby letting the audience know that such a feud exists and that it will
play an important role in influencing the plot.

Falling Action

The falling action is the series of events which take place after the climax. In
Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," Cinna, the poet, is mistaken for Cinna, the conspirator, and
killed; Antony and Octavius argue, Brutus and Cassius argue, the battle at Philippi is
agreed upon, and the ghost of Caeser appears to Brutus. In Ibsen's, "An Enemy of the
People," Dr. Thomas Stockmann has been declared an enemy of the people and he and
his family and supporters are harrassed by the townspeople. The Stockmanns decide to
leave the town. However, events occur which change Dr. Stockmann's mind about
leaving. The falling action of a drama leads to the conclusion.

Dramatic monologue

The term 'dramatic monologue' is now mainly used for a poetic form developed and
cultivated by Robert Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson. A dramatic monologue in this
sense has a speaker who is not the poet, and who delivers the poem in a clearly defined
communication situation. The speaker can be an historical or fictive person. The
"listener" can be another character who does not speak (as in Browning's My Last
Duchess), a group of characters (as in that poet's Fra Lippo Lippi), the speaker himself
(as in Tennyson's Ulysses), or the reader (as in Browning's Porphyria's Lover).

The speaker generally talks about a subject, but inadvertently reveals something about his
character. The dramatic monologue combines the dramatic impact of the stage
monologue with the potential of more elaborate and suggestive use of language; on the
printed page, where the words can be re-read and pondered, there is the potential to evoke
more complex layers of intent and meaning.

Twentieth-century dramatic monologues include T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred

Prufrock, Hugh MacDiarmid's A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, Ted Hughes' Hawk
Roosting, and John Ashbery's Daffy Duck in Hollywood.

Farce

A type of comedy based on a humorous situation such as a bank robber who mistakenly
wanders into a police station to hide. It is the situation here which provides the humor,
not the cleverness of plot or lines, nor the absurdities of the character, as in situational
comedy. Eugene Ionesco's "Les Chaises" (The Chairs), a one-act drama in which two old
people, isolated on an island prepare for visitors, is an example. The visitors are invisible,
but the stage fills with chairs to accomodate them. In the end, a deaf-mute narrator
"addresses" the couple.

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Foil

A character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison.
In Shakespeare's "Hamlet" Hamlet and Laertes are young men who behave very
differently. While Hamlet delays in carrying out his mission to avenge the death of his
father, Laertes is quick and bold in his challenge of the king over the death of his father.
Much can be learned about each by comparing and contrasting the actions of the two.

Foreshadowing

In drama, a method used to build suspense by providing hints of what is to come. In

Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," Romeo's expression of fear in Act 1, scene 4
foreshadows the catastrophe to come:

I fear too early; for my mind misgives

Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But He that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen.

Protagonist

The hero or central character of a literary work. In accomplishing his or her objective, the
protagonist is hindered by some opposing force either human (one of Batman's
antagonists is The Joker), animal (Moby Dick is Captain Ahab's antagonist in Herman
Melville's "Moby Dick"), or natural (the sea is the antagonist which must be overcome by
Captain Bligh in Nordhoff and Hall's "Men Against the Sea," the second book in the
trilogy which includes "Mutiny on the Bounty").

Resolution

The part of a story or drama which occurs after the climax and which establishes a new
norm, a new state of affairs-the way things are going to be from then on. Shakespeare's
"Romeo and Juliet" climaxes with the death of the two lovers. Their deaths resolve the
feud between the two families. In the play's resolution, Lords Capulet and Montague
swear to end their feud and build golden monuments to each other's dead child.

Rising Action

The part of a drama which begins with the exposition and sets the stage for the climax. In
a five-act play, the exposition provides information about the characters and the events
which occurred before the action of the play began. A conflict often develops between
the protagonist and an antagonist. The action reaches a high point and results in a climax,

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the turning point in the play. We discover in the exposition of Shakespeare's "Othello"
that the Moor, Othello, has married the Venetian maid, Desdamona. Her father objects
strenuously to the marriage. However, during those objections, a messenger informs the
Venetian council that the Turks are on their way to invade the island of Cypress. Othello,
who is sent with troops to defend the island, brings Desdamona with him, planning a
honeymoon to coincide with his military mission.
One of Othello's officers, Iago, plants a seed of doubt about Desdamona's faithfulness in
Othello's ear. This seed grows to the point where Othello becomes convinced that his
wife is having an affair with his lieutenant, Michael Cassio. The play climaxes with the
murder of Desdamona by Othello in a jealous rage.

Soliloquy

In drama, a moment when a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud. In
the line "To be, or not to be, that is the question:" which begins the famous soliloquy
from Act 3, scene 1 of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" Hamlet questions whether or not life is
worth living, and speaks of the reasons why he does not end his life. There are different
terms for monologues in plays. Although they are often used synonymously, they serve to
distinguish monologues with regard to the addressee.

If a speech is addressed to another person or group of people, it is called a

monologue.
If a speech is addressed to the speaker himself, it is called a soliloquy.

Playwrights such as Shakespeare and Goethe used the soliloquy to great effect in order to
reveal their characters' personal thoughts, emotions and motives without resorting to
third-person narration. Hamlet's "To be or not to be" speech may well be the most famous
soliloquy. There is a dramatic convention that soliloquies, like "asides" to the audience,
cannot necessarily be heard or noticed by the other characters, even if they are clearly
delivered within earshot.

Monologues can also be distinguished with regard to their frame of reference. A speech
addressed to a character or a group of characters within the play (including the speaker
himself) is called an interior monologue. A speech addressed to the audience is called an
exterior monologue. Sometimes a speech addressed to an absent character is also called
an exterior monologue. The 'interior monologue' in drama must not be confused with the
narrative device of the same name which often occurs in modernist prose fiction.

Theatre of the Absurd

A drama based on an absurd situation. In Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," two
characters spend the entire play waiting for someone named Godot, who is supposed to
solve their problems, but who never appears. Instead, Godot's servant appears, but only to

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tell the two that Godot will not appear that day. The waiting commences again and is only
broken by the occasional appearance of the servant who tells them that Godot will, once
again, not appear that day.
Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros" is another example.

Tragedy

According to A. C. Bradley, a tragedy is a type of drama which is pre-eminently the story

of one person, the hero. "Romeo and Juliet" and "Antony and Cleopatra" depart from this,
however, and we may view both characters in each play as one protagonist.
The story depicts the trouble part of the hero's life in which a total reversal of fortune
comes upon a person who formerly stood in high degree, apparently secure, sometimes
even happy.
The suffering and calamity in a tragedy are exceptional, since they befall a conspicuous
person, e. g., Macbeth is a noble at first, then a king; Hamlet is a prince; Oedipus is a
king. Moreover, the suffering and calamity spread far and wide until the whole scene
becomes a scene of woe. The story leads up to and includes the death (in Shakespearean
tragedy) or moral destruction (in Sophoclean tragedy) of the protagonist.