Introduction of literature

“drama”

By

Futriayunengsi (17084014033)

Zulfimahtura s. achmad(17084014019)

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

MAKASSAR ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

MAKASSAR

2018
 Literature of drama

a. Definition of Drama
Drama is a mode of fictional representation through dialogue and performance. It is one of
the literary genres, which is an imitation of some action. Drama is also a type of a play
written for theater, television, radio, and film.

In simple words, a drama is a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime

or dialogue. It contains conflict of characters, particularly the ones who perform in front
of audience on the stage. The person who writes drama for stage directions is known as a
“dramatist” or “playwright.

b. What makes drama so dramatic ?

To make their plays dramatic, playwrights strive to progressively build the audience’s feelings of
tension and anticipation as the story develops. Dramatic tension builds as the audience keeps
wondering “What happens next?” and anticipating the outcomes of those events. In a mystery,
for example, dramatic tension builds throughout the plot until an exciting or unanticipated climax
is revealed.

Dramatic tension is all about keeping the audience guessing. In the ancient Greek
tragedy Oedipus the King, will Oedipus ever figure out that by killing his father and sleeping
with his mother he had caused the plague that destroyed his city, and what will he do about it if
he does? In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, will Prince Hamlet ever avenge his father’s death and get rid
of his pesky ghost and visions of floating daggers by murdering the play’s antagonist Claudius?

Dramas depend heavily on spoken dialogue to keep the audience informed about the characters’
feelings, personalities, motivations, and plans. Since the audience sees characters in a drama
living out their experiences without any explanatory comments from the author, playwrights
often create dramatic tension by having their characters deliver soliloquies and asides.

c. Types of drama
Let us consider a few popular types of drama:

 Comedy – Comedies are lighter in tone than ordinary works, and provide a
happy conclusion. The intention of dramatists in comedies is to make their audience
laugh. Hence, they use quaint circumstances, unusual characters, and witty remarks.
  Tragedy – Tragic dramas use darker themes, such as disaster, pain, and death.
Protagonists often have a tragic flaw — a characteristic that leads them to their downfall.
 Farce – Generally, a farce is a nonsensical genre of drama, which often overacts or
engages slapstick humor.
 Melodrama – Melodrama is an exaggerated drama, which is sensational and appeals
directly to the senses of the audience. Just like the farce, the characters are of a single
dimension and simple, or may be stereotyped.
 Musical Drama – In musical dramas, dramatists not only tell their stories through acting
and dialogue, but through dance as well as music. Often the story may be comedic,
though it may also involve serious subjects.

d. Classic example of comedy and tragedy

Perhaps no two plays better illustrate the juxtaposition of the masks of drama—comedy and
tragedy—than these two William Shakespeare classics.

Comedy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

In his romantic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare explores one of his
favorite themes—“love conquers all”—with a humorous twist. Due to a series of comical
and unpredictable situations, young couples keep falling in and out of love. As they struggle
with the foibles of love, their equally amusing real-world problems are magically resolved
by a mischievous sprite named Puck. In the very Shakespearian happy ending, old enemies
become fast friends and the true lovers are united to live happily ever after.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is cited as an example of how playwrights utilize the ageless
conflict between love and social convention as a source of humor.

Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet

Young lovers live anything but happily ever after in Shakespeare’s unforgettable
tragedy Romeo and Juliet. In what is still one of the most-performed plays in history, the
love between Romeo and Juliet is doomed by the raging feud between their families, the
Montagues and the Capulets.

The night before the star-crossed lovers are secretly married, Romeo kills Juliet's cousin in a
duel, and Juliet fakes her own death to avoid being forced by her parents to marry a family
friend. Unaware of Juliette’s plan, Romeo visits her grave and, believing she is dead, kills
himself. When she learns of Romeo’s death, Juliet truly does kill herself.

Through the technique of switching moods between hope and despair, Shakespeare creates
heartbreaking dramatic tension in Romeo and Juliet.
e. Function of drama

Drama is one of the best literary forms through which dramatists can directly speak to their
readers, or the audience, and they can receive instant feedback of audiences. A few
dramatists use their characters as a vehicle to convey their thoughts and values, such as poets
do with personas, and novelists do with narrators. Since drama uses spoken words and
dialogues, thus language of characters plays a vital role, as it may give clues to their
feelings, personalities, backgrounds, and change in feelings. In dramas the characters live
out a story without any comments of the author, providing the audience a direct presentation
of characters’ life experiences.

f. Element –element drama

1. The theme
The theme is main idea in drama story

2. The plot
The plot is storyline from the drama show starting in the first half to the last. The
plot are divided into three types :
- Forward plot
- Reserve plot
- Mixed plot

3. The drama character

The drama character consistof the main character and the supporting character.
The main character is called the prima donna while the supporting role is called
extrusion

4. The character
Character is the behavior played by the drama character. The character of the
protagonist is one type of character and the protagonist is of good character.
While the character of the antagonist is a bad character.

5. The background
The background is picture of the place of time and the situation that occurs in the
drama story that takes place.
 6. The massage of drama
Is themassage conveyed from the author of the drama story to the audience. The
massage of the drama can be conveyed through the role of the characters of the
drama.

g. Characteristics of drama texts

1. The whole story of the drama takes the form of dialogue, both characters and narrators.
This is the main feature in the dialogue script, all sayings are written in text.
2. Dialogue in drama does not use quotation marks (“…”). This is because drama dialogue
is not a direct sentence itself does not use question marks.
3. The drama script itself is equipped with a certain clue that must be done on the character
in question. The instructions are written in parentheses or you can also use letters that are
different from the letters in dialogue.
4. The drama script is located above the dialogue or beside the dialogue.
 References

https://www.thoughtco.com/drama-literary-definition-4171972

https://literarydevices.net/drama/

http:)//gopengertian.blogspot.com/2015/09/pengertian-drama-jenis-jenis-drama-unsur-unsur-
drama.html=1