The Study of Literature

Module II (Part 2)

Pramod Subedi
M.A.& M.Ed. (English), L.L.B.
Teaching Assistant
Mid-Western University
(Bageshwari Multiple Campus, Kohalpur)
M.Phil. (English Education) Scholar
Nepal Open University
NELTA Life member and Executive member
(NELTA, Banke)
Former Access Instructor (English Access Micro-scholarship Program)
Alumni facilitator (AE E-Teacher Course)
 Module II
The study of The study of drama and
Prose/ fiction theatre
-
The essay -
The dramatic art
Dramatic types (tragedy and comedy, tragic-
The novel comedy, farce and melodrama, the masque,
the one-act-play, the dramatic monologue)
The short story - Dramatic devices (dramatic irony, soliloquy
Biography and aside, expectation and surprise, stage
directions)
Autobiography - Origin of English drama
Criticism - Origin of English theatre
- Shakespearean drama (Shakespearean
Style comedy, Shakespearean tragedy,
Shakespearean Romance, Shakespeare’s
English historical plays, Shakespeare’s
Roman plays)
 Division of literary genres
Words used to create imaginary person and events.

Story play
Words addressed directly (narration) (interaction) Words overheard by the readers
To the readers

Essay poem
(Persuasion) (Meditation)

Words used to express ideas and feelings

The dramatic art
 Drama is one of the oldest forms of art composed
for theatrical performance- specifically to perform
on a stage before the spectator and audiences.
 Drama comes from a Greek word that means
‘things done’. Drama is a fiction acted out rather
than narrated.
 Drama is a make-believe that presents us direct
presentation of imaginative reality.
 Drama is a work written to be performed by actors
on stage.
 Drama is a narrative art composed for
spectators/audience.
The dramatic art
 Two things are base of drama: dialogue and
performance – for dramatic effect.
 Drama is an artificial representation of life. Story of
a play can be original or taken from other sources.
 Playwright is a great artist who is responsible for
anything happened on the stage. To make
audience spellbound he/she plays a trick.
 Unique genre due to direct representation. Drama
presents real people on stage but in fact they are
representatives of imaginary characters.
 Characters develop plot through dialogue and
action.
The dramatic art
 Paradox of drama: can be read and witnessed.
 Aristotle purposed six elements for a play: character,
action, thought, language, music and spectacle.
 The fictional world of play is brought to life in the theatre
by spectacle. Theatrical performance depends on the
power of spectacle.
 Spectacle means all the sight and sound of performance.
Setting, dressing, pops, blocking, movement, gesture,
intonation and pacing are various elements to make the
total spectacle
 Text of drama is the script of performance. So while
reading a play we should create an imaginative theatre of
our mind. We should read the text as a script for
performance.
The dramatic types
 Drama is the imitation of the real world. But it is
not the actual imitation because there is the
limitation of stage size and performance time.
 So, the dramatist reduces the world than its real
size. He/she emphasizes on the patterns and also
includes the human experience.
 By watching the drama on the stage we can guess
how the dramatist focused on the beautiful and
ugly on the orderly or chaotic world.
 When the dramatist shows beautiful and orderly it
is the ideal vision of the world. If the world is
shown chaotic and ugly, it can be satire .
In contrast to the extreme condition of romance and satire,
the world is neither so beautiful as the romance nor so ugly
as that of satire.
In the comedies and tragedies, the dramatist presents the
character's life style and his victory and downfall at the end.
Romance

(Beauty)

(Orderly)

Comedy Tragedy

(Integrative) (Disintegrative)

Satire

(Ugliness)

(Chaotic)
Tragedy and Comedy
 Tragedy and comedy are the two modes of drama.
Tragedy usually ends in death or mourning,
comedy in marriage or dancing.
 Tragedies expose the sorrow and the comedy
shows the joy. Tragedy moves tear, comedy makes
us laugh. Tragedy is serious where as comedy is
humorous.
 These both modes are related to the primitive
rituals. Tragedy came from rituals of sacrifices,
comedy came from rituals of celebration. Every
tragedy contains potential comedy and every
comedy contains potential tragedy.
Tragedy
 Aristotle defines tragedy as the imitation of an
action that is serious, complete in it self. It
presents the effect of catharsis of the emotion.
 Aristotle considers plot to be the most important
element or the ‘soul’ of tragedy.
 He talks about the three unities: unity of time,
place and action.
 There he gives the importance to the tragic
character who is virtuous having high reputation
for example, Othello, King Lear, Oedipus Rex.
These all are the tragic heroes. Reversal and
discovery are then crucial elements of tragedy
Tragedy
 The tragedy is presented in the form of action, not
narrative. It will arouse pity and fear in the
audience as it witnesses the action.
 It allows for an arousal of this pity and fear and
creates an affect of purgation or catharsis of these
strong emotions by the audience.
 Concept of
 Tragic flaw
Hubris
Catharsis
Comedy
 Comedy always manages to bring about a happy
turn of elements. At the end of the play we can
see the reunion, meeting, dancing and happiness.
It has the sprit of spring.
 Comedy is derived from the Greek word “komodia’
meaning revel (celebration)
c song. Generally, the
social event, human relationship, culture and
tradition can be taken as the theme of comedies.
 Comedies were also mostly written by
Shakespeare and other dramatist during the
Victorian Age. Every comedy contains potential
tragedy and vice versa.
Comedy
 In comedy there is absence of pain and emotional
reactions, and a replaced use of human intellect.
 The behavior of the characters presented in
comedy is ludicrous and sometimes absurd and the
result in the audience is correction of behaviors.
 The types of comedies can vary greatly; there are
situation comedies, romantic comedies,
sentimental comedies, dark comedies, comedy of
manners, and pure farce.
 The comic devices used by playwrights of comedy
are: exaggeration, incongruity, surprise, repetition,
wisecracks, and sarcasm.
Tragicomedy
 The blend or mixture of tragedy and comedy,
sorrow and happiness and winter and spring is
called tragicomedy.
 Almost all elements are of tragedy but it ends with
union or happy ending is called tragicomedy.
 All the plots, character, action, setting are
appropriate for tragedy but the unexpected change
at the end makes the drama comedy.
 The combination of tragedy and comedy makes a
play tragicomedy.
 Action & plot of a play lead to a tragic catastrophe
but unexpected event bring happy ending.
Tragicomedy
 Love is often the central part of such dramas.
 There is no clear-cut distinction of tragedy
and comedy. Human life is itself uncertain
which the fundamental sources of
tragicomedy are.
 The modern plays are mostly written in this
form. Shakespeare works ' The Merchant of
Venice' as a tragedy where the play seems to
bring tragic end but at the last scene, there is
happy ending.
Farce
 A farce is a comedy that aims at entertaining
the audience through situations that are
highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus
improbable.
 Farce is also characterized by physical humor,
the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense,
and broadly stylized performances.
 It is also often set in one particular location,
where all events occur. Farces have been
written for the stage and film.
Farce
 The term farce is derived from the French
word for "stuffing", in reference to
improvisations applied by actors to
medieval religious dramas.
 Later forms of this drama
c
were performed as
comical interludes during the 15th and 16th
centuries.
Melodrama
 Melodrama is drama of disaster and differs
from tragedy significantly, in that; forces
outside of the protagonist cause all of the
significant events of the plot.
 All of the aspects of related guilt or
responsibility of the protagonist is removed.
 The protagonist is usually a victim of
circumstance. He is acted upon by the
antagonist or anti-hero and suffers without
having to accept responsibility and
inevitability of fate.
Melodrama
 In melodrama we have clearly defined
character types with good guys and bad guys
identified.
 Melodrama has a sense of strict moral
judgment. All issues presented
c in the plays
are resolved in a well-defined way.
 The good characters are rewarded and the
bad characters are punished in a means that
fits the crime.
Masque
 Masque is a form of dramatic writing and
production featuring poetry, music, and
dance, popular in 17th-century England,
especially in court circles.
 In the masque, the actors
c wore masks and
usually represented allegorical or mythical
characters. (The use of masks in drama
originated in ancient Greece; their use in
masques was part of the classical revival of
the Renaissance.)
Masque
 Actors spoke, sang, and danced on
allegorical or mythological subjects in the
disguising, which was known from the early
15th century in Italy. The most important
development added by c
the masque was
audience participation in the dances.
 The formal court masque was introduced in
1512, during the reign of King Henry VIII of
England. During the reign of James I, the
masque became the most popular form of
drama.
Masque
 The literary form was greatly improved, and
a fine lyric style introduced and perfected by
the English playwright and poet Ben Jonson,
who wrote many works in this genre.
c
One-act-play
 A one act play is exactly what it states it is,
just one act. It’s like just playing one track
instead of the entire CD.
 One acts are obviously plays that only have a
single act, it may have only one scene or
many within the one act.
 These shorter plays are easy to perform,
don’t require a lot of costume changes, and
are inexpensive to produce.
 Most of these plays look at issues with a new
view, and are more modernized.
Dramatic monologue
 Dramatic monologue is a poem written in the form of
a speech of an individual character.
 It compresses into a single vivid scene.
 Dramatic monologue means self-conversation, speech or
talks which includes interlocutor presented dramatically.
 In literature, it is a poetic form or a poem that presents
the speech or conversation of a person in a dramatic
manner.
 Features of dramatic monologue
A single person delivering a speech on one aspect of his life
The audience may or may not be present
Speaker reveals his temperament and character only through
his speech
Dramatic Devices
Dramatic Irony occurs when the reader knows a secret, but
the characters in a play or work of fiction do not. Therefore,
the words or actions of a character carry a special meaning
for the reader, but are understood differently by the
character. The characters are blind to facts, but the reader is
not.
Soliloquy is a speech given by a character in a play when the
speaker is alone. This is presented to inform the audience or
reader of what is happening in the mind of a character and to
give information about the action of the play.
Aside is a speech made by an actor DIRECTLY TO THE
AUDIENCE, but seemingly to himself or herself. It is always a
true reflection of the characters’ thoughts. Its function is to
reveal character.
Dramatic Devices
Stage Direction: A playwright's descriptive or interpretive
comments that provide readers (as well as actors and
directors) with information about the dialogue, setting, and
action of a play. Modern playwrights tend to include
substantial stage directions, while earlier playwrights typically
use them more sparsely, implicitly, or not at all.
Elements of drama
Dialogue:
 Dialogue refers to the conversation between two or more
people. It is the fundamental element of drama. It is used to
express the event or to move the action forward.
 It advances action, it identifies the character and their roles. It
gives the impression of naturalness.
 Dialogue is supported by physical action.
 Audience overhear what the characters talk. Sometimes it is in
the form of soliloquy or aside.
 Aside is heard by the audience not by the other characters on
the stage. Soliloquy is delivered while the character is alone
about the state of his mind.
 It is a script for theatrical production. It can tells us about the
character about the character speaking, the character listening,
gesture etc. It can tells us about the relation among characters
and the off stage events too.
Elements of drama
Plot:
Plot means the movement of the story or process of change
in human situation it is the systematic arrangement of the
story. There is the conflict at the heart of plot either it is a
dramatic plot or chronological plot.
Plot is the framework of a drama. It is the planned series of
interrelated incidents that make up the story being told.
They are arranged in logically, orderly and the sequence
moves to climax and denouement. In a plot, there are
following elements:
 Preliminary situation (Exposition)
 The inciting force
 The rising action
 The climax
 The falling action
 The denouement
Plot:
In the dramatic plot every events are carefully organized in
a pattern or process. It is deliberately selected and arranged
to create the theatrical effect.
So it is an extremely artificial element. Plot comprises
everything that takes place in the imaginative world of a
play.
It includes off stage and on stage action, reported as well as
represented. The on stage action is called a scenario.
According to Aristotle, plot is the heart of a play. The plot
must have some sort of unity and clarity by setting up a
pattern by which each action initiating the next rather than
standing alone without connection to what came before it
or what follows. In the plot of a play, characters are
involved in conflict that has a pattern of movement.
Elements of drama
Character:
 Character is a dramatic being known by name, words
and deeds. They are not the real people but they are
endowed with human capacity.
 They experience pleasure and endure pain. They feel
and act on their feelings, they believe and they act on
their beliefs.
 Characters in a play are like a real people, but not
entirely identical to the people in real life.
 Characters exist in the imaginative world shaped by the
theatrical context and imitative purpose of drama.
 In the classical Greek theatre, characters are defined
with the fixed expression of his/her facial mask.
Elements of drama
Character:
 Modern drama tends to focus much on the character. In
Miss Julie, it is highly focused on character. By analyzing
what the character says and deeds, we can find out the
truth.
 To analyze character, we should keep in mind the theatrical
context. They are taken as a real people, not as the
Aristotelian concept of tragic hero.
 Characters are reveled from dialogue and plot. These are
the people presented in the play that are involved in the
perusing plot.
 Each character should have their own distinct personality,
age, appearance, beliefs, socio economic background, and
language
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 The origin of English drama seems vague. There is no
certain evidence proving its origin.
 However, it can be traced back from century of
succeeding Norman Conquest to England on 1066. Many
historians believe that drama came to England along with
them.
 There was information that when the Roman where in
England, they established vast amphi theatre for
production some plays, but when they left, the theatre
was gone with them
 Originally, the term drama came from Greek word
meaning “action” or “to act” or “to do”.
 William J. Long argues that “drama is an old story told in
the eye, a story put into action by living performers”.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 Drama is the form of composition design for performance
in the theatre, in which the actors take role for certain
characters, perform certain action and utter certain
dialogues (Abrams and Harpham, 2015:95).
 In England, drama had a distinctly religious origin from the
church as the part of services.
 Apart from its origin, the Latin Church had condemned
Roman theatre for many reasons. Thus, drama could not
develop until tenth century when the church began to use
dramatic elements as part of their services in the certain
festival or ritual. The motives of the church began to use
dramatic elements seem unclear. But, it was certain that
the purpose was didactic, that is, to give deep
understanding about the truth of their religion to the
believer.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 The oldest existing church drama was “Quem Quarritis”
trope (whom are you seeking), when the three Marrys
visited the empty tomb of Christ and met angel. Their
conversation with angel consists of four sentences in
Latin then adapted and performed by the clergy in very
simple performance. This simple beginning gradually
grew more elaborate. This drama called liturgical drama,
in which the story simply taken from the scripture.
 The earlier play were given inside the church, the story
were written by the clergy and performed by the clergy
using Latin language. However, drama were not
performed in all churches, only in certain cathedrals and
monasteries where there were enough clergy to perform
the plays.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 From the liturgical, drama evolved
to Miracle and Mystery play. In France, Miracle
used to represent the life of the saints and
Mystery used to represent any scene taken from
the scripture. Meanwhile in England, there was no
distinction between this two. The term Miracle
play was used to represent any story taken from
the scripture or the bible and the life of the saints.
 The Miracle play attracted so many people and
increased its popularity. The plays were before
given inside the church began to move to the
porch then to the churchyards.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 But when the plays began interfere the church services
and had become too elaborate, the scandalized priest
forbade the play in the church. By the thirteenth century,
the Miracle play began move outside the church.
 After the Miracle play move outside the church, the
secular organization or town guilds began to take
responsibility in its production. Few changes were made
during this period.
 By the fourteenth and fifteenth century, the plays were
given in vernacular or local language. The actors were no
longer clergy but the amateur actors which trained and
selected carefully.
 The plays were given in the series of mansion in the town
square. The plays were performed o moving platform
called pageants.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 The stage were divide into three parts; hell, earth and heaven. Hell
in the left side, earth in the center and heaven in the right side.
 Usually the stages were identified by certain props. For
instance, the head of dragon with red jaws or monstrous
mouth with fire breathing represent hell where the devil
characters will be dragged to the hell.
 The idea of salvation and damnation which later adopted in
Dr. Faustus was inherited from this period. The costumes
were distinguish in three realms; heaven, earth and hell.
 The heavenly characters such as God, angels, saints or
certain Biblical character wore the church garments with
certain accessories. The earthly characters wore the
contemporary medieval garment appropriate to their rank.
Meanwhile, for devil character wore black garments with
wings, animals claws, beaks, horns or tails.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 The Miracle plays were presented in all large town
city in England. It was arranged to exhibit the
whole story from creation to the Day of Judgment
in a cycle.
 There were four famous cycle existed in England.
The York with 48 plays, the Chester with 25 plays,
the Wakefield with 32 plays and the Coventry with
42 plays.
 During this religious period drama were written
according to the Bible and no change was
tolerated. This religious performances lasted till
the sixteenth century.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 The later development of drama was Morality
play. it is a dramatization of personified
abstraction generally vice against virtue.
 In these plays, the character were allegorical
personified such as death, sin, good and bad
angel, seven deadly sins, etc.
 The purpose of this drama was didactic, to give
moral lesson to the audience. The morality plays
generally ended with the virtue win against the
evil.
 The examples of morality plays are “Everyman”.
 The introduction of Morality play also introduce
so called “interlude”
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 Interlude is the short version of morality play.
 Generally interludes were given during break of
the scene. It was a short stage entertainment in a
sense of humor and was considered as the
forerunner of comedies.
 The example of interlude was “The Four P’s” by
John Heywood which performed around 1497.
 The final stage of the evolution of English drama
was the artistic period. In this period, the purpose
of the pay was not to point out a moral but to
represent human life as it is. During this period,
English drama was influenced by classical drama.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 The first comedy was “Ralph Roister Doister” by Nicholas
Udall on 1556. The play divided into acts and scenes and
wrote in rhyming couplets. This first comedy had become
the model and predecessor of English comedies.
 The first tragedy “Gorboduc” by Thomas Sackville and
Thomas Northon around 1562. It was written in blank
verse and divided into acts and scenes.
 After this era, the English drama developed gradually into
regular form of drama which flourish during Elizabethan
reign and which known till today.
 Therefore, English drama gradually develop from the
liturgical drama to Miracle and Mystery plays, continuously
to Morality and interlude followed by the influence of
classical model and finally evolve to the regular drama
forms which known till today.
 THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH THEATRE
 For an audience, drama is one of the most powerful
artistic experiences, because even as a member of the
audience we become a part of the action that unfolds. (A
mysterious phenomena)
 When we see a play today, we are usually seated in a
darkened theatre looking at the lighted stage.
 But, Greek plays took place outdoors during the morning
and the afternoon.
 Most Elizabethan plays were staged outdoor in the
afternoon.
 In the Renaissance, some plays began to be staged
indoors with ingenious (cleverness of construction)
system of lightning that involved candles and reflections.
 THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH THEATRE
In the early 19th Century, most theatres used gaslight
onstage. And electricity was used in the late 19th
century.
In most large theatres today computerized lightning
boards have been used.
Seeing a play has been drastically different from the
Greek and Elizabethan time.
Today though darkness isolates us, we instantly
respond when others in the audience laugh, when
they gasp, when they shift restlessly.
While seeing a play onstage, we become the part of a
larger community drawn together by theatre and that
we are all involved in the dramatic experience.
1. Early Greek Theatre:
 The open arena style of the early Greeks brought
the audience into special kind of intimacy with the
actors.
The actors came very close to the first row of seats.
The actor’s whisper on stage were audible in the
rear seats, too.
They had a very rigid seat planning. The officials
and nobility sat in special seats.
Each section of the theatre was given over to
specific families, with the edges of the seating area
devoted to travellers and strangers to the town.
Such system gave the community a sense of order.
2. Medieval Theatre
 This theatre also gave its audience as sense of community as
it used playing areas called mansions inside the churches.
 Medieval theatre repeated the same cycles of plays again and
again for about 200 years, to the delight of many European
communities. It reflects something about the stability of
those communities. Their dramas were integrated with their
religion. Both of these characteristics helped them to express
their sense of belonging to the church and the community.
 In some medieval performances the actors came into the
audience, breaking the sense of distance or the illusion of
separation. Some plays were performed on pageant on
wheels.
 They made their plays as exciting and as much involving as
possible.
3. Elizabethan Playhouse
 The Elizabethan playhouse was a wooden structure
providing an enclosed space around a country open to
the sky.
 The audience was seated somewhat by social status, as
in Greek theatre.
 Around the stage stood the groundlings who paid least;
and in covered galleries sat patrons who paid extra for
a seat.
 Actors spoke directly to the audience and the audience
rarely kept a polite silent.
 It was a busy humming theatre that generated intimacy
and involvement between actors and audience.
4. Restoration Playhouse
The Restoration spectacular, or elaborately staged
"machine play", hit the London public stage in the
late 17th-century Restoration period, enthralling
audiences with action, music, dance, moveable
scenery, baroque illusionistic painting, gorgeous
costumes, and special effects such as trapdoor
tricks, "flying" actors, and fireworks.
Basically home-grown and with roots in the early
17th-century court masque, though never
ashamed of borrowing ideas and stage technology
from French opera, the spectaculars are sometimes
called "English opera".
5. Neoclassical Theatre
Neoclassicism was the dominant form of theatre in
the 18th century. It demanded decorum and
rigorous adherence to the classical unities.
The costumes and scenery were intricate and
elaborate. The acting is characterized by large
gestures and melodrama.
Theatres of the early 18th century – sexual farces of
the Restoration were superseded by politically
satirical comedies, 1737 Parliament passed the
Stage Licensing Act which introduced state
censorship of public performances and limited the
number of theatres in London to two.
6. The Theatre of 19th Century
 Theatre of 19th century is known as proscenium stage.
The stage distanced the audience from the play
 Proscenium is the stage area between the curtain
and the orchestra.
Such detachment is effective for plays that demand
a high degree of realism because the proscenium is
to make the audience feel it is witnessing the action
as a silent observer.
 This stage gives the illusion that the actors are in a
world of their own, unaware of the audience’s
presence.
7. 20th Century Theatre
 In the 20th century, some of the virtues of the Greek arena
theatre (Theatre in the Round)were rediscovered.
 In this century, Antonik Artaudin , the French actor and
director, came up with the concept of ‘the theatre of cruelty’,
which essentially closed gap between the actor and audience.
One of the purpose of doing so is to make the audience feel
uncomfortable and force them to deal with the primary
issues of the drama itself.
 20th century Theatre is elastic, that is, it is made up of things
that is selected from various sources. For example, it uses
thrust, arena, proscenium and every kind of stage already
described.
 Some contemporary theatre also converted non-theatrical
space (warehouse or city streets) into space for performance.
Shakespearean Drama/ Essay on "Shakespeare as the Greatest English Dramatist."

I, therefore, will begin. Soul of the age!

The applause! delight! the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie
A little further, to make thee a room:
Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live,
And we have wits to read, and praise to give.
...
Triumph, my Britain! Thou hast one to show,
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
- Ben Jonson
Shakespearean Drama/ Essay on "Shakespeare as the Greatest English Dramatist."

Ben Jonson one of the bitter critics may have scorned

much of the dramatic work of the time, but not Shakespeare's;
rather, he gave his tribute to Shakespeare in his poetic lines. So, it
helps us to understand that Shakespeare is the greatest
Elizabethan dramatist who remained always at the top in English
literature. Though he has written works of other genres also he
mastered in drama and became popular by it. He has written
comedies, tragedies, historical plays and romances.
Shakespeare began his career as a dramatist through his
historical plays, such as; Henry VI, Richard III and Richard II. Apart
from them later on he wrote some other historical plays also. They
are Henry IV and Henry V. Some of his historical plays deal with
the weak points of the king whereas some others deal with the
kingly strength. These plays are written as guides to kings of
England. They express Shakespeare's love for his country, England.
Shakespearean Drama/ Essay on "Shakespeare as the Greatest English Dramatist."

Shakespeare wrote many comedies. His first

comedy was A Comedy of Errors which is a story on
the likeness of twin and the likeness of their twin
servants. There comes much confusion. As You Like It,
Twelfth Night, etc. are his well-known comedies. The
characters are romantic with the spirit of love.
Romeo and Juliet is the first of Shakespeare's
great tragedies. It is a love tragedy of Romeo and
Juliet. They are very true and honest lovers. But their
families are enemies. Therefore, they had to be
separated from each other. At last they kill
themselves at the same place.
Shakespearean Drama/ Essay on "Shakespeare as the Greatest English Dramatist."
Shakespeare is indeed very famous for his four great
tragedies that include: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth. In
Hamlet, the ghost of the dead father appears to his son Hamlet
and says that he was murdered by Claudius, Hamlet's uncle.
Claudius has become the king and has married Hamlet's mother.
Hamlet decides to take revenge, but thinks too much about it and
hesitates when he gets chance. He cannot take revenge in time.
Therefore, though he becomes successful to kill his uncle, he also
gets killed at the end.
King Lear is about an old king Lear. King Lear has three
daughters. The two elder daughters flatter him but the youngest
daughter tells him the truth but loves him very much. King Lear
becomes blind in flattery. So, he gives his kingdom to the two evil
elder daughters, and nothing to the youngest daughter. At last he
is thrown out of his home by those wicked daughters. He becomes
almost mad and dies after realizing his mistake.
Shakespearean Drama/ Essay on "Shakespeare as the Greatest English Dramatist."
Similarly, Macbeth is about the ambitious Macbeth and his wife,
Lady Macbeth. Because of their ambition for power they kill many
people, become the king and queen at last face their tragic death.
Othello is about a brave soldier Othello who has a beautiful wife,
Desdemona. Iago, the villain makes Othello believe that Desdemona is
in love with another man. Othello believes this and kills Desdemona.
When he knows the reality he stabs himself and dies. Apart from these
tragedies Shakespeare has written 3 Roman tragedies based on Roman
historical events. They are: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and
Coriolanus. All of them are about the ancient Rome and the Roman
kings, queens, soldiers or people. In his tragedies, Shakespeare shows
the fatal weakness of character, and the tragic course of events (fates)
which lead a hero to his tragic end.
The main last plays of Shakespeare are usually called romances.
Among them Tempest is the last which deals with the story of politics.
There is a good mixture of all dramatic qualities strengthened by his
brilliant dramatic talent.
Shakespearean Drama/ Essay on "Shakespeare as the Greatest English Dramatist."

The dramas of Shakespeare truly represent

Renaissance spirit. His plays are about 'humanity' and 'human
qualities'. Some of them are about the theme of tragic flaw;
some are about the historical and political events, whereas
some others are about the theme of love. His plays show the
human beings quest for knowledge and power, their spirit of
adventure etc. Shakespeare gave varieties of taste of dramas
and dramatic qualities and proved himself as the greatest
literary figure in English literature never challenged.
Shakespeare, hence, is called the greatest English dramatist
not because of the number of plays he has written but
because of the incomparable dramatic genius and immense
knowledge he has shown in them.
Shakespearean Drama/Shakespeare's Comedy
Comedy is not necessarily what a modern audience would
expect comedy to be. Whilst there may be some funny
moments, a Shakespearean comedy may involve some very
dramatic storylines. Usually what defines a Shakespearean play
as a comedy is that it has a happy ending, often involving a
marriage. The main characteristics in Shakespeare's Comedies
are:
 A struggle of young lovers to overcome problems, often the
result of the interference of their elders
 There is some element of separation and reunification
 Mistaken identities, often involving disguise
 A clever servant
 Family tensions that are usually resolved in the end
 Complex, interwoven plot-lines
 Frequent use of puns and other styles of comedy
Shakespearean Drama/Shakespeare's Comedy
The Shakespearean plays which are usually classed as
Comedy are:
• The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, All's Well That Ends
Well, The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew, The Winter's Tale,
As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Love's Labours Lost, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, The Two Gentlemen of Verona,
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Measure for Measure, Much
Ado About Nothing, Pericles, Prince of Tyre and The Two
Noble Kinsmen.
Shakespearean Drama/ Shakespearean Tragedy
Tragedies may involve comedic moments, but tend towards
more serious, dramatic plots with an ending that involves the death
of main characters. The main features of a Shakespearean Tragedy
are that:
 Characters become isolated or there is social breakdown
 Ends in death
 There is a sense that events are inevitable or inescapable
 There is usually a central figure who is noble but with a character
flaw which leads them towards their eventual downfall
The plays which are generally classed as Shakespearean
Tragedy are: Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Titus Andronicus,
Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, Othello, Coriolanus, King Lear,
Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens and Cymbeline (this is
debated, with some scholars classifying it as a Comedy)
Shakespearean Drama/Shakespeare's Histories
Shakespeare's Histories focus on English monarchs. They usually
play upon Elizebethan propaganda, showing the dangers of civil
war and glorifying the queen's Tudor ancestors. The depictions
of monarchs including Richard III (an enemy of the Tudors) and
Henry V (one of the great Tudor monarchs) have been
influential in creating a perception of these kings which has
persisted throughout the centuries. Many historians point to
inaccuracies in the depictions, but the plays have been very
powerful in presenting a particular image which it is hard for
many people to see past.
The Histories are: King John, Richard II, Henry IV (parts I and II),
Henry V, Henry VI (parts I, II and III), Richard III and Henry VIII.
The plays, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra
are classified both as Tragedies and as Roman Histories.
Shakespearean Drama/Shakespeare's Romance Plays
"Romance" was not a generic classification in
Shakespeare's time. The modern term "romance" refers to a
new kind of play, a hybrid of comic and tragic elements.
Shakespeare took on this genre at the end of his career with:
The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline, and Pericles
 Romance plays are sometimes called tragi-comedies because they
combine elements of those two genres.
 Plots of romances involve a tragic event that leads to reconciliation or
restoration and forgiveness.
 However, the endings are always muted happiness as opposed to the
“pure” happiness of a comedy.
 Plots usually focus on the whole human community and healing rifts.
 Finally, the plots of romances always contain supernatural elements.
 Characters are either larger than life or one-dimensional
Shakespearean Drama/Shakespeare's Roman Plays
What the Roman plays have in common is that they are
all set in ancient Rome and that their source is the Roman
historian, Plutarch. The plays all explore power. They also
examine things like loyalty, war, love, friendship, and honor.
Another feature of the Roman plays is that it was customary in
Shakespeare’s time to use Roman costume on the stage to re-
enforce the impression that we are in Rome. Usually, costume
wasn’t an important issue: the characters came on dressed in
contemporary clothes, for the most part, although social class
was depicted by purple and gold for kings, the right kind of
material for the nobility, and merchant and peasant dress
accordingly. the plays generally called Roman plays are:
Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Titus
Andronicus
Thank You!