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PLAYWRIGHT

HOW DRAMA is SIMILAR AND DIFFERENT FROM :

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PROSE

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Both makes use of plot, characters, themes, arouses emotional responses,

and may be either literary or commercial.

POETRY

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Both may draw upon all the resources of language, including verse.
Much drama is poetry, but drama has a peculiar characteristic wich is that it’s written
to be performed, not read.
It nomally present it’s actions (1) through actors (2) on a stage (3) before an audience
 POINTS of POWER.

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It’s impact is direct and immediate.

: It’s got the audience’s full attention, so the playwright has extraordinary means
by which to command it
3 It presents the character’s looks, it’s movements, and what it says all at once
4 The experience is interpreted by actors who may be highly skilled in rendering
nuances of meaning and strong emotions. Through facial expressions,
gestures, speech rhythm, and intonation, they may be able to make a
speaker’s words more expressive than can a reader’s unaided imagination.
The performance of a play by skilled actors expertly directed gives the

56 playwright a tremendous source of power.

The communal experience it makes

LIMITATIONS

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It has only one point of view which is the OBJECTIVE or DRAMATIC pov,

: They cannot directly comment on the action or the characters.

It has two devices to reveal the character’s thoughts, Soliloquy and Aside.
Characters speaking in soliloquy or in aside are always presumed to be telling the
truth, to the extent that they know the truth. Both devices can be used very
effectively in the theatre, but they interrupt the action and are therefore used
sparingly.

soliloquy : Presenting the characters as speaking to themselves.

Aside :
The characters turn from the persons with whom they they are
conversing to speak directly to the audience, to let them know
what they are really thinking or feeling as opposed to what they
pretend to be thinking or feeling.
3 The kind of materials a playwright can use on a stage is limited

They cannot easily use materials in which the main interest is in unspoken
thoughts and reflections
They cannot present complex actions that involves nonhuman creatures
such as attacking lions or charging bulls.

4 They find it difficult to shift scenes rapidly.

5 The events they depict must be of a magnitude appropriate the stage.

SCENE DIVIDERS

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Greek Plays

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Dancing and chanting by a chorus
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Closing and opening or raising and dropping the curtains

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Relies on electrical technology. Darkening and illuminating the stage, or

darkening one part while lighting up another
 REALISTIC AND NON REALISTIC DRAMA

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Drama be realistic or non realistic in mode of production and content

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In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century productions, an effort

was made to make stage sets as realistic as possible. If the play called for
a setting in a study, there had to be realbook shelves on the wall and real
books on them.
On the other hand, plays have been performed on bare stages with little
more than platforms and a few props.

COMEDY AND TRAGEDY

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ARISTOTLE : Discussed tragedy in his book “POETICS” and dominated critical
thought ever since

TRAGEDY

Is the imitation in dramatic form of an action that is serious and complete, with
incidents arousing pity and fear with which it effects a catharsis of such emotions
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 The language used is pleasurable and appropriate
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LANGUAGE :
throughout to the situation

The chief characters are noble personages

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CHIEF CHARACTERS :
(“better than ourselves”)

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ACTIONS : The actions they perform are noble actions

Involves a change in the protagonist’s fortune, in which he

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PLOT :
usually falls from happiness to misery

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PROTAGONIST : Though not perfect, is hardly a bad person

a criminal act committed in ignorance to some

His misfortune results from HAMARTIA :
material fact or even for the sake of a greater good

Has organic unity : the events follow each other because

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TRAGIC PLOT :
of one another ( by cause and effect )

The best tragic plots involve a REVERSAL ( a change from one state of things
within the play to its opposition )

Or a DISCOVERY ( a change from ignorance to knowledge )

Or both
 THE TRAGIC HERO

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: Aristotle’s reference to the tragic protagonist :

1 The tragic hero is a man of noble stature

He is great not primarily by virtue but by his possession of extraordinary powers,

: by qualities of passion or aspiration or nobility of mind.

The tragic hero’s kingship is also a symbol of his initial good fortune, the mark
of his high position. If the hero’s fall is to arouse in us the emotions of pity and
fear, it must be a fall from a height

2 The tragic hero is good, though not perfect

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His fall results from committing what aristotle calls hamartia ( an act of justice ) this
act, nevertheless, is a criminal one, and the hero is still responsible for it, even if he
is totally unaware of its criminality and is acting out of the best intentions

The tragic flaw : some fault of character such as inordinate ambition,

quickness to anger, a tendency to jealousy.

3 The tragic hero’s downfall is his own fault

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The combination of the hero’s greatness and his responsibility for his own downfall is
what entitles us to describe his downfall as tragic other than as merely pathetic.
 4 The hero’s misfortune is not wholly deserved

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The punishment exceeds the crime.
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We do not come away from tragedy with the feeling that “he got what he deserves”
but rather with the sad sense of a waste of a human potential.

5 The tragic fall is not pure loss

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Though it may result in the protagonist’s death, it involves some discovery before
his death.
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Often this increase in wisdom involves some sort of reconciliation with the
universe or with the protagonist’s situation. He exits not cursing his fate but
accepting it.
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Though it arouses solemn emotions -pity and fear-, tragedy does not leave you in a
state of depression, or leave you beaten down or dejected. Instead, there may be a
feeling almost of exhileration. This feeling is the response to the tragic action.

PLAYS ARE NAMED AFTER

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in TRAGEDY
Plays are named after their overpowering individuality

Exp: OTHELLO

in COMEDY

Plays are named after the type of the individuality

Exp: THE DOUBLE DEALER

 ORGANIC UNITY

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COMIC PLOTS are less likely than TRAGIC PLOTS to exhibit

the high degree of organic unity

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Unlikely coincidences, improbable disguises, mistaken identities, are things
that comedy is made of; and as long as they are making us laugh and at the
same time, help to illuminate human nature and human folly, we need not
greatly care.