READING MATERIAL IN HUMSS #

I. Introduction
Drama as a literary genre is realized in performance, which is why Robert Di Yanni (quoted in
Dukore) describes it as “staged art” (867). As a literary form, it is designed for the theatre because
characters are assigned roles and they act out their roles as the action is enacted on stage. These
characters can be human beings, dead or spiritual beings, animals, or abstract qualities. Drama is an
adaptation, recreation and reflection of reality on stage.

II. Objectives
At the end of the study, the students will:
a. Define and describe drama;
b. Explain drama as a unique genre of literature;
c. State the history of drama; and
d. Enumerate and expound the elements of drama.

III. Pretest
The students will think of a drama they have watched and also their favorite. Let them
explain why it is their favorite among others.

IV. Discussion / Course Content

What is Drama?

Drama as a literary genre is realized in performance, which is why Robert Di Yanni (quoted in Dukore)
describes it as “staged art” (867). As a literary form, it is designed for the theatre because characters are
assigned roles and they act out their roles as the action is enacted on stage. These characters can be
human beings, dead or spiritual beings, animals, or abstract qualities. Drama is an adaptation, recreation
and reflection of reality on stage.
Generally, the word, dramatist is used for any artist who is involved in any dramatic composition either in
writing or in performance.

Drama is different from other genres of literature. It has unique characteristics that have come about in
response to its peculiar nature. Really, it is difficult to separate drama from performance because during
the stage performance of a play, drama brings life experiences realistically to the audience. It is the most
concrete of all genres of literature. When you are reading a novel, you read a story as told by the novelist.
The poem’s message in most cases is not direct because it is presented in a compact form or in a
condensed language. The playwright does not tell the story instead you get the story as the characters
interact and live out their experiences on stage.

In drama, the characters/actors talk to themselves and react to issues according to the impulse of the
moment. Drama is therefore presented in dialogue.

You can see that as a genre of literature, drama occupies a unique position. It is also the most active of
other genres of literature because of the immediate impact it has on the audience. It is used to inform, to
educate to entertain and in some cases to mobilize the audience.

Most people associate funny action or other forms of entertainment as drama. An action could be
dramatic yet it will not be classified as drama.

The dramatic is used for any situation or action which creates a sense of an abnormality or the
unexpected. Sometimes we use it to describe an action that is demonstrated or exaggerated. For
instance, if you are at a bus stop, a well-dressed young girl passes and cat-walks across the road, her
high-healed shoes breaks and she slips, the immediate reaction will be laughter from almost everybody
there. For some people, this is drama. Although she was walking in an abnormal way and unexpectedly
her shoe breaks, her action could be called dramatic but it is not dramatic action. Again, the action of a
teacher who demonstrates, by injecting life into his teaching as he acts out certain situations, is dramatic
but it is not drama.

What then is drama? Drama is an imitation of life. Drama is different from other forms of literature
because of its unique characteristics. It is read, but basically, it is composed to be performed, so the
ultimate aim of dramatic composition is for it to be presented on stage before an audience. This implies
that it a medium of communication. It has a message to communicate to the audience. It uses actors to
convey this message. This brings us to the issue of mimesis or imitation. We say that drama is mimetic
which means that it imitates life. You may have heard people say that drama mirrors life. Yes, it is the
only branch of literature which tries to imitate life and presents it realistically to the people. It is this
mimetic impulse of drama that makes it appeal to people. Drama thrives on action.

Origin of Drama
The word drama comes from the Greek verb “dran” which means ‘to act’ or to perform. Many scholars
trace the origin of drama to wordless actions like ritual dances and mimes performed by dancers, masked
players or priests during traditional festivals or ceremonies. One account traces the origin to ritual.

In the traditional society or in the primordial times, sometimes, the seasons did not come as expected.
When this happened, men felt that they had offended the gods, so they devised means of appeasing
these gods. That act of appeasing the gods is what we refer to as ritual. This ritual, as expected, involved
a ceremony in which the priest played an important role at a designated location, mostly shrines. The
priest would normally wear a special dress for the occasion.

That role, the dress (costume), and the utterance or incantations are regarded as dramatic elements.
Drama could therefore emerge from this. So, if it is presented for entertainment and there is an element of
impersonation, imitation of an action, and re-enactment of an action, it is drama.

Another account traces the origin to man’s desire for entertainment. Here, during festivals or other
ceremonies, they recreate the feats of some legendary or mythical heroes to entertain the people.
Scholars are divided on the origin of drama. Some trace the origin to Greece but others insist that drama
in its definitive form or pattern evolved from Egypt which is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization in
the world. The latter group argues that it was borrowed by western merchants who developed and
documented it, and who now trace the origin to Greece.

However, the account of tracing the origin of drama to Greece is more plausible. The evolution is clearer
and well-documented. Apparently, Greek drama evolved from religious festivals (ritual) that were
celebrated to ensure the fertility of the land and the well-being of its people. These festivals were
connected with the worship of the god Dionysius, a native god who like the vegetation dies and was
reborn each year. The festival involved singing and dancing by a chorus of fifty men. The choral song,
known as Dithyramb, was sang in honor of the god. The men danced around the altar of Dionysius in a
circular dancing place called orchestra.

Sometimes a story about the god was improvised by the leader of the chorus, though remaining part of
the chorus. Sometimes he dresses like a character from mythology. At this stage, individual actors were
not involved in the performances. The dramatist, Thepsis, is believed to have been the first person to
introduce the individual actor and the element of impersonation in the 6th century B.C. During a particular
performance, he stood out from the chorus and instead of singing in the honor of the god, he sang as the
god. He performed between the dances of the chorus and he conversed at times with the leader of the
chorus. Thus drama was literally born. Thepsis, therefore appeared as the first actor, and when he broke
away from the chorus, he added the dramatic potential of impersonation. It is impersonation, because,
instead of describing the god, Dionysius, or his actions, he pretended to be the god. Thus the
performance changed from poetry performance to drama. Aeschylus added the second actor and this
gave drama a new thrust forward because the additional actor enabled the dramatist to show in action a
dramatic conflict rather than talk about it.

Sophocles’ addition of the third actor further enlarged the scope of the dramatist and provided him with
the means of complicating his plot and devising more complex structural arrangement of his action. It is
important to note here that speech is not of essence in drama because it could be presented without
words or without the accompaniment of music/dance.

The important feature of drama is communication. It induces a personal communication and an immediate
experience between the actor and the audience. This makes drama a concrete art and the message is
immediate and direct. It is concrete because you can see the actors performing and presenting a life-like
story which affects you positively or negatively and you re-act immediately.

Accordingly, drama exists in both oral and literary traditions. In this course, we will concentrate more on
the literary tradition, i.e. the written drama. The text is called a play and the writer is called a playwright.
However, we will make reference to drama as performance on stage from time to time because it is
difficult to separate the two in the study of dramatic literature.

Elements of Drama

Theme
The theme of a play refers to its central idea. It can either be clearly stated through dialog or action, or
can be inferred after watching the entire performance. The theme is the philosophy that forms the base of
the story or a moral lesson that the characters learn. It is the message that the play gives to the audience.
For example, the theme of a play could be of how greed leads to one’s destroyer, or how the wrong use
of authority ultimately results in the end of power. The theme of a play could be blind love or the strength
of selfless love and sacrifice, or true friendship. For example, the play Romeo and Juliet, is based on a
brutal and overpowering romantic love between Romeo and Juliet that forces them to go to extremes,
finally leading them to self-destruction.

Plot
The order of events occurring in a play make its plot. Essentially, the plot is the story that the play
narrates. The entertainment value of a play depends largely on the sequence of events in the story. The
connection between the events and the characters in them form an integral part of the plot. What the
characters do, how they interact, the course of their lives as narrated by the story, and what happens to
them in the end, constitutes the plot. A struggle between two individuals, the relation between them, a
struggle with self, a dilemma, or any form of conflict of one character with himself or another character in
the play, goes into forming the story’s plot. The story unfolds through a series of incidents that share a
cause-and-effect relationship. Generally, a story begins with exposing the past or background of the main
and other characters, and the point of conflict, then proceeds to giving the central theme or climax. Then
come the consequences of the climax and the play ends with a conclusion.

Characters
The characters that form a part of the story are interwoven with the plot of the drama. Each character in a
play has a personality of its own and a set of principles and beliefs. Actors in the play have the
responsibility of bringing the characters to life. The main character in the play who the audience identifies
with, is the protagonist. He/she represents the theme of the play. The character that the protagonist
conflicts with, is the antagonist or villain. While some characters play an active role throughout the story,
some are only meant to take the story forward and some others appear only in certain parts of the story
and may or may not have a significant role in it. Sometimes, these characters are of help in making the
audiences focus on the play’s theme or main characters. The way in which the characters are portrayed
and developed is known as characterization. Here is a list of characters in Romeo and Juliet.

Dialog
The story of a play is taken forward by means of dialogs. The story is narrated to the audiences through
the interaction between the play’s characters, which is in the form of dialogs. The contents of the dialogs
and the quality of their delivery have a major role to play in the impact that the play has on the audiences.
It is through the dialogs between characters that the story can be understood. They are important in
revealing the personalities of the characters. The words used, the accent, tone, pattern of speech, and
even the pauses in speech, say a lot about the character and help reveal not just his personality, but also
his social status, past, and family background as given by the play. Monologues and soliloquies that are
speeches given to oneself or to other characters help put forward points that would have been difficult to
express through dialogs. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as
sweet” from Romeo and Juliet in which Juliet tells Romeo of the insignificance of names or “To be, or not
to be”, a soliloquy from Hamlet are some of the greatest lines in literature.

Setting
The time and place where a story is set is one of its important parts. The era or time in which the incidents
in the play take place, influence the characters in their appearance and personalities. The time setting
may affect the central theme of the play, the issues raised (if any), the conflict, and the interactions
between the characters. The historical and social context of the play is also defined by the time and place
where it is set. The time period and the location in which the story is set, affect the play’s staging.
Costumes and makeup, the backgrounds and the furniture used, the visuals (colors and kind of lighting),
and the sound are among the important elements of a play that dictate how the story is translated into a
stage performance. The Merchant of Venice has been set in the 16th century Venice. Romeo and
Juliet has been set in the era between 1300 and 1600, perhaps the Renaissance period which is the 14th
and 15th centuries.

Performance
It is another important element of drama, as the impact that a story has on the audiences is largely
affected by the performances of the actors. When a written play is transformed into a stage performance,
the actors cast for different roles, the way they portray the characters assigned to them, and the way their
performances are directed are some important factors that determine the play’s impact. Whether an
actor’s appearance (includes what he wears and how he carries himself on stage) suits the role he is
playing, and how well he portrays the character’s personality are determinants of how well the play would
be taken by the audiences. Different actors may play the same roles in different renditions of a play. A
particular actor/actress in a certain role may be more or less accepted and appreciated than another actor
in the same role. As different actors are cast for different roles, their roles are more or less appreciated
depending on their performances. The stage performances of a play’s characters, especially those in lead
roles, directly affect the success and popularity of a play.