English Drama

Meeting 5
Types of Drama

• Tragedy

• Comedy

• Tragicomedy
Tragedy

• Tragedies are solemn plays concerned with grave human actions and
their consequences. The action of a tragedy is complete—it
possesses a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Comedy

• Some of the same dramatic elements in tragedy occur in comedy as

well. Misperceptions and errors of judgments, exhibitions of human
weakness and failure, occur in both. But in comedy all leads not to
calamity as they do in tragedy, but to prosperity and happiness.
• Comedy occurs in satire and romantic.
Satiric & Romantic Comedy
• Satire means to expose human folly, criticizes human conduct, and
aims to correct it. Satiric comedy ridicules the weaknesses of
human nature
• Romantic comedy, on the other hand, portrays characters gently,
more tolerant and the humor of is more sympathetic than
corrective, and it intends more to entertain than to ridicule.
Tragicomedy

• Tragicomedy is a play that mixes elements of comedy and tragedy

• Tragicomedy often takes many forms; sometimes the play is
primarily tragic but relieved by moments of humor (e.g. Trifles by
Susan Glaspell) or sometimes humor dominates the play but a
serious theme lies behind the funny words and actions (e.g. On
Tidy Endings by Harvey Fierstein)