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NOTES IN CREATIVE WRITING

(FINALS)

I. IDENTIFYING THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS, TECHNIQUES, AND LITERARY DEVICES IN

DRAMA

Are “drama” and “play” synonymous?

Drama is “dran” in Greek word which means “to-do.” It is a literary genre that pertains to the script
in dialogue-form.

Play is the performance on stage, theater or auditorium.

Two (2) main categories of drama:

A pair of masks, one sad and mournful while the other, happy and joyful signifies tragedy and
comedy in drama that spectators see on plays. Plays though it is a form of literary art still reflect the
reality of life.

1. Tragedy refers to a play that portrays a conflict between human beings and some greater
or larger overwhelming force. The hero-protagonist is fallible; he/she is not a cut out to be a
superhero. His downfall is a result of weakness in character. The hero-protagonist
experiences disaster and this state prevails until the closing of the play. At the end, the
protagonist either learns or realizes a painful lesson that would place him/her in a sorry state,
then dies, or vanishes and never be heard again.
2. Comedy, on the other hand, refers to a celebration or a festivity which encompasses a
classification of an entire play, a comic situation, or a character in a play. Comedy has two
varieties: High comedy relies on wit and wordplay; it attempts to lecture on the pretensions
and hypocrisy of human behavior like of a satire play. On the other hand, low comedy
emphasizes on physical actions, visual gags (slapsticks) and verbal jokes.

Elements of Drama According to Aristotle:

1. Plot. It is the story of the play, or the journey of the protagonist, which includes his/her conflict
with an opposing force (the antagonist). It is the chain of events of the characters’ triumph
and downfall. In a tragedy-play, the plot is usually a conflict over wealth and power that
leads to a plot in killing the king and the antagonist’s triumph.
2. Characters. These are persons, animals, objects or ideas portrayed by the actors in the play.
They move the action, or plot, of the play forward.

In tragedy, the protagonist-king becomes helpless over the greed of power by, for instance, the
antagonist-brother. In contrast with the comedy, the characters are witty and entertaining and
always have a happy-ending wedding ceremony.
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3. Thought. This refers to the central idea or theme of the play, used by the playwright to
illustrate some truth. At times, it reflects the reality of life: finding true love, seeking justice,
plotting revenge, etc.
4. Diction. It is the language used by the playwright, including the style, dialect, rhythm and
the actual words used by the characters, or anything that is being uttered on stage.
5. Music. It refers to everything the audience hears from the play, including the words, music
and sound effects.
6. Spectacle. It is everything the audience sees, including scenery, costumes, makeup,
dancing, pantomime and wordplay.

Dramatic techniques refer to the literary devices and staging elements to enhance the emotional,
aural, and visual experience of the audience as well as the on-stage craftsmanship, creatively put
together by the playwright.

Devices in Drama:

1. Conflict. It pertains to the problem caused by the opposing objectives of the protagonist
and antagonist. Example: An uncle cannot accept that the future king is the new born
boy of his brother.
2. Foreshadowing. It is the use of hints at the future in order to build anticipation in the
audience. Example: The uncle went to an unpleasant place in the middle of the night
to talk to a couple of stout men with caps, shades and cigars.
3. Imagery. It vividly shows something through the senses of the audience. Example: Instead
of telling the audience how the character-uncle hates the future king, he shows it through
his facial expression, tone, and even body language upon talking to the child. •
4. Dramatic Irony. This is when the viewers understand something about the character’s action
or event, but the characters do not. Example: The audience knows that the uncle
deceives his nephew to go to the woods as the king is waiting for him. Without anticipation,
the child goes to the woods for his father not realizing that a plot to end the child’s life is
about to happen.
5. Satire. It is an artistic form in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings
are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, parody, caricature,
or other methods, sometimes with an intent to inspire social reform. Example: An
actor mocking a politician who cannot accept losing the election made an outrage to the
public that he/she has been cheated on.
6. Symbolism. In any literary work like drama, objects are used to suggest more than its literal
meaning to heighten its essence to the plot-story. Example: A dove with a universal
symbol of peace
7. Mime. It is the theatrical technique of suggesting action, character, or emotion without
words, using only gesture, expression, and movement. Example:
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Dramatic Techniques:

1.) Speech/Verbal Techniques. It is an utterance of a single speaker, either within a dialogue, a

monologue, or an aside.

a. Dialogue. It is a sequence of conversational 'turns' exchanged between two or more

speakers.

b. Monologue. It is a long speech in which a character talks to himself/herself or to other

subconscious characters.

c. Soliloquy. It is a long speech in which a character talks to oneself letting the audience
know in a play their true feelings.

d. Aside. It is a dramatic device in which a character speaks to the audience. By

convention the audience realizes that the character's speech is unheard by the other characters
on stage.

e. Direct Address. The characters address the audience, like a form of oral diary and, a
revealing of inner thoughts or inner monologue. It differs from an aside because the character is
specifically acknowledging a connection with the audience.

2.) Non-Verbal Techniques. It includes a variety of things such as sets, stage directions, costumes,
props, music and sound effects.

3.) Literary Techniques.

Figures of Speech. (Recall the common figures of speech as discussed in the previous
lessons). Apostrophe, Hyperbole, Irony, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia, Oxymoron, Personification, Pun,
Simile and Synecdoche.

II. UNDERSTANDING INTERTEXTUALITY AS A TECHNIQUE IN DRAMA

The word ‘intertextuality’ was derived from the Latin word intertexto meaning ‘to mingle while
weaving.’ It was first introduced in literary linguistics by Bulgarian-born French semiotician and
philosopher Julia Kristeva in the late 1960s. In her manifesto which includes such essays as "The
Bounded Text" and "Word, Dialogue, and Novel," Kristeva broke from traditional notions of the
author’s influences and the text’s sources. In general, intertextuality refers to the relationship
between texts.

Types of Intertextuality

1. Appropriation is where a text is adapted from the original text. It's important to note that it
isn't just copied instead reimagined in some way to make it new whether it's for a different
context or a different audience.

Example: Marcel Duchamp’s artwork, L.H.O.O.Q. is an appropriation of Da Vinci’s Mona

Lisa. Duchamp took an image of Da Vinci’s painting and drew a mustache on it.

2. Allusion is where you allude to something so it's referenced to another text so, not only can
it be a reference to a text but it can also be a person, a place, or an event. The audience
or reader has to make the connection.
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Example: You’re acting like such a Scrooge! Alluding to Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, this
line means that the person is being miserly and selfish, just like the character Scrooge from
the story.

3. Parody is a funny interpretation of a text. It is mimicking or copying a text in order to comment

on it; a humorous interpretation of a serious piece of literature, writing, art or music. Its main
purpose is to entertain the reader.

Example are the songs of Bruno Mars and Miley Cyrus.

When I was your Man (Bruno Mars) Flowers (Miley Cyrus)

That I should've bought you flowers I can buy myself flowers

And held your hand Write my name in the sand
Shoulda gave you all my hours Talk to myself for hours
When I had the chance Say things you don't understand
Take you to every party I can take myself dancing
'Cause all you wanted to do was dance And I can hold my own hand
Now my baby's dancin' Yeah, I can love me better than you can
But she's dancin' with another man

4. Quotation is a direct reference to another text with acknowledgement of its composer.

Example: In Margaret Atwood’s speech, Spotty Handed Villainesses, she quotes Dame
Rebecca West, saying, “Ladies of Great Britain…we have not enough evil in us.”

5. Adaptation is a film, TV Drama, or stage play that is based on a written work.

Example: JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series has a film adaptation.

Intertextuality also involves the reader, the situation being refer to and its context.

In traditional literary theory, it is assumed that when we read a work of literature, we are trying to
find a meaning which lies inside that work. We extract the meaning of the text. This process of
extracting is called interpretation.

Intertextuality in drama has been widely used since then. Here in the Philippines, one of the
most renowned is drama, specifically, theater. Some of the types of theater in the country are the
epic poetry Biag ni Lam-ang,Senakulo or Passion Play and Balagtasan. These theater plays have
never-ending adaptations.