Questions

for Group
Presentation

ANALYZING
DRAMA
 The Elements of Drama
• Plot
• Characterization
• Setting
• Theme
• Irony
• Subgenres
 PLOT
Basic questions:
❑ What are the main conflicts?
❑ What has caused the conflicts existed at the beginning of the
play?
❑ What causes the conflicts that emerge during the play?
❑ Who is in conflict with whom? Why?
❑ Are any of the characters in conflict with the forces larger than
just individuals—society, for example, or fate?
❑ How are the conflicts resolved?
❑ Illustrate the plot structure by using the Freytag’s Pyramid
model.
 CHARACTERIZATION
Basic questions:
❑If the characters are flat, what are their dominant traits, and
what is their function in the plot? How do they help establish
the conflicts in the plot?
❑If the characters are dynamic, how do they change—from what
to what?
❑If they are static, do their traits intensify or become clearer as
the play moves on?
❑If the characters are round, what can you learn from the
subtext of the play about their inner states?
 CHARACTERIZATION
Further analysis:
❑List the character trait of each major character.
❑List the devices, such as dress, names, and gestures, that help
establish the traits of a character.
❑Describe in detail the traits of a complex character, especially
contradictory and seemingly inexplicable traits.
❑Explain a character’s motivations for doing the things he or she
does. Focus especially on what character seems to want.
❑Describe the strategies a character devises for getting what he or
she wants. Explain how effective those strategies are.
❑Explain the relationship a major character has with the other
major characters: their alliances, conflicts, attitude toward each
other.
 SETTING
Basic questions:
❑For each major unit of the play, describe the place where the
action occurs. if the playwright gives a description of the place,
summarize the description. If he doesnt, use information from the
dialogue to construct a description. Explain the relationship of
place to action, characterization, and theme.
❑Identify the historical period of the play. Give any background
information that would be useful for understanding the play.
Explain its relationship to actions, characterizations, and theme.
❑Describe the atmosphere of each major unit of the play.
 SETTING
Basic questions (cont’d):
❑Describe your design for the physical world—sets, costumes,
sounds, lighting, the works—of one major unit of the play.
Explain the reasons for your choices.
❑List the details of setting that have symbolic value. Explain
what each symbolizes.
 THEME
Basic questions:
❑What repetitions occur in the play?
❑What patterns of meaning can you make out from these
repetitions?
❑What symbols does the the author deliberately establish?
❑How do you know they are symbols?
❑What do the symbols seem to mean?
❑List the subjects of the play (the issues or problems the play seems
to be about). State themes for each of these subjects.
❑Mark speeches and sections of dialogue that help develop a
particular theme. Summarize the “big speeches” and explain how
the actions of the play develop their ideas.
 IRONY
Basic questions:
❑Explain the extent to which the play seems to invite audience
participation.
❑Mark the examples in the play of dramatic irony. Explain what
it reveals about characterization and theme.
❑Mark the examples of verbal irony. Explain what the verbal
irony reveals about the characters who use it.
 SUBGENRES
Basic questions:
❑If you know the category of the play belongs to (tragedy,
comedy, farce, and so forth), find a good definition of the
category. List the characteristics of the category.
❑You may also include the language and tone analysis of the
play to support your discussion.
❑Take one item from the list and explain how well it applies to
the play. For example, if Hamlet is a tragic character, what
might be his tragic flaw? What constitutes his reversal? When
does he experience a recognition? How does the audience
respond to him?
Suggestions
o For the references, support your analysis with
secondary sources, such as textbooks, journals,
dictionary, articles, and don’t forget to mention
them in your work cited.
o Include images of illustrations, if necessary, esp.
when you explain about setting.
best of luck