Tragedy, Melodrama,

Comedy

THREE BASIC GENRES OF DRAMA

 PROTAGONIST
 Hero
 Good Guy
 Character(s) with
whom audience
sympathizes
 Tries to solve a
problem
 ANTAGONIST
 Villain
 Bad guy
 Cause of strife
 Boss,CEO,bully
 TRADITIONAL TRAGEDY
 Traditional or classic
tragedy is based on the
Greek model
 Involves person of stature
—King, Queen or Nobility
 Tragic circumstances
 Tragic irretrievability
 Acceptance of
responsibility
 Written in Tragic Verse
 A CATHARSIS
 Tragic Protagonist is own
Antagonist—
HAMARTIA-”tragic flaw”
 MODERN TRAGEDY
 Involves ordinary
people
 Written in Prose
 Deeper meaning of
tragedy is explored
in the non-verbal
elements
Arthur Miller on Modern Tragedy
 “I believe the common man
is as apt a subject for
tragedy in its highest sense
as kings were”
 “The tragic feeling is
evoked in us when we are
in the presence of a
character who is ready to
lay down his life, if need
be, to secure one thing: his
sense of personal dignity…
tragedy, then, is the
consequence of a man’s
total compulsion to
evaluate himself justly.”
 MELODRAMA
 Melodrama
comes from
Greek for “music
drama”
 Enhanced or
exaggerated
emotional
content
 Main effect is
suspense, fright,
or horror
 Characteristics of Melodrama
 Audience drawn
into action
 Clear-cut issues
 Strong
delineation of
right and wrong
 Exaggerated
action, edge of
danger
 Suspenseful
 In its extreme,
can be
laughable
 What makes a Comedy?
 Suspension of Natural Laws
 Contrast between the Social Order and the
Individual
 The Comic Premise
 High brow vs. Low brow
 Techniques of Comedy
 Verbal humor—puns,
malaprops
 Comedy of Character
 Plot complications
 FORMS OF COMEDY
 Farce/Bedroom
Farce
 Burlesque/Parody
 Satire
 Domestic comedy
 Comedy of manners
 Comedy of ideas
 Farce
 Broad
exaggeration
 No intellectual
pretensions
 Slapstick
 Horseplay
 Burlesque
 Like Farce but
lower taste
 Sometimes vulgar
 Historically a
ludicrous imitation
of other forms of
drama
 Satire
 High brow
Burlesque
 More
intellectually
moral content
 Irony
 Makes fun of
revered
institutions such
as religion and
politics
 Domestic Comedy

 Sit coms
 Families,groups or
organizations.
 Caught in
complicated
situations
 Comedy of manners
 Pokes fun at the
upper classes
 Points out
foibles and
peculiarities
 Noel Coward -
20th century
playwright
 Comedy of ideas
 Comic
techniques to
debate
intellectual or
moral points of
view
 HEROIC DRAMA
 Similar to traditional
tragedy
 Has a basic
optimistic view even
when the ending is
sad
 ROMANTIC DRAMA
 Celebrates the
Human experience
 Spirit of Hope
 Personal Freedom
 Natural instinct
 BOURGEOIS OR DOMESTIC
DRAMA
 Focus is on the
Family and the
Home of the
middle-classes
 Much more base
in content
 TRAGICOMEDY
or
“I laugh to keep from crying’
 Funny and Sad at the same time
 Serious and comic elements are intertwined
 More and more popular in modern theatre
 Does not switch from comedy to tragedy
but the prevailing attitude is a fusion of the
two