English 131

Introduction to Drama
I. Origins of Drama
 A. Many say drama originated in Greece
over 2,500 years ago as an outgrowth of the
worship of the god Dionysus.
 B. During Dionysian festivals, a group of
50 citizens of Athens, known as a chorus,
would perform hymns of praise to the god.
These were known as dithyrambic poetry.

 Trivia: Thespis introduced dialogue, spoken

lines representing conversation
II. Two main types of Greek
drama
A. tragedy
B. comedy
III. Aristotle’s classification of drama

 1. epic poetry
 2. dithyrambic poetry
 3. comedy
 4. tragedy
Aristotle’s Six Elements of Tragedy
I. Plot
A. Components of plot

 1. exposition = provides the audience with essential

information — who, what, when, where — that it
needs to know before it can continue
 2. complication = the interjection of some
circumstance or event that shakes up the stable
situation that has existed before the play’s opening
 3. rising action = the period in which the audience’s
tension and expectations become tightly intertwined
and involved with the characters and the events they
experience
A. Components of plot

 4. conflict = usually a problem that the characters

cannot avoid
 5. climax = the moment of greatest tension
 6. falling action = beginning of the lessening of
tension
 7. dénouement (resolution) = the “untying of the
knot,” in which the tension built up during the play
is released
II. Characterization

 A. Protagonist = the primary speaker

 B. Antagonist = the one who speaks against
him
 C. Character motivation = why does a
character behave in this manner? What does
he/she hope to gain from these actions?
 D. Two conventions a playwright might employ
in revealing motivation are soliloquy (a speech
made by a single character on stage alone) and
aside (a brief remark made directly to the
audience).
III. Theme = the central idea or
ideas that a play discusses
 A. Didactic = plays written to instruct the audience
in ethical, religious, or political areas
 B. Morality play = a sermon on sin and redemption
rendered in dramatic terms
 C. Problem play = uses the theater as a forum for
the serious debate of social issues like industrial
pollution or women’s rights
 D. Drama of ideas = goes further than simply
presenting social problems; it advances a program
of reform
 E. Social drama = radical social and political
programs are openly propagandized
IV. Diction = what we would
call a playwrights “style” or the
language and vocabulary he/she
uses
V. Melody = the rhythm of the
language in a play (meter, verse,
and so on)
VI. Spectacle = sometimes
called mise en scène, or “setting
of the scene.” This is the purely
visual dimension of a play: the
costumes, the props, the set.
Brief History and Description
of Dramatic Conventions
Greek Tragedy
 Trilogy
 Chorus = a group of singers that comments on the
play, often from the point of view of public opinion
of the actions taking place

 Prologue = an introductory scene that tells the

audience important information about the play’s
setting, characters, and events immediately preceding
the opening of the drama.

 Episode (episodos)= a passage of dialogue between

two or more actors or between actors and chorus
Greek Tragedy
 Choral ode = the chorus is alone on stage,
singing

 Éxodos = the final scene of the play

 Epilogue = after the main characters leave,

this is where the chorus comes back on
stage to sum up the play’s meaning
Medieval Drama
 Folk drama = plays performed by wandering
troupes of actors
 Liturgical drama = plays put on by the Roman
Catholic church
 Mystery Plays = derived from holy scripture
 Passion plays = focused on the crucifixion of
Christ
 Miracle plays = dramatized the lives of the saints
 Morality plays = dramatized sermons with
allegorical characters
Elizabethan Drama

 Raised stage = relied very little on set, but

heavily on author’s ability to tell the tale
 Female parts were played by young boys
 Originality, as we use the term, meant little
at the time
 Designed to appeal to a wide audience, not
the elite.
The Comic Genres
 Commedia dell’arte = a cast of masked
stock characters (the miserly old man, the
young wife, the ardent seducer)
Realistic Drama, the Modern
Stage, and Beyond

 Realism = plays that drop some of the

dramatic conventions in an attempt to
portray real life more accurately
 Expressionism = dreamlike atmospheres
 Theater of the absurd = depicts a world
without meaning where everything seems
ridiculous