By Batarilan, Luigi

Steward

TECHNIQUES FOR
READING DRAMA
 DRAM
A
The drama is a presentation made up of words,
sights, sounds, motions, noise, stillness,
relationships, and responses. It has two aspects,
drama as script and drama as play.
 DRAMA AS
SCRIPT
The script is the dialogue and stage directions for actors
and stage technicians.
 DRAMA AS
PLAY
The play is the script coming to life and is a director’s
interpretation of the script. The script is the dialogue and
stage directions for actors and stage technicians. The play is
the script coming to life and is a direc tor’s interpretation of
the script.
ELEMENTS OF THE
DRAMA
01. PLOT
02. CONFLICT
03. CHARACTER
04. LANGUAGE & IDEA
05. SPECTACLE
 PLOT
Plot, the “soul-of drama” (Aristotle), is more tightly knit in the drama than
in the novel. Nothing extraneous should oCcur as in fact, classical tragedy
insisted on unities of time, place, and action. The plot is divided into:
exposition (infor mation regarding antecedent action, characters, their
relationships, and the initial situation); inciting action which moves toward a
point; rising action which is part of the complication; crisis or turning point,
where choices and decisions lead to the inevitable; falling action in which
incidents follow from the turning point without diminution of the intensity;
and the denouement or resolution which clarifies and relaxes the tension.
Someone calls it the bridge to reality.
 CHARACTER

Character or drastic personae presents protagonists and

antagonists whose personalities, temper of mind, and
morality trigger conflicts, developments, changes,
problems, actions, and reactions. Characters are partly
types and partly individuals.
 CONFLICT
Conflict. Since struggle is the essence of drama, we find a clash of
wills, or moral, psychological, and sociological conflicts. Discovery
and reversal are results of conflicts. Discover fulfills our expectations
of events. The Greek word is peripeteia while ignorance (anagnorisis)
is a situation where the audience knows but the character does not or
both do not know certain things vital to the play. A development of
conflict is reversal where events or actions make a turnabout because
of a discovery and this leads to shock or surprise.
 IRON
Irony (from eiróneia Y
which means feigning ignorance) is an
importantelementof the dramas in all literature. Itarises from a
recognition of a discrepancy between the expected and actual, the
apparent and the real. There are irony ofstate ment (paradox,
understatement) and irony of the dramatic situation which results from
the occurrence of discovery, igno rance, and reversal. Ironic perception
of the dramatic situa tion heightens tension and suspense and is
essentially what drama is all about.
 LANGUAGE &
IDEA
Language and Idea. Some plays emphasize themne and idea and quality
of language, or attempt to present a thesis. Hence, the dramatic
situation is an illustration of ideas although the story which may be
taken from the Bible, myth, legend, or history may be familiar to the
audience.
 spectacle

Spectacle or theatef conventions are part of the

total appeal of the drama which shows the
relationships of script, actor, audience, author,
producer, society, genre, stage, and theatre to
each other.
 Limitations of the
Drama
01 Description
02 Narrative progression
03 Comment
04 Direct penetration into a
character’s mind
 How to Read a Play

Read it twice, once for the text and the second time for
its subtext, which means tempo, rhythm, subplot, voice
toregisters, stresses, pauses, inflection, pitch, volume,
body movements, position, gestures, and movement.
 The Tragedy and Comedy

Mood. The mood of tragedy is serious, thoughtful, philo-

sophical, and more emotional. Comedy is mirthful,
satiric, and more intellectual.
 Kinds of Actions

In the tragedy, the hero is overcome by forces he is op-

posed to or tries to oppose. In the comedy, incongruity
springs from the gap between intentions and actuality.
 Resolution of Action

The tragic hero loses in the end and the play ends in
catastrophe, death, a sense of sadness, and futility. The
main character in the comedy triumphs over obstacles.
 Effect

The tragedy produces catharsis (makes us pity the hero

and fear with him in a sense of identification) while in the
comedy, the amusement makes us feel superior to the
hero because of his imperfections and ignorance.
 Twenty Questions in the Study
of Literature

I. Reader-Response
01 How do you feel about this work? For
example, what eelings did it evoke when you
. read it? Pity, fear, Suspense, surprise, joy, or
humor?
02Does your attitude toward, or understanding
of the work change as you read it? What
.brings about con ditions that change? How
many different ways can the work be read?
 03.By manipulating such literary devices as
tone and point of view, authors try to
establish a relationship between their
workand their readers. What relation ship to
the reader does this work (or author)
assume? What elements of the work help
establish this rela tionship?

II. Formal
04.Make an inventory of the key words,
symbols, and images in the work by listing
those that seem most insignificant to you.
What meanings seem to be attached to these
words, symbols, and images?
05.How do these words, symbols, and images
help to provide unity or define the overall
pattern or struc ture of the work?

06.Under what genre should the work be

classified? What generic conventions are
readily apparent? Ifit is fiction or drama,
what does each of the five struC
Tural elements plot, characters, setting,
theme,
And mood- contribute to the work? If it is
poetry, how do meter, rhythm, rhyme, and
figurative lan- guage contribute to your
experience of the poem?
II. Traditional
07. How does the work reflect the biographical
or historical background of the author or
the time during which it was written?

08. What are the principal themes of the work?

09. What moral statements, if any, does the
work make? What philosophical view of
life or the world does the work present?
III. Psychological
10. What are the principal characteristics or
defining traits of the protagonists or main
characters in the work?

11 What psychological relationships exist

. between and among the characters? Try to
determine which characters are stronger
and which are weaker. What is the source of
their strength or weakness?
12. . Are these unconscious conflicts within or
between characters? How are these
conflicts portrayed in the work? Is the
Freudian concept of the id-ego-superego
applicable?
 13. Is sexuality or sexual imagery employed in
the work? Are there implications of
Oedipus complex, plea- sure principle, or
wish fulfillment?
14 How do the principal characters view the
. world around them and other characters in
the work? Is that view accurate or
distorted?

IV. Mythological-Archetypal
15. Does the work contain mythic elements in
plot, theme, or character? Are there
recognizable mythic patterns such as
rebirth/fertility, quest/journey, or
struggle/return of the hero?
 16. Are there archetypal characters, images, or
symbols, such as the great mother, the wise
old man, the sea, the seasons?

17 Do you find Jungian archetypes, such as

. shadow, persona, or anima, growth, and
individuation?

V. Sociological
18. What is the relationship between the work
and the society it presents or grew out of?
Does it address particular social issues
either directly or indirectly – such as race,
sex, class, religion, or politics?
19. Does the sexual identity of the main
character affect the relationships and
ultimately the events in the story?
20. Finally, does the story, poem, or play lend
itself to one of the various interpretative
techniques more than the others?
KUTAS
A UI !