Drama Analysis PDF

# Drama 4 close relationship between written text & performance ↳ differ from other literary genres in communication situation → dramatic text not primarily written to be read but rather as a script for performance (written by author, read by individual recipients) "watching+not reading is most app...

# Drama 4 close relationship between written text & performance ↳ differ from other literary genres in communication situation → dramatic text not primarily written to be read but rather as a script for performance (written by author, read by individual recipients) "watching+not reading is most appropriate way of reception of drama" drama text to theatre performance involves acoustic & optical dimension they're both distinct media of artistic expressions different stage forms=different vibe & illusion ## Special Features of Theatre Communication (p. 79 ff.) ### communication in dramatic text 1. Several speakers + addressees in various characters 2. characters can change between addresser & addressee 3. dialogue is most important medium for transmission of information "the *vosonte* nature of dramatic texts" lack of mediation level in dramatic texts (most important difference between dramatic & narrative texts) 4 communication model of drama & theatre performance | | verbal | |:----------|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | **author** | verbal + acoustic | | **text** | addresser + addressee, encoding, articulation, decoding | | **theatre** | audiovisual performance, encoding, performance decoding | | **audience**| audiovisual reception, decoding, decoding | | **primary text** | dramatic level, theatrical level & level of everyday life | | **secondary text** | characters text, stage directions (stage set, gestures, facial expressions) (spoken alone) | ## Wall parts of dramatic texts that aren't dialogue (also title, dedications, prefaces,...) many dramas (especially 20th cen.) contain narrative elements. ## Theatre codes + (non-) verbal communication (p.83.f.) ↳ the "semiotics of the theatre" verbal & nonverbal signs & codes of theatre communication determine whether sign is verbal or nonverbal, acoustic/optical or visual, durative or non-durative utterances ### Typology of theatre codes ↓ related to actor, stage or other aspects? | | | |:---------------------------|:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | individual characteristics (d) | appearance (d) | | | language (nd) | | | physiognomy, make-up | | durative (remain constant) | | | non-durative codes (temporarily) | gestures & expressions | ## Form & Function of different forms of verbal communication (p.84 ff.) ### Exposition: introduction, to inform reader/audience about setting * initial: inclusion of all expository information in isolated passage at beginning * integrated: information distributed in small quantities throughout text * dramatic introduction: ? ### dialogue: "succession of remarks & counterremarks between multiple characters" characters exchange thoughts, opinions, discuss a topic or plot an intrigue. central element of drama * **analysis:** length of individual utterance, distribution of contribution among characters, frequency with which role of speaker changes can yield important clues for interpretation * ensures progression * function: sets action of drama in motion, central to characterisation, serve as medium for conflict, clarification of opinions & expounding central themes ### monologue: character speaks alone (in presence of others) ### soliloquy: * **inner monologue** * characterized by high degree of subjectivity, no objective view * real parallel to everyday communication cause character is thinking out loud on stage * **character speaks while alone on stage (Selbstgespräch)** * subjectiv pov * function of mon. & sol. familiarizing audience with setting & preceding events, introducing protagonist by self-characterisation ### aside: addressed to reader * describing speaker's thoughts, feelings, internal processes & conflicts etc. * arousing expectations regarding future developments | | | |:---------------------------|:-----------------------------------------------------------------| | directed towards other characters | | | directed towards speaker themselves or audience | | | 'monological aside': | character voices thoughts (not expressed anywhere else) in a way only audience understands (stage dir. 'Aside') | | 'dialogical aside': | group of characters conduct conspirational convo in whispers (unnoticed by other characters on stage (stage dir 'Aside to x') | | 'aside ad spectators': | character addresses comment directly to audience (stage dir. 'Addressing the audience') | ### dramatic irony: discrepancy between internal & external communication systems or between level of awareness of characters + of audience * audience or reader must be privy to infos that is not available to other characters * insight into character's errors of judgement * can be comic or tragic depending on individual situation ## Character Action (p.91ff.) most elementary constituents of dramatic narrative texts * **action:** change/perpetuation of situation brought about by character * influenced by abilities, needs, motivation & intention of characters ### Characters: * realistic characters as well as functional roles * correlation between characters & action * characters act on basis of their perspective-action affects perspective cause knowledge, abilities, needs can be changed ### Dramatis personae * all literary characters that appear in a play * analysis of scenes * change in 'configuration of characters' * first act preceded by list of dramatis personae (sorted by importance) * entrance or exit of characters (alters number of characters, their relationship) * characters perspective: it's level of knowledge, psychological disposition & ideological persuasions * indicator for his/her status * closed per. st.: character perspectives merge to one point, unitary view on world * open per. st.: individual perspectives are divergent ## Perspective structure: entirety of character perspectives & their relationship ### character conception: * Do they change or stay unchanged throughout drama? * Are they one-dimensional [small connection of features] or multidimensional [large number of features]? * personification [embodies single characteristic] vs individual [many different features "seem real"] * Type: few specific human/individual features or is it e.g. representative of social class * psychological type: mode of behaviour * social type: based on profession or social class ### techniques of characterisation * in praesentia: first appearance * figural: appearance * physical ## Place & temporal structures (p.98 ff.) ↳ on basis of Aristotle dramas should observe unity of time & place ↳ fictional space only partially represented on stage * chronological * achronic representation, flashforwards, flashbacks, pauses, ellipses --- # Narrative Texts (Chapter 5) ## Analysis of narrative texts * **character** * **plot** * **narrative transmission, modes of presenting** * **representation of time and space** * **story vs. discourse:** Story-oriented = concerned with content (what?), discourse oriented = the way content is mediated (by narrative) (how?) ### Narrow definition of story: chronological sequence of events. ### Definition of plot: events + **Example:** a) crime planned b) crime committed c) crime detected d) investigation e) detective reveals. | | non-fiction | fiction | |:------------|:-------------|:--------| | what? | events | events | | who? | people | characters | | when? | time | time | | where? | place | place | | why? (how?) | | | ### Plot Focus on: Story: a) c) Detectives: c) ## Communication Model: | | | |:-----------------------------|:-------------------------------| | **Real author** | **Fictive narrator** | | | **Intratextual level I:** Narrator of communication, level of characters & story | | | **Intratextual level II:** | | | **Character as addresser** | | | **Character as addressee** | | | **Fictive reader** | | | **Real reader** | ## Typological circle (STANZEL), three typical narrative situations | Narrative Situation | Perspective | Identity | Mode | |:--------------------------|:--------------------|---------|:------| | First-person Narrative | 1st person | internal | internal | | Figural Narrative | 3rd person | non-identity | external | | Authorial Narrative | | | external | ### First-person narrative: * involved in narrative story, "narrating I" + "experiencing I" * Authorial I-as-protagonist; narrator = protagonist, first-person * I-as-witness; narrator talks about another person, "he" or "she", third-person ### Authorial narrative: * dominance of external perspectives * isn't part of the story (not a character), reflects on his role as narrator ### Figural narrative: * presents a story's events as seen through the eyes of a reflective character * "reflector" character, functions as medium, narrator is in the background, perspective of context, setup. | | | |---------------------|:----------------------------------------------------------| | **embedded narrative** | = intradicgetic | | **frame narrative** | = extradiegetic | | **Primary (inner) story** | | | **Story within a story** | provides context, introduces narrator (s) or creates setting | | | | | **Story told within the frame narrative** | main focus of the storytelling, central themes. | | Who speaks? | | |-------------|---| | **Narration** | | | Who sees? | | | **Localization** | | | | | |:----------|:------| | homodiegetic | | | heterodiegetic | | **Overt vs. Covert:** * explicitly of narrator; covert = hidden ## Criteria for identifying the narrative situation * From whose Pov is narrated world presented? * Is the narrator involved in the action [on the same level as other characters]? * Narrated world-external or internal perspective? ### 1) First-person * involved in story, narrating I' = story repeated/'experiencing I' = takes part in action [e.g. as character] * Feelings and thoughts of other characters can't be ### 2) Authorial narrative situation * situated outside, external perspective dominates, omniscience (= insight into all characters). ### 3) Figural narrative situation; * narrator is far in the background (barely noticeable), Pov of a person who is involved * a "reflector"; functions as medium ## Genette's structuralist taxonomy: Narration and Focalization, who speaks? = narrator, who sees? = focalizer | Level of narrative transmission/process | | |:--------------------------------------|:----------------------| | **extradiegetic** | | | **intradiegetic** | | | | Categories for the classification of narrators Opposite ends of the spectrum | |:---------------------------------------------|:--------------------------------------------------------------------| | **communication level of the speaker** | intradiegetic characters who are part of narrated story | | **presence on the level of the characters** | extradiegetic | | **degree of involvement in the narrated events** | heterodiegetic | | **degree of explicitness** | homodiegetic | | **degree of (un)reliability** | autodiegetic | | **gender** | covert (neutral), overt (explicit), reliable, unreliable, female, male | ## External focalizer: * focalizing subject is on the level of narrative transmission [narrator-focalizer'] ## Internal focalizer: * focalizing subject is on the same level as characters (part of the story) ['character-focalizer'] ## interior monologue & quoted monologue: * highly presenting consciousness, thoughts and feelings of a character are "quoted" * time, place & external world elements of mental process filtered trough characters perspective ## Time structure: time by clock vs. time by mind / rhytmic time, cyclical time ### order * chronological * anachronical (flashbacks/flashfowards) ### duration * discourse time & story time * scene match between d.t. + s.t. * stretch/slow down d. t. is stretched or slowed down * ellipsis: period of time is left out * ponsess . t Stands still a. t. continues ## narrative modes * report (summarising account of series of events) * scenic report (discourse & s.t. are congruent) ## frequency * singulative narration * repeating narration * iterative narration (event occurs regularly) ## Place drama * Space novel * mood-invested space (spaces & objects serve expressive functions) * space of action (context/setting for action) * observed space (supplies panoramic overview) * Seasons ## Stanzal's typological circle | | internal vs. external perspective | |:---------------------|:----------------------------------------------| | homodiegetic | | | narrator vs. reflector | | | first-person narrative | | | 1st/3rd person | internal/external | | authorial narrative | over, covert | | figural narrative | | | first-person vs. third person | | | internal vs. external | narrator vs. reflector | --- # Poetry ## 1) characteristics of the genre: * **Subjective perspective** "lyric persona" * **rhyme schema** (rhyming couplets) * **regular metre** * **lack of any plot** * **deviations from everyday language** * **artistry**, high degree of diversity * **relative brevity** (reduction) * **Spatial & temporal relations** * **attitude**, perspective of lyric persona * **Theme centered on individual experiences**, subjective ### Musicality = origin of variety of these features | | | |:----------|:---------| | Paradigmatic | Equivalence | | Syntagmatic | combination | | | p. 50; selection | | | p. 50; combination | * **paradigmatic:** relationship between linguistic elements that can be Substituted one for another (because of similarity) * **syntagmatic:** about passible combinations of elements not only individual words, also phonological, rhythmical, metrical & grammatical structure * **poetic function:** selection, combination, poems = text with ultra-complex structure * **"principle of equivalence"**: variety of linguistic levels: sound, metre, rhythm, relation of sand (phonological level), individual words, their formation (logical level), sentences, their arrangement (syntactic level), meaning, form of figurative language (semantic level) ## 2) Speech situation addresser = addressee * their spatial & temporal situation = who is the speaker? who is the addressee, when and where are both situated? * **author = speaker = "Lyric persona/I"** * real (historical) author → fictive speaker "lyric persona (I)" * Subject-matter of speech → fictive addressee "lyric *thou*" * real reader → analysis & interpretation of personal in possessive pronouns * **reader & addressee = "lyric *thou*"** * **"explicit subjectivity" = self expression through 1st person singular (e.g. dramatic monologue) => describel *aun* * **"implicit subjectivity" = textual speaker does not appear as an individual *lyric persona*** ### Speech situation can change throughout text | | | |:--------------------|:-------------------------------------------------------------| | **enounced** (= content) | What? places, people, feelings, experiences etc. | | **enuncation**, how it is expressed | **language, structure, form (way of delivery through linguistic choices perspective)** | ## 3) The Structure of Poetry ### Metre/metrical pattern: * stressed + unstressed syllables * represent formal principle of organisation ### Feet: | Feet | | |:-------------------|:------------| | iambus-iamb | In | | trochaus-troche | ∨ | | anapest-anapaest | w/ | | lyanapaestic | ∨∨ | | daktylus-dactyl | lov | | dactylic | ∨ ∨ ∨ | | spondee | 0/0 | | amphibrach | 0/0/0 | ### Number of feet * Monometer (1 stressed syllables) * Dimeter (2) * Trimeter (3) Shakespeare = iambic Trimeter * Tetrameter (4) * Pentameter (5) * Heptameter (7) * octameter (8) * sechshebiger Jambus (6 with a *zàsur* (inhaltlicher Bruch) nach der dritten Hebung (oft Gegensatz zum ersten Teil des verses)) ### Rythm * individual words/sentences + metre influence rhythm * Stylistic devices also important * Enjambement: sentence keeps going in next line, "a run-one line" * Caesura & alexandrine * External structure = stantaic form * appearance of poem gives indication of structure (stantaic) * no stantaic (clear) structure described "stichic" * paired lines (couplets) * paired lines in iambic pentrameters (heroic couplets) * Stanzas with 3 or 4 lines of verse (tercets/quatrains) * sonnet (2 tercets + 2 quatrains) ### Internal structure * break marked by shift of context or situation ## 4) Complex Phonological Structures ### Rhyme scheme * refers to rhyme at end of the line of verse (lend-rhyme) * internal rhyme (middle of line of verse) * by applying different criteria, differentiate between various types * **end-rhyme schemes** * Rhyming couplets (aa bb cc) * Alternate rhyme (abab coded) * Embracing/envelope rhyme (abba) * chain/interlocking rhyme (aba bcb colc) * Tail rhyme (aab ccb) * analysis of rhyme can yield insights into poem * new rhyme schemes: beginning of new unit of meaning ### Repetition of sounds * Alliteration (succession of words with some initial sound) * Milch macht müde Männer munter * Consonance (repetition of sequence of 2 or more consonants) * "Gobbets of blubber spill..." * Assonance (congruence between vowel sounds only) * "Blind eyes could-" * Onomatopoeia (use of words to imitate sounds) * patter, rattle, stuttering ### Functions of sound patterns * Hennancing content of poem by imitarting aspects of external reality (sounds & objects) + intermal processes + general aesthetic functions * what contribution they make to poem's potential meaning ## 6) Complex Semantic Structures ### Imagery as figurative mode of expression * figurative forms of expression & complex semantic structures * metaphor (word picture, actual meaning replaced through word) * original semantic field from which metaphorical term is taken is called "Source domain/donor field" * actual referent is "target domain/recipient field" * transfer of characteristics between Source & target * beyond Literature to include socio-cultural considerations * Denotation": literal + basic meaning of word * "Connotation": additional + peripheral meanings can be inferred from words associations ### Analysis * begin with identification of source & target domain * denotations & Connotations which are projected onto tenor by metaphor * evaluate potential effects + function * structure of metaphors p. 72 ### Metonymy: replacement of one word with another to which it is (onto-) logically or causally connected from same semantic field ## 5) Complex Morphological & Syntactic Structures * Rhetorical figures (repetition of words) * morphological figures (work on level of words + word formation) * syntactic figures (employed on level of sentence structure) * semantic figures (involving meanings of word/expressions) * pragmatic Figures (involving language use) ### Coherence produced by * circumstances of speaker/addressee, * thematic + formal elements that links various unit of meanings ### Word repetition * repetition of morphemes, words, groups of words, sentence components & entire sentences * Anaphora (rep. at beginning) * Epiphora (rep. at end) * Epanalepsis (rep. in close succession) * Anadiplosis (rep. end + next sentence beginning) ### Deviation of poetic syntax * p.67 * word repitition & Syntactic structures can aquire semantic function by means of interaction with content of poem * parallelism sets up special relation between expression & content * same structure "out of sight, out of mind" (Anaphora) * chiasmus:reversal of structure (Goerkrentstellung der Worte) "Four is foul and foul is fair" * Synecdoche: particular form of metonymy one term replaced by narrowed one. * Synaesthesia: fusion of several sensory impressions within one linguistic expression. * Isotopy: several images from same semantic field * most important semantic figures: p.74 **I don't mix up metaphort simile!!**