Major 1 (Unit 1) PDF

Unit-1 Character, Plot, Hamartia, Peripeteia, Anagnorisis, Soliloquy, Aside, Backdrop, Paradox, Proscenium Arch, Supernatural Machinery, Conceit, Irony, Comedy, Ballad, Epic.  Character In simple words, qualities and features make a person different from others. A character is a person, animal, be...

Unit-1 Character, Plot, Hamartia, Peripeteia, Anagnorisis, Soliloquy, Aside, Backdrop, Paradox, Proscenium Arch, Supernatural Machinery, Conceit, Irony, Comedy, Ballad, Epic.  Character In simple words, qualities and features make a person different from others. A character is a person, animal, being, creature, or thing in a story. Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as possessing particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it. Character: A character is a person, animal, being, creature, or thing in a literary work; People and animals who are in a story. Characterization: The methods/process a writer uses to develop the personality of the character. Character traits: The individual qualities that make each character unique. Protagonist: The main character in a literary work. Antagonist: A character in conflict with the main character Round characters are multifaceted and lifelike, while flat characters are the stereotypes of storytelling. Flat characters often follow predictable tropes and are less relatable, whereas round characters offer surprise and complex layers to their personality, like real people. In most cases, the lead character(s) in a story are round because they are the most complex and interesting. Meanwhile, supporting characters are usually better left flat. Flat Character:- A flat character is built around “a single idea or quality” and presented without much individualizing detail, and therefore can be described adequately in a single phrase or sentence. Mrs. Micawber in Charles Dicken’s David Copperfield (1849-50). Round Character:- A round character is complex in temperament and motivation and is represented with subtle particularity; such a character therefore is as difficult to describe with any adequacy as a person in real life, and like real persons, is capable of surprising us. Hamlet is an example.  Plot The plan, design, scheme or pattern of events in a play, work of fiction; and, further, the organization of incident and character in such a way as to induce curiosity and suspense in the spectator or reader. In the space/time continuum of plot, the continual question operates in three tenses: Why did that happen? Why is this happening? What is going to happen next – and why? (To which may be added: And – is anything going to happen?) In Poetics, Aristotle includes plot as one of the six elements in tragedy. For Aristotle, it is the ‘first principle’ and ‘the soul of a tragedy’. He calls plot ‘the imitation of the action’, as well as the arrangement of the incidents. He required a plot to be ‘whole’ (that is, to have a beginning, a middle and an end) and that it should have unity, namely ‘imitate one action and that a whole, the structural union of the parts being such that, if any one of them is displaced or removed, the whole will be disjointed and disturbed.’ Notice also that a plot is distinguishable from the story—that is, a bare synopsis of the temporal order of what happens. When we summarize the story in a literary work, we say that first, this happens, then that, then that, and so on. It is only when we specify how this is related to that by causes and motivations, and in what ways all these matters are rendered, ordered, and organized so as to achieve their particular effects that a synopsis begins to be adequate to the plot. There is a great variety of plot forms. For example, some plots are designed to achieve tragic effects, and others to achieve the effects of comedy, romance, satire, or some other genre. Each of these types, in turn, exhibits diverse plot patterns and may be represented in the mode either of drama or of narrative, and either in verse or prose The chief character in a plot, on whom our interest centers, is called the protagonist (or alternatively, the hero or heroine), and if the plot is such that he or she is pitted against an important opponent, that character is called the antagonist. Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist, or heroine, of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813); Hamlet is the protagonist and King Claudius is the antagonist in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and the relation between them is one of conflict. If the antagonist is evil or capable of cruel and criminal actions, he or she is called the villain. A more homely approach than Aristotle’s is that of E. M. Forster. In Aspects of the Novel (1927), he provided a simple but very serviceable description of plot: ‘We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and the queen died,” is a story. “The king died and then the queen died of grief,” is a plot. The time-sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it. Or again: “The queen died, no one knew why, until it was discovered that it was through grief at the death of the king.” This is a plot with a mystery in it, a form capable of high development.  Plots are typically made up of five main elements: 1. Exposition: At the beginning of the story, characters, setting, and the main conflict are typically introduced.  2. Rising Action: The main character is in crisis and events leading up to facing the conflict begin to unfold. The story becomes complicated.  3. Climax: At the peak of the story, a major event occurs in which the main character faces a major enemy, fear, challenge, or other source of conflict. The most action, drama, change, and excitement occur here.  4. Falling Action: The story begins to slow down and work towards its end, tying up loose ends.  5. Resolution: Also known as the denouement, the resolution is like a concluding paragraph that resolves any remaining issues and ends the story.  Hamartia  (Gk ‘error’) Primarily, an error of judgement which may arise from ignorance or some shortcoming. Discussing tragedy and the tragic hero in Poetics, Aristotle points out that the tragic hero ought to be a man whose misfortune comes to him, not through vice or depravity, but by some error.  Hamartia—“error” or “mistake of judgment” or, as it is often, although misleadingly and less literally translated, the tragic flaw. (One common form of hamartia in Greek tragedies was hubris, that “pride” or overweening self-confidence which leads a protagonist to disregard a divine warning or to violate an important moral law).  For example: Hamlet’s hamartia is his indecision and doubt, which leads to tragedy. Peripeteia A sudden and dramatic reversal in circumstances or fortune. It creates a turning point that significantly alters the story’s direction. In Aristotle’s Greek term, peripety, in the protagonist’s fortunes, whether to the protagonist’s failure or destruction, as in tragedy, or success, as in comic plots. (Gk ‘sudden change’) Peripety is a reversal of fortune; a fall. In drama, usually the sudden change of fortune from prosperity to ruin; but it can be the other way about.  Anagnorisis (Gk ‘recognition’) A term used by Aristotle in Poetics to describe the moment of recognition (of truth) when ignorance gives way to knowledge. This is the recognition by the protagonist of something of great importance hitherto unknown to him or to her. According to Aristotle, the ideal moment of anagnorisis coincides with peripeteia, or reversal of fortune.  Soliloquy:- It is possible that St. Augustine of Hippo coined this compound in Latin: soliloquium, from solus, ‘alone’ and loqui, ‘to speak’. A soliloquy is a speech, often of some length, in which a character, alone on the stage, expresses his/her thoughts and feelings. Soliloquy is the act of talking to oneself, whether silently or aloud. In drama, it denotes the convention by which a character, alone on the stage, utters his or her thoughts aloud. However, it is not supposed to be heard by anyone on stage, and is spoken when no other actor is present on the stage. Playwrights have used this device as a convenient way to convey information about a character’s motives and state of mind, or for purposes of exposition, and sometimes in order to guide the judgments and responses of the audience  Aside:- A related stage device is the aside, in which a character expresses to the audience his or her thought or intention in a short speech which, by convention, is inaudible to the other characters on the stage. It is the shortest form of soliloquy. Backdrop:- In literature, a backdrop refers to the general conditions within which a story takes place. It is a fundamental component of fiction, along with the plot, character, theme, and style. A backdrop is more generic, like a story that takes place in an unnamed small town. The scenery behind something that you are looking at. The backdrop to an object or a scene is what you see behind it. A backdrop is a large piece of cloth, often with scenery painted on it, that is hung at the back of a stage while a play is being performed. A backdrop helps readers understand the setting, but it does not affect the plot. It is often vague and simple, so readers can use their imagination to fill in the details. Paradox The word “paradox” comes from the Greek word paradoxons, which means contrary to expectation. A “paradox” is a statement that seems on its face to be logically contradictory or absurd, yet turns out to be interpretable in a way that makes sense. The paradox is used occasionally by almost all poets but was a persistent and central device in seventeenth-century metaphysical poetry, in both its religious and secular forms. such as Hamlet’s line: ‘I must be cruel only to be kind’. Proscenium Arch A proscenium arch is the frame that surrounds a stage and separates the audience from the actors. In the conventional theatre with a proscenium arch that frames the front of the stage, the end of a scene is usually indicated by a dropped curtain or a dimming of the lights, and the end of an act by a dropped curtain and an intermission. The term “proscenium” comes from the Greek word proskēnion, which originally referred to a row of colonnades, a raised acting platform, or the entire acting area in ancient Greek theatre. The first modern proscenium was installed in 1618–19 at the Farnese Theatre in Parma, Italy. Supernatural Machinery Supernatural machinery is a term used to describe supernatural beings that participate in the action of a dramatic work or epic poem. These beings include gods, angels, devils, nymphs, and more. Supernatural machinery is a term that refers to the involvement of gods or other supernatural entities in the unfolding of a story, a common device in ancient epic poems like Homer’s “Iliad” and Virgil’s “Aeneid.” Conceit Conceit is a figure of speech that uses elaborate means to establish a parallel between two dissimilar things. Conceit, by contrast, tends to compare things that are strikingly—indeed surprisingly—different. Originally meaning simply a ‘concept’, conceit now refers to an extended, often elaborate metaphor which invites an unexpected comparison or parallel, particularly in poetry. A conceit might augment the major theme of a poem or constitute the governing principle of an entire poem. “A broken heart is like a damaged clock.” The so-called ‘metaphysical conceits’ were popular among poets of the 17th century and plundered a wide range of discourses, including the (pseudo) scientific, geographical and mercantile, for their effect. Particularly common in the Elizabethan sonnet tradition is the ‘Petrarchan conceit’. The conceit in John Donne’s poem ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ contains one of the most famous conceits in all of literature: that in which the speaker likens himself and his lover to two points of a draftsman’s compass. If they be two, they are two so As stiff twin compasses are two Irony A mode of discourse for conveying meanings different from, and usually opposite to, the professed or ostensible ones. There are several kinds of irony, though they fall into two main categories: Verbal and situational. If it arises out of what is said, it is Verbal Irony. Verbal irony would occur if a character walked out into a horrible blizzard and said, “What nice weather we are having!” Disguise is often a fruitful source of verbal irony. If it arises out of what is done, it is Irony of Situation. A firehouse burns down. Finding cash in your wallet after stopping at an ATM. A tweet complains about the ineffectiveness of Twitter. Comedy: In the most common literary application, a “comedy” is a fictional work in which the materials are selected and managed primarily in order to interest and amuse us: the characters and their discomfitures engage our pleasurable attention rather than our profound concern, we are made to feel confident that no great disaster will occur, and usually the action turns out happily for the chief characters. The term “comedy” is customarily applied only to plays for the stage or to motion pictures and television dramas; it should be noted, however, that the comic form of plot, as just defined, also occurs in prose fiction and narrative poetry. A situation which to a comic character seems dangerous (likely to erode or destroy self-esteem, comfort, or worldly success), but which implies no great threat to the audience or humanity in general, is a typical comic situation. The first English dramatic comedy, Nicholas Udall’s Ralph Roister Doister (c. 1553). Shakespeare’s early experiments were The Comedy of Errors (c. 1590), based on the Menaechmi of Plautus, The Taming of the Shrew (c. 1594), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1594–5) and Love’s Labour’s Lost (c. 1595). These were followed by A Midsummer Night’s Dream (c. 1595–6), another romantic comedy (q.v.), and The Merchant of Venice (c. 1596), a romantic comedy combined with serious elements. Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598), a departure in so far as it might be considered a comedy of manners, was followed by another romantic comedy, As You Like It (c. 1599). The Merry Wives of Windsor featured one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated comic characters in Falstaff, who had already appeared in earlier history plays, both parts of Henry IV. Ballad Like ballade and ballet, the word derives from the late Latin and Italian ballare ‘to dance’. Fundamentally a ballad is a song that tells a story and originally was a musical accompaniment to a dance. The ballad is an ancient poetic form which, in Europe, flourished from the late Middle Ages, treating topics from legend and folklore as well as from local and national history. A short definition of the popular ballad (also called the folk ballad or traditional ballad) is that it is a song, transmitted orally, which tells a story. Ballads are thus the narrative species of folk songs, which originate, and are communicated orally. We can distinguish certain basic characteristics common to large numbers of ballads: (a) the beginning is often abrupt; (b) the language is simple; (c) the story is told through dialogue and action; (d) the theme is often tragic (though there are a number of comic ballads); (e) there is often a refrain (A word, phrase or line repeated at intervals within a poem, especially at the end of a stanza). To these features we may add: a ballad usually deals with a single episode; the events leading to the crisis are related swiftly; there is minimal detail of surroundings; there is a strong dramatic element; there is considerable intensity and immediacy in the narration; the narrator is impersonal; imagery is sparse and simple. Examples:- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)  La Belle Dame Sans Merci (John Keats) Epic It is a long verse narrative on a serious subject, told in a formal and elevated style, and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe, a nation, or (in the instance of John Milton’s Paradise Lost) the human race. A long narrative poem, on a grand scale, about the deeds of warriors or heroes, incorporating myth, legend, folk tale and history. Epics are often of national significance in the sense that they embody the history and aspirations of a nation in a lofty or grandiose manner. Epics are understood to belong to one of two categories: (a) primary – also known as oral or primitive; and (b) secondary – or literary. The first is composed orally; only much later, in some cases, it is written down. The second is written down at the start. There is a standard distinction between traditional and literary epics. “Traditional epics” (also called “folk epics” or “primary epics”) were written versions of what had originally been oral poems about a tribal or national hero during a warlike age. Among these are the Iliad and Odyssey that the Greeks ascribed to Homer; the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf. The literary kind of epic is Virgil’s Latin poem the Aeneid, which later served as the chief model for Milton’s literary epic Paradise Lost (1667).