UNIT 4 Drama PDF

UNIT 4: DRAMA - The *best traditional symbol of drama is a **pair of masks, one sad and mournful** (signifying tragedy)* and one happy and joyful (indicating comedy). - ***[TRAGEDY]*** Many of our ideas of tragedy go back to ancient Greece. **The plays of the Greek dramatists** - The...

UNIT 4: DRAMA - The *best traditional symbol of drama is a **pair of masks, one sad and mournful** (signifying tragedy)* and one happy and joyful (indicating comedy). - ***[TRAGEDY]*** Many of our ideas of tragedy go back to ancient Greece. **The plays of the Greek dramatists** - The tragic hero is fallible. He is not cut out to be a superhero. His downfall is the result, as **Some examples of tragedies are:** 1. 2. 3. 4. ***[COMEDY]*** The word comedy originated from the Greek ***komos*** which means "a revel or celebration." - *Comedy is divided into two varieties -- "high" and "low."* - - A regular comedy is a play of **[one to five acts]**, which is light and half-serious, with interjections of humor and wit. The play is not intended to be heavy and the conversations are witty and filled with comicality. As opposed to either a novel or a short story, a play is a genre of literature that tells a story in which it is mounted on stage and actors represent the characters. - - - ***[PLOT AND DRAMA STRUCTURE]*** When we talk about the dramatic structure of a play, ***we refer to plot***, just like in a novel or short story. - **[The physical format of a play is divided into acts,]** which are the major divisions of a play. - Just like in a prose narrative, the plot of a drama revolves around a conflict: **a) person versus himself/herself;** **b) person versus another person; c) person versus group/society; d) person versus nature/environment; or e) person versus God/universe.** Each sequence is organized in a way that it builds up the action and tension is achieved, creating an impact on the audience. **[Exposition and Introduction]** - Sometimes, the introduction begins with the conflict right away. This is called *[in medias res (in the middle of the action)]*. At times, you are given hints of the impending conflict. - ***[CONFLICT]*** - - - ***[RISING ACTION OR COMPLICATION]*** - - ***[TURNING POINT, CLIMAS, CRISIS]*** - - ***[FALLING ACTION]*** - - ***[DENOUEMENT OR RESOLUTION]*** - **[Tone in Drama]** **Drama is very similar with prose,** specifically with the narrative form, in terms of the elements utilized by the writer in setting the tone such as the use of language and revelation of the characters. - - ***[KEY CONCEPTS]*** 1. - - 2. 3. 4. ***[CHARACTERS]*** The characters in your play must be fully developed, as close to real people as you can make them. - a. -- Men and women react differently to certain issues and events. b. -- People of the middle class speak a different language from poor people. c. -- The elderly and the young do not have the same lingo and expression. d. \- An educated person will have a dissimilar outlook or view from an out- of-school person. e. -- People who are married or are in committed relationships usually behave and think differently from single and uncommitted ones. f. -- People are governed by their work and earnings. Their actions are justified because of the nature of their occupation. g. -- People of different upbringings make different choices in given situations. h. -- Political beliefs can powerfully affect what a person opts to do. ***[DIALOGUE]*** *Dialogue is the primary and most significant component in a play.* - Drama lacks the more direct communication between writer and reader usually found in works that are not designed to be acted out. In a novel or a short story, the writer can just describe or designate words or descriptions either to the character themselves or to the general narrative of the work. - ***[dos and don'ts in dialogue writing]*** 1. In reality, people do not speak in perfect English or Filipino when they talk to each other. They also do not speak in complete sentences like a teacher would require a student to speak in front of a class. 2. Clichés like "honesty is the best policy" or "God is good" are trite expressions. They make dialogues sound dull, uninspired and meaningless. **Avoid using them.** 3. People in real life do not address one another by mentioning their names too often because it sounds silly and irritating. - 4. Try to avoid having characters speak kilometric lines without interruption or responses from other characters. **In real life, people usually alternate remarks in a communication exchange,** even cutting in on one another. - 5. The theme of the **play should be naturally conveyed to the audience** through the series of events happening in the play, and not through the dialogues of the characters. - ***Dramatic action defines the behavior and disposition of the characters in establishing whether s/he is static (unchanging) or developing (changing).*** - ***[FIGURES OF SPEECH AND IMAGERY USED IN LITERATURE]*** **Simile** -- is an expressed comparison between two unlike things. It uses like or as to signal the comparison. - - **Metaphor** -- is an implied comparison between two unlike things. - - **Personification** -- is giving human attributes to inanimate objects or abstract things. - - **Apostrophe** -- is addressing objects as real persons, the absent as though they were present and the dead as though they were alive. - - **Hyperbole** -- is the use of exaggeration for effect or humor. - - **Oxymoron** -- the combination of two contradictory words. - - **Irony** -- is incongruity of three kinds: [Verbal irony] -- incongruity between what is said and what is actually meant. - [Situational irony] -- refers to a situation which is the opposite of what is expected, planned or - - [Dramatic irony] -- happens when the reader or audience knows more than the characters do. - - **Alliteration** -- is the recurrence of initial consonant sounds in words arranged closely together. - - **Onomatopoeia** -- the use of a word whose sound suggests the meaning. - - **Metonymy** -- consists of substituting a noun for another noun to suggest it. - - **Synecdoche** -- substituting a part for a whole, an individual for a class or a material for the thing. - - **Periphrasis** -- substituting a descriptive phrase for a name. - - **Euphemism** -- substituting an inoffensive word for one that is harsh or unpleasant. - - **Climax** -- the arrangement of words or ideas set according to their degree of importance; thus, the last appears most valuable. - **Anti-climax** -- a real apparent or ludicrous decrease in the importance of what is said, as opposed to climax. - **Anti-thesis** -- equating or balancing two opposing ideas. - - **Pun** -- a play on words with humorous witty effects. - - **Allusion** -- reference to any literary, biblical, socio-political, scientific or mythological event or character. - - **Paradox** -- a contradictory but true statement. - **Assonance** -- recurrence of initial vowel sounds in words arranged closely together. *Alone, alone all, all alone* *Alone in a wide, wide sea* *And never a soul took pity on* *My soul in agony.* **Anaphora** -- repeating a word or phrase in the beginning of several verses, clauses or sentences. - **Visual** -- a picture in words; something visualizable and concrete. - **Auditory** -- something that you can hear through your mind's ears. - - **Olfactory** -- something that you can smell through your mind's nose. - - **Gustatory** -- something that you can taste through your mind's tongue. - - **Tactile** -- something that you can touch through your mind's skin. - - **Thermal** -- images depicting temperature - - **Erotic** -- images suggesting sensation and feeling. - -