Drama and Hamlet

Elements of Drama There are three basic elements to drama. Dialogue – what characters say to one another. Action – what characters do in the play. Gesture – what character express through motion and expression. Things that will help you with drama analysis: Setting, structure, characterization, dramatic irony, theme Elements of Drama

Types of Drama There are two major types of drama. Tragedy Comedy It has been said that all of literature has two faces: The destruction of man (All tragedy ends in death and defeat) The continuation of life (All comedy ends in marriage) Types of Drama

Greek Tragedy There are three concepts in tragedy one must consider. Crisis of feeling – a painful or harmful experience that may hurt or harm the audience. Catharsis or Purgation – the audience is able to purge emotion through watching the play, and thus feel better; uplifted. Reversal/Peripeteia – the hero or heroine goes through a specific change in fortune for the worse (usually comes after a discovery) Greek Tragedy

Comedy There are three major types of comedy. Satire – mean barbs/jokes are aimed at people, ideas, or things, in order to improve, prevent, or correct something. Romantic – involves a love affair that does not run smoothly, but ends happily. Absurd (Black) – unusual, weird, or uncomfortable comedy that portrays the world as unstable. Comedy

Shakespeare’s Language It is through language that the plays’ full dramatic power is realized. People in Shakespeare’s own time found his plays difficult and bordering on intelligibility. “Read him, therefore, again and again; and if you do not like him, surely you are in some manifest danger not to understand him.” –Henry Condell Shakespeare’s Language

Word meaning has changed in the last 400 years. “let” “I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me” In this context, let means to “hinder”

Shakespeare’s words serve a dual function 1. In part, they describe what the character sees or does. 2. The words often also betrays the way a character feels.

Shakespeare’s plays are a mixture of verse and prose. The Merry Wives of Windsor” is only 13% verse. King John is entirely verse. Most plays are right about 70% verse. The verse is usually non-rhyming iambic pentameter (blank verse), though this is altered at points for effect. The stresses alert readers to things that are important (u’)

A nine syllable line ends unstressed, as does an 11 syllable line A nine syllable line ends unstressed, as does an 11 syllable line. This is called a feminine ending and can suggest pause or dramatic effect.

The prose is just as important. This shift from verse to prose is always representative of something. It could signify the shift from “high” social character to “low” social character (humor) Later on, Shakespeare used prose more in his comedies. Shifts in verse/prose may be emotional (i.e. The Merchant of Venice) Prose becomes representative of “daily-ness” or of common sense.

Things to consider in Hamlet Hamlet is William Shakespeare’s most studied play; there is a reason for that. The character Hamlet is an icon for modernity, meaning he has a modern, philosophical, introspective personality [conscience ](an odd thing to have for a warrior-prince). Consider the theme revenge. Consider the self. What does it mean to be yourself. Can you be patterned after another? Are you ever wholly original? Things to consider in Hamlet

More… Consider action vs. stasis. Consider fate vs. fortune vs. free will. Consider alienation. Consider Freud and psychoanalysis. Consider solitude vs. company. Consider belonging vs. autonomy. Consider paranoia. Consider Old Hamlet vs. Claudius vs. Young Hamlet. More…

Consider being “part” and “apart” (the age old existential crisis) Consider this: “The being of yourself, or the dream of being yourself, and that dream being spoiled by the bonds to others.” Consider being “part” and “apart” (the age old existential crisis) Consider false friendship. Consider the emptiness of social ritual. Consider forgiveness. Consider the obsession humans have with futurity.

Consider feeling too large for expression: “I feel the weight of what I say, because it’s never what I mean.” –YBF Consider “time being out of joint” Consider death as an escape from self. Consider what happens when your true self doesn’t fit with your role or the expectations of you.