Drama

Like Fiction Makes use of plot and characters, Develops themes Arouses emotional responses Literary or commercial in its representation of reality

Unlike Fiction It is written entirely to be performed It normally presents its action Through actors On a stage Before an audience

Impact Because a play presents its action through actors, the impact is direct, immediate, heightened Experience of the play is registered immediately – may be more fuller or more compact A work of literature may describe a man – how he walks, how he dresses, how he moves, how he looks, etc… Actors present this information all at once Simultaneous impressions are not temporally separated Through facial expressions, gesture, speech rhythm, and intonation – an actor can make a speaker’s words more expressive than can the reader’s unaided imagination Thus, a play by skilled actors – expertly directed – gives the playwright a tremendous source of power

Point of View Objective or dramatic Playwrights – are limited – cannot Comment on the action or the characters Enter the minds of their characters and tell us what is going on there Authorial commentary risks distorting characterization and leaving the character’s reliability uncertain – soliloquy and aside

Soliloquy and aside Used sparingly Interrupt action Inappropriate in a realistic mode

Attention Stage is lighted Theater is dark Extraneous noises are shut out Spectators are almost pinned in their seats – nothing to distract Playwright is not dependent on the power of words alone

Limiting Confined to a stage rather than the imagination’s vast arena For the most part – they must present human beings in spoken interaction with each other Cannot present complex actions Shifting scenes is more difficult in the twinkling of an eye – cannot whisk readers from heaven to earth

Cannot present warfare on a grand scale Cannot present realistic fantasy or bring shots of outiside actions – like space as efficiently Cannot present wounds on a grand scale

Changing scenes In ancient theatre and in some modern plays – scenery was very simple – dependent upon the audiences imagination Switching depends upon The elaborateness of the stage setting The means by which one scene is separated from another

Greek theatre – chorus and costumes Modern theatre – darkening and illuminating A playwright – even with switch changes cannot be as fast as a writer of prose fiction – reader’s minds can shift faster

Communal experience Before an audience – the experience is communal Spectator’s response can be influenced by the other spectators’ responses Intensified

Drama Imposes sharp limitations but holds an opportunity for extraordinary force

Types of drama Realistic - Nonrealistic – surrealistic experience and representation, breaks from conventions

More types Tragedy Comedy Melodrama Farce Romantic satiric

Foils Major/minor characters Themes Didactic Dramatic exposition – narration?

Types of drama Tragedy Comedy What is the difference?

Catharsis Do we imitate art? Do we live through it?

Imitate it Censorship

Live through it Catharsis – experiencing something so that we don’t have to do it ourselves – gives us perspective Deeper than simply seeing it and experiencing it – it is the feeling

Tragic Hero Hamartia The tragic hero is hardly a bad person – his misfortunes result from what Aristotle calls Hamartia A criminal act committed in ignorance of some material fact or even for the sake of the greater good. A tragic plot has unity – the events do not simply follow one another – they happen because of each other.

Best tragic plots Involve a reversal or a discovery

Tragic Hero A man of noble stature – has a greatness about him – in Shakespeare he is usually a king or prince If the hero’s fall is to rouse emotion – he or she must fall from a great heigt We look at what could be and lament

The tragic hero is good – not perfect – and his fall results form what Aristotle calls Hamartia – an act of injustice either through ignorance or from a conviction that the greater good will be served The act is a criminal one and the good hero is still responsible for it. Even if he is totally unaware of the crminality

Aristotle’s view is natural order – the tragic flaw being the only downfall as some modern critics think implies that the world works on personality alone – not actions Tragic Flaw – a fault of character or excessive virtue

Accidents, villainy, or fate may contribute to the downfall but only as cooperating agents – they are not alone responsible Tragic rather than pathetic

The hero’s downfall is not wholly deserved – the punishment usually exceeds the crime We do not come away from a tragedy with the feeling of “he got what he deserved” but rather with the sad sense of a waste of human potential The hero reveals to us the dimensions of human possibility

His fall can fill us with pity and fear

The tragic fall Not pure loss Although it may result in death – it involves some increase in awareness, some gain in self-knowledge – some discovery – a change from ignorance to knowledge Often this increase in wisdom involves some sort of reconciliation with the universe or with the protagonist’s situation – he exits not cursing his fate but accepting it

Emotions The tragic fall arouses solemn emotions – pity and fear – Aristotle – compassion and awe are better terms Though the hero may be defeated – he at least has dared greatly and he gains understanding from his defeat as do we

Comic mask Is it laughing or smiling – usually we laugh at something but we smile with someone –a laugh has a cruelty whereas a smile has a reassurance. Comedy lies between satire and romance Scornful comedy or satiric comedy Romantic comedy

Difference between comedy and tragedy Depiction of human nature Tragedy emphasizes human greatness and comedy delineates human weakness Comedy exposes human folly – its function is partly critical and corrective Characters are sensible and good in a comedy and in a tragedy they are noble, aspiring, and grand.

Norms of comedy are primarily social Comedies put the protagonist in the center to show who they are – tragedies isolate the protagonist Comic plots have less of a logical cause and effect progression – outrageous violations of probability