World of drama The kind of play The physical world of the play The central theme Characters defined Plot Sources Style Outstanding feature of the play

The kind of drama One has to recognize the importance of ‘placing’ a play in the generic sense. It is important to explain in the beginning of any analysis that the play does belong to the type known as…..(kind of drama, example : Restoration Comedy etc)

The physical World of the Play It would be futile to enter immediately into a discussion of the play without some brief explanation of the physical world in which it takes place. First of all explaining the location. It has symbolic or historical significance By placing the play in time and space we are clarifying the larger world with which the playwright is concerned

The central Theme Every play has one dominating idea which we call the theme This is the significance of any drama and that dimension of the artist’s labor which outlives entertainment value

Characters defined Part of any first general definition of a drama should refer to the major characters in a literal and informative manner That is, we should briefly note that the play has a certain number of characters.

Plot We should present a brief synopsis of the major action of the drama in question so that the characters’ relationships will become clarified by reference to the main events of the play

Sources A less significant but nevertheless essential part of any opening definition of a drama is some sort of reference to the source of the drama That is we should at least insert parenthetically or in apposition the place where the play story was probably discovered

style A definition should at least some mention , however brief, of the basic style of the play.

Outstanding feature of the play If there is some one aspect of the entire play. In either construction, meaning, or style, it should be separately noticed and emphasized accordingly. In many plays no one aspect will be so dominant that it needs to be especially noticed.