Drama

A drama is a story enacted onstage for a live audience. What Is Drama?

Origins of Drama Origins of Drama The word drama comes from the Greek verb dram, which means “to do.” The word drama comes from the Greek verb dram, which means “to do.” The earliest known plays... The earliest known plays... were written around the fifth century B.C. were written around the fifth century B.C. produced for festivals to honor Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility produced for festivals to honor Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility

Many people assume that the first drama was based on four things: the mimetic faculty, sympathetic magic, a belief in gods, and a fear of starvation. - Many people assume that the first drama was based on four things: the mimetic faculty, sympathetic magic, a belief in gods, and a fear of starvation. 1-Dram is the most natural of the arts, being based on one of the most fundamental of the human and animal faculties- the faculty of imitation. 1-Dram is the most natural of the arts, being based on one of the most fundamental of the human and animal faculties- the faculty of imitation. -The mimetic faculty makes us all actors from the cradle. -The mimetic faculty makes us all actors from the cradle. 2-Magic:the primitive human societies learned to control the outside world through magic: inscriptions, a charm, prayer, or an invocation of spirits. 2-Magic:the primitive human societies learned to control the outside world through magic: inscriptions, a charm, prayer, or an invocation of spirits. -The most important kind of magic was sympathetic magic. -The most important kind of magic was sympathetic magic.

-Fertility myths: the living time and dead time. The contest bet. The god of life & the god of death. -If a wax image represents a man, a man should represent a god: actors representing gods,the plot depicting the merciless contest bet. gods. The climax is the death of the god of life, and the dénouement is his resurrection that would consequently bring about fertility. This is drama, but it is also religion.

A tragedy is a play that ends unhappily. Tragedies pit human limitations against the larger forces of destiny. right and wrong justice and injustice life and death Tragedy Most classic Greek tragedies deal with serious, universal themes such as

The protagonist of most classical tragedies is a tragic hero. This hero is noble and in many ways admirable has a tragic flaw, a personal failing that leads to a tragic end rebelliousness jealousy pride Tragedy

Greek Tragedy  Tragedy comes from tragos, the Greek word for a goat: fertility. -The first tragedies were mere dances around sacrificial goat.  The great Greek dramatists-Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides-wrote religious drama geared towards portraying the moral relation bet. Gods and men, having always an instructive moral purpose

 Oedipus: disease, famine. Parricide& incest. Gods are just: suicide of his mother& self inflected blindness are means of expiating his crime.  Pity& fear.  Purgation.  Milton:' calm of mind, all passion spent'.  Catharsis: Aristotle said that the function of tragedy was purgation of the feelings through the arousing of pity and terror.

 Oedipus: disease, famine. Parricide& incest. Gods are just: suicide of his mother& self inflected blindness are means of expiating his crime.  Pity& fear.  Purgation.  Milton:' calm of mind, all passion spent'.  Catharsis: Aristotle said that the function of tragedy was purgation of the feelings through the arousing of pity and terror.

Greek vs Shakespearian Tragedy  Greek tragedy: no free will, the gods are in control of a man's destiny.  Shakespearian hero: Choiced, has free will.Example:Othello&Hamlet.  Greek tragedies have so little influence on English drama because of the immense difference bet. the Greek view of life and the Christian one: fate vs free will.

A comedy is a play that ends happily. The plot usually centers on a romantic conflict. boy meets girl boy loses girl boy wins girl Comedy  Comedy comes from the Greek komos, meaning a revel, the sort of rough country party which honored the god Dionysus(god of vegetation).

 Roman drama assumed more influence on English drama, particularly Seneca:the gods may have the monopoly of power but not of virtue.  Greek and Roman comedies: The main purpose of classical comedy is to make us laugh at the follies of mankind and correct those follies in ourselves.

Dramatic unities:  One admirable thing about the Greek tragic dramatists is their sense of form.  The traditional unities of Greek drama- one plot(action), one day(time).Renaissance dramatists dded a third unity, that of place. Shakespeare emerged to violate all these unities.

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