Drama Kamau Clanagan Period 7 Friday, March 27, 2009

Drama Drama is a genre that is performed in front of an audience by actors. Drama is used in soap operas, sitcoms, horror movies, and Romeo & Juliet. All of these examples have unique elements like, comedy, tragedy, and dramatic conventions (stage directions, acts, and scenes).

Marty Marty is an example of a Comedy drama, which deals with light and amusing subjects or with serious subjects in a light, familiar, or with satirical manner. Marty is about a man named Marty who is looking for love, but is troubled by what he sees as his own unattractiveness. He is also pressured by others to find a wife.

Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story Romeo & Juliet and West Side Story are good examples of Tragedy Dramas, where the tragic hero suffers a fall from good fortune. Both of these dramas are about two unlucky lovers who fell in love in the middle of a feud between their people. In the end both of the lovers end up dead (in West Side Story only Tony end up dead). With the deaths of their people, at the cause of them, the feud ended.

Stage Directions Within the drama there are conventions like, stage directions.Stage directions are written instructions that explain how to perform a play, including how the characters should look, speak, move, and behave. They can also tell specific details about the setting and scenery. Ex: “[Romeo enters. He appears distracted and does not notice the others on stage.]” This tells the actor he should walk on stage pretending his mind is somewhere else and he should be oblivious that there’s other people on stage.

Chorus Chorus was represented by one actor, who often spoke both the epilogue and the prologue. Unlike the actors who engages in dialogue, the chorus spoke directly to the audience. Ex: “Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie, And young affection gapes to be his heir; That fair for which love groan’d for and would die, With tender Juliet match’d, is now not fair.” This is an example how chorus reads the prologue of Act 2 of Rome & Juliet to the audience.

Prologue In a prologue, it explains the setting, what’s going on, and what’s going to happen. Ex: “In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' feud. For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love and their parents' anger, which nothing but the children's deaths could stop. If you listen to us patiently, we'll make up for everything we've left out in this prologue onstage.” As you can see, this prologue from Romeo & Juliet to Act 1 tells the setting, what going on, and what’s going to happen.

Monologue, Soliloquy, and Asides The three dramatic devices are monologues, soliloquies, and asides. In a monologue a character speaks directly to another character or to him/herself. Ex: Mercutio: O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes in shape no bigger than a agate stone on the forefinger of an alderman…. In a soliloquy a character speaks his or her innermost thoughts when no other characters are on stage. In an aside, a character says something to the audience that the other characters are not supposed to hear.An aside reveals a character’s feelings or thoughts. Ex: “Juliet: ….And no longer be a Capulet. Romeo: [Aside.] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?” As you can see, Juliet didn’t and wasn’t suppose to hear that.

Blank Verse In Romeo & Juliet, the characters often spoke in blank verse, unrhymed iambic pentameter (there are 10 syllables per line, and every second syllable is stressed). Ex: Capulet- “Ready to go, but never to return. O son, the night before thy wedding day…”.

Three Types of Irony Irony itself is a contrast between appearance and reality. But there’re three types of irony: Situational Irony- the outcome of a situation that is the opposite of what is expected. Ex: In trying to stop Tybalt and Mercutio from dueling, Romeo causes Mercutio’s death. Verbal Irony- when a person says one thing but means another. Ex: Juliet-“Well, thou has comforted me marvelous much.”. She really means thanks for nothing. Dramatic Irony- when the reader or the audience knows something that the characters do not. Ex: Juliet dreams of her future with Romeo when we know that he has been banished.

Foil Characters Foil characters are characters who provide a strong contrast to another character. It may also stress another character’s unique traits or may make another character look better by comparison. Ex: Sampson serves as a foil character to Gregory because Sampson is violent and Gregory is not.

Oxymoron An oxymoron describes when two juxtaposed words have opposing or very diverse meanings. Ex: Juliet--"Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!" When Juliet refers to Romeo as a "beautiful tyrant," she is expressing an oxymoron because the acts of a tyrant will rarely be referred to as beautiful.

Allusion Allusion is a brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art. Ex: Juliet's allusion to the Phaeton myth describes her own Phaeton-like fall from an empyrean (a state of being) where all once seemed constant and completely understood. When Juliet learns of Tybalt's death and Romeo's banishment, her understanding of words and things breaks down.

Shakespeare’s Plot Tragedy Shakespeare’s Plot Tragedy follows the plot form of Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Resolution. The Romeo & Juliet play is made out of 5 Acts. Act 1 is the exposition when Romeo and Juliet first meet. Act 2 is the rising action when Romeo and Juliet get married. Act 3 is the climax when Romeo kills Tybalt. Act 4 is the falling action when Juliet fakes her death. Act 5 is the resolution when both Romeo and Juliet are dead. With them being dead, the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets ends.

Reference Me Text Book McKeesport Track team member