2. You need paper and something to write with today!
Elements of drama
You need paper and something to write with today!
© Julie Faulkner

3. Objective
Essential Question: How do an author’s choices develop a plot and characterization? Big Picture: We want to be able to recognize and analyze the elements of drama in a play so we can understand how an author’s choices develop plot, conflict, and characterization.

4. Drama
A drama is a work of literature meant to be performed for an audience by actors.
The word drama comes from the Greek verb dran, which means “to do.”

5. Elements of drama

6. Stage Directions
Directions written in parenthesis in a script to guide actors and directors
How to act, including emotions
How to set the stage
Can provide background information such as time, setting, mood, weather, etc.
Example: In the stage directions below, we are informed as to how Gaston should act as he rallies the village to attack the beast
(GASTON throws a torch into a haystack, creating an instant bonfire. He begins to prance around it, warning of the dangers of the horrible BEAST.)
The pens indicate they should write the information with that bullet point on their foldable.

7. Dialogue A conversation between two or more characters
Example: In the dialogue below, Belle tries to convince Gaston she’s not interested
GASTON: Hello, Belle.
BELLE: Bonjour Gaston. (GASTON grabs the book from BELLE) Gaston, may I have my book, please?
GASTON: How can you read this? There's no pictures!
BELLE: Well, some people use their imaginations.
GASTON: Belle, it's about time you got your head out of those books and paid attention to more important things...like me! The whole town's talking about it. It's not right for a woman to read--soon she starts getting ideas... and thinking.
BELLE: Gaston, you are positively primeval.
GASTON: Why thank you, Belle. Hey, whaddya say you and me take a walk over to the tavern and have a look at my hunting trophies.
BELLE: Maybe some other time.
Have student volunteers act out the example passage.
Youtube clip: Learn to control your

8. Monologue An uninterrupted speech given by one character
May or may not be directed at another character
Often gives extra information about the plot or characters
Have student volunteers act out the example passage.
Youtube clip: Host the

9. Soliloquy
An uninterrupted speech given by one character where the character is talking to himself/herself
to his/her soul, as in “soul”iloquy
Reveals innermost thoughts and concerns of the character.
Have student volunteers act out the example passage.
Youtube clip: When will my life

10. Aside (breaking the fourth wall)
A comment or look made by a character directly to the audience where the other characters can’t “hear” or “see” what is going on
Identified through stage directions
Can be spoken or a wordless look
Most of the time the other action freezes
Breaks the “fourth wall” on the stage means it breaks the invisible barrier between actors and audience.
Have student volunteers act out the example passage.
Youtube clip: Aladdin final scene (last bit of the

11. Use your phone or grab a computer from next door 
Elements research
Use your phone or grab a computer from next door 

12. Elements of drama and Macbeth research
I am looking for these terms to be defined as how they are essential to reading a dramatic work, particularly Shakespeare. A lot of these terms have multiple definitions but you are searching for the one that pertains to our study of the elements of drama.
Some of these terms we have heard and defined before! They pertain to drama as well.

13. Continuing on your notes research the following elements of drama and provide a definition for each term.
1. act: a division within a play, much like chapters of a novel 2. cast of characters: a list of characters presented before the action begins 3. chorus: a person or group of people who act as a narrator, commentator, or general audience to the action of the play 4. comedy: a humorous work of drama 5. foil: a character who is nearly opposite of another character that reveals aa stark contrast between the two characters, often the protagonist and the antagonist 6. scene: 7. tragedy: 8. tragic hero: 9. alliteration: 10. allusion: 11. blank verse: 12. comic relief:
13. double entendre:
14. dramatic irony:
15. euphemism:
16. foreshadowing:
17. imagery:
18. irony:
19. metaphor:
20. oxymoron:
21. personification:
22. prose:
23. pun:
24. reversal:
25. rhyming couplet:
26. simile: