Upgrade to remove ads
Only $2.99/month

Literature Drama Vocabulary

Terms in this set (54)

Drama*
Derived from the Greek dran, "to do," drama means "action" or "deed." Drama is the form of literary composition designed for performance in the theater, in which actors take the roles of the characters, perform the indicated action, and speak the written dialogue
Dramatic question
The primary unresolved issue in a drama as it unfolds. The dramatic question is the result of artful plotting, raising suspense and expectation in a play's action as
it moves toward its outcome
Dramatic situation
The basic conflict that initiates a work or establishes a scene. It usually describes both a protagonist's motivation and the forces that oppose its realization
Multiple Plots
Two or more different but related lines of action in the play
Main Plot*
The main story that drives the plot of the whole play and includes the actions of the main characters and the events that happen to them
Subplot*
A secondary line of action in a literary work that often comments directly or obliquely on the main plot. Also called a double plot.
Act and Scene
An act is a "unit" of a play. A scene is one set of actions within an act. Scenes build to a climax. There can be several acts with several scenes or an act with one scene only. There is no set convention for the number of acts and scenes, other than the playwright's "vision" of how to best lay out the plot
Characters
Persons created by the playwright to embody the play's actions, ideas and attitudes through their interactions with each other
Dialogue*
Conversation of two or more players
Monologue*
Lines spoken by a single character who is usually alone onstage
Soliloquy*
An extended speech in which a character, alone on the stage, addresses himself or herself; it is a dramatic means of letting the audience know the character's thoughts and feelings
Aside*
A short speech delivered by a character to the audience or another character, with the idea that only the intended character and the audience can hear it
Performance
An individual production of a play, either for an evening or for an extended period, comprising acting, movement, lighting, sound effects, staging and scenery, ticket sales, and the accommodation of the audience
Stage directions*
The playwright's instructions about facial and vocal expression, movement and action, gestures and body language, stage appearance, lighting, etc
Blocking*
In the performance of a play, the grouping and movement of characters on stage
Stage business*
The gestures, expressions, and general activity (beyond blocking) of actors onstage. Usually, business is designed to create laughter. It is often spontaneous
Sets
A built "location" that sets the scene in a play. It could be a place, such as a living room, a graveyard, or a detached and indeterminate place such as an open stage with just lighting to create atmosphere. A naturalistic/realistic setting is an elaborate set that is built to create as lifelike and complete a location for the set as possible. It could be multiple rooms in a house, for instance. A nonrealistic setting is often symbolic and doesn't contain a physical room as a set
Costumes
The clothes worn by actors, designed to indicate historical periods, social status, economic levels, etc
Proscenium stage*
An arch that frames a box set and holds the curtain, creating the invisible fourth wall through which the audience sees the action of the play. This kind of stage is how most modern theaters are built. Also called a picture-frame stage
Thrust (apron) stage*
A stage that projects into the auditorium area, thus increasing the space for action
Theater-in-the-round*
A theater arrangement, often outdoors, in which the audience totally surrounds the stage, with all actors entering and exiting along the same aisles used by the
audience
Props
The objects, furniture, and the like used on stage during a play
Lighting
The many types, positions, directions, and intensities of artificial lights used in the theater
Protagonist
The first or leading actor, usually the central character, in the play
Antagonist
The character against whom the protagonist struggles in conflict; opposes the protagonist
Antihero
A protagonist who is lacking in one or more of the conventional qualities attributed to a hero. Instead of being dignified, brave, idealistic, or purposeful, for instance, the antihero may be buffoonish, cowardly, self-interested, or weak. This is a more modern
form of characterization, a satiric or realistic commentary on traditional portrayals of idealized heroes or heroines
Conflict
When two forces oppose each other. Types of conflict include character vs. character; character vs. self; character vs. nature; character vs. society. Conflict drives the plot. Conflict can arise from another character, external events, preexisting situations, fate,
or even some aspect of the character's own personality
Round Characters
Grow and change in their roles and verbal expressions; learns from experience and develops some form of understanding and ability to make decisions
Flat Characters
Static, fixed, unchanging people in the drama; they can be witty, charming, funny, but they do not change or develop self-awareness or a deep awareness of others
Realistic Characters
Seem like real individuals with thoughts, motives, desires and personalities
Nonrealistic Characters
Undeveloped or symbolic characters
Stock Characters
Characters who represent a stereotype, such as a corrupt politician or a prostitute with a heart of gold
Ancillary Characters
Set off or highlight the protagonist and provide insight into the action. Foil: A type of ancillary character - compared and contrasted with the protagonist
Choric Figure*
Another type of ancillary character who is similar to the choruses of Greek drama. Usually a single character and a confidant of the protagonist. If this character is
heard to express ideas about the play's major issues/actions, he/she is then known as a raisonneur (reasoned) or commentator
Dramatic irony
A type of irony in which a character perceives his/her plight in a limited way while the audience and one or more of the other characters understand it entirely
Situational irony
A type of irony emphasizing that human beings are enmeshed in forces beyond their comprehension and control or an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected - the difference between what is expected to happen and what
actually does
Verbal irony
A statement in which the speaker or writer says the opposite of what is really meant. For example, if you trip, someone might say, "How graceful you are!"
Comedy
A literary work aimed at amusing an audience. In traditional comic plotting, the action often involves the adventures of young lovers, who face obstacles and complications that threaten disaster but are overturned at the last moment to produce a happy ending. This
is known as Romantic comedy: Sympathetic comedy that presents the adventures of young lovers trying to overcome opposition and achieve a successful union.
There can be comic elements in tragedies. This is known as comic relief, the appearance of a comic situation in the midst of a serious action that introduces a sharp contrast in mood
High comedy
A comic genre evoking so-called intellectual or thoughtful laughter from an audience that remains emotionally detached from the play's depiction of the folly, pretense, and incongruity of human behavior. A comedy of manners is a type of this, which focuses
on the social relations and amorous intrigues of sophisticated upper-class men and women, conducted through witty repartee and verbal combat
Tragedy
The representation of serious and important actions that lead to a disastrous end for the protagonist. Unified tragic action, from beginning to end, brings a morally good but flawed tragic hero from happiness to unhappiness because of a mistaken act, to which he or
she is led by a hamartia, an error in judgment. Tragic heroes move us to pity because their misfortunes are greater than they deserve, because they are not evil, having committed the fateful deed or deeds unwittingly and involuntarily. They also move us to fear, because we recognize in ourselves similar possibilities of error
Tragicomedy
Drama that combines elements of both tragedy and comedy. There is the potential for tragedy but a happy ending
Farce
An outlandish physical comedy overflowing with silly characters, improbable happenings, wild clowning, extravagant language, and bawdy jokes. Also known as low comedy
Satiric comedy
A form of comedy designed to correct social and individual behavior by ridiculing human vices and follies
Melodrama
Like tragedy without the tragic outcomes - exaggerated situations and characters that seem almost ridiculous
Social Drama
A play that explores a serious social issue of the day
Theater of the absurd
Post-World War II European genre depicting the grotesquely comic plight of human beings thrown by accident into an irrational and meaningless world
Structure
Exposition, Complication, Crisis/ Climax, Falling Action, Denouement (like short stories)
Point of View
The play's perspective or focus and how it is directed on the characters and their concerns
Sarcasm
A conspicuously bitter form of irony in which the ironic statement is designed to hurt or mock its target
Chorus*
In Greek tragedy the chorus was a group of actors, usually concerned citizens, who were the main commentators on the characters and events; they expressed traditional moral, religious, and social attitudes, and were a kind of voice for the audience on stage
Tragic Flaw
A fatal weakness or moral flaw in the protagonist's character that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow
Hubris
Too much pride; arrogance. "Outrageous behavior" involving deliberate transgressions against moral or divine law. Hubris often leads to a character's downfall
Morality Play
A genre of drama whose purpose is to instruct the faithful in the proper way to lead a devotional life
Katharsis (Greek), catharsis
Often translated as purgation or purification, the term is drawn from the last element of Aristotle's definition of tragedy, relating to the final cause or purpose of tragic art. Catharsis generally refers to the feeling of emotional release or calm the spectator feels at the end of tragedy
THIS SET IS OFTEN IN FOLDERS WITH...