Modern Drama

• Startling discovery of a piece of knowledge or self realisation by a character.

  anagnorisis
• The release of feelings of pity and fear in the audience at the end of a tragedy.

  catharsis
• When the background information is introduced in the opening scene of the play.

  exposition
• When the audience feels pity and sympathy for the characters.

  pathos
• The tragic or fatal flaw of a tragic hero - the aspect of their character which in other circumstances is positive, but which brings about their downfall.

  hamartia
• The villain or bad character in the play.

  antagonist
• The main character in the play.

  protagonist
• The personalities of the characters.

  characterisation
• The way the plot is brought together at the end .

  resolution
• The words written by the playwright to describe how he wants the actors to behave and to deliver their lines.

  stage directions
• The status or pecking order of the characters.


  hierarchy
• A character or group of characters in a tragedy who comment on the action by speaking directly to the audience.

  chorus
• A character or group of characters in a tragedy who comment on the action by speaking directly to the audience.


  told in retrospect
• This is a narrative technique that hints at events yet to come.


  foreshadowing
• In italics giving instructions to the reader/ actor/ director movements on stage, emotions of the characters, eye contact and silences.


  stage directions
• An object or prop which has a deeper meaning.

  symbol
• Dramatic __ drives the drama and keeps an audience interested. __ is when there are oppositions creating conflict that needs to be resolved.

  tension
• A character who is noble and honourable, but who has a fatal flaw which causes their downfall.

  tragic hero
• A play which depicts the journey of a tragic hero from being respected to their eventual death.

  tragedy
• A challenge that the protagonist needs to solve to reach the ending. Conflict can be:

  • between two people
  • between one person and a community/ society
  • with oneself

  conflict
• Thesis statement

  Miller presents...

  Miller sets the play in a domestic, 1950s setting but draws on the form and structure of a traditional Greek Tragedy, however, he updates elements of the original tragic form to show the audience...