Hums semi

• Drama


  A type of literature that is expressed through spoken language and acting
• Drama is written and produced for public exhibition
• Drama's success as a complete work of art is dependent upon presentation - how the interpreters such as the director, musicians, designers, actors, and (in this digital age) its technical staff give it life
• Drama's purpose


  To delight and to instruct
• Drama uses various presentations to portray stories so that people who watch it gain a deeper understanding of the human experience
• Classical Greece


  Where Western drama originated from, around the 5th and 4th centuries BC
• Genres of drama in Classical Greece

  • Tragedy
  • Comedy
  • Satyr play
• These genres were culturally established as part of the festivities for Dionysus - the Grecian god of grape harvest, wine and winemaking, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre, and religious ecstasy
• Tragedy


  A form of drama that presents sorrowful events and terrible happenings caused by the main character, examining and questioning humankind's role in the universe as it depicts pain and sorrow
• The source material for tragedy in Classical Greece was usually from the works of Homer - the presumed author of the two greatest epics of the Western world, the Iliad and the Odyssey
• Aristotle


  An Ancient Greek philosopher considered the Father of Western philosophy, whose literary criticism of theatre in Poetics was the basis of subsequent Western theatre criticisms
• Elements of a tragedy according to Aristotle

  • Tragedy is first and foremost, a representation of human action
  • The actions shown have serious consequences and the characters are not ordinary people, but from a high social status
  • The plot is complete and coherent presentation that adequately shows the reversal of the hero's fortune
  • The language used in a tragedy turns away from conventional word usage, including metaphors, similes, repetitions, and other figures of speech
  • A tragedy evokes pity and fear from the audience for the hero, ultimately resulting in a catharsis
  • The manner by which a tragedy is presented to the audience is drama
• Plot


  Activity of the characters and the series of events that make up a story
• Series of events in a plot

  • Incident
  • Rising action
  • Climax
  • Falling action
  • Denouement (the end)
• Climax


  The moment of truth, also called recognition
• Reversal


  When a protagonist's fortunes turn from good to bad
• Suffering


  Follows a reversal
• Powerful tragedy dramas


  • Depict protagonists who fail mainly because of character flaws
• Act


  The major division of a drama where the basic structure of the performance stands on, lasting 30 to 90 minutes
• Scene


  A specific setting that starts when the actor enters the stage and ends when he exits, with very short gaps as scenes move from one setting to another
• Dramatist's main skill


  • Ability to divide Acts and Scenes in a way that delivers maximum effect, producing intense emotional audience response
• Character


  The personality and moral conduct of the people acted out in a play
• Protagonist


  The most important figure in the story
• Antagonist


  The character that makes the protagonist's life miserable
• Tragic hero's quest


  Always the truth
• Thought


  Explains the character's thinking process, rationalizes the character's motivations and actions, and explains the background story
• Dialogue


  The word choices used by the playwright to express ideas and emotions through language as spoken by the actors, forming the conversations of the play
• Spectacle


  The objects used in the play including the set, the costumes, the props, and all materials used in putting the story together to create scenes
• Music


  The singing and dancing in a drama and the melodies used to enhance a dialogue, pushing the plot forward and moving the story to a higher level of intensity
• William Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613
• Bard of Avon


  Shakespeare's title, referring to his birthplace Stratford-upon-Avon
• Shakespeare's early plays were primarily comedies and histories, then around 1591 until 1611 he mainly wrote tragedies
• The English Renaissance was the period when Shakespeare was writing, when England took renewed interest in Greek and Roman classics
• Elements of a Shakespearean tragedy

  • Tragic hero
  • Struggle between Good and Evil
  • Hamartia
  • Tragic waste
  • Conflict
  • Catharsis
  • Supernatural Elements
  • Absence of Poetic Justice
  • Comic Relief
• Tragic hero


  A very prominent personality in his state, country, or kingdom, holding a very high position in society, often a royalty, but cursed by fate
• Hamartia


  The hero's tragic personality flaw that ultimately led to a tragic waste
• Tragic waste


  The terrible loss of an exceptionally intellectual, honest, intelligent, noble, and virtuous person
• Types of conflict


  • External conflict
  • Internal conflict
• External conflict


  The clash between the protagonist and the antagonist
• Internal conflict


  A struggle happening inside the character due to his hamartia