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Elements of Drama. Drama. Definition a written composition which tells a story involving conflict, especially one intended to be acted on the stage; a play Purpose to tell a story by acting in front of an audience To entertain Examples Romeo & Juliet A Christmas Carol.
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Drama Definition • a written composition which tells a story involving conflict, especially one intended to be acted on the stage; a play Purpose • to tell a story by acting in front of an audience • To entertain Examples • Romeo & Juliet • A Christmas Carol
Organization: Acts & Scenes • Rather than Parts and Chapters, plays are organized into Acts and Scenes • A scene is a part of an act Purpose • Acts & scenes help keep the play organized • Acts often reflect plot development • A scene change often occurs when a character enters or exits the stage and/or when there is a location (or scenery) change. Examples: • Act II, Scene 1 • Act 1, Scene III
Organization: Dialogue Definition • Dramas are written almost entirely in dialogue (people speaking out loud) • This is because a play is intended to be performed. Therefore, the actors must speak out loud for the audience to understand what is happening. • Since plays are written in dialogue, the dialogue is not in quotations like it is in a novel or story. • Instead, a bolded or capitalized name shows which character is speaking (see example) Purpose • To help the reader understand the events in the play
Dialogue Example BENVOLIO Soft! I will go along; An if you leave me so, you do me wrong. ROMEO Tut, I have lost myself; I am not here; This is not Romeo, he's some other where. BENVOLIO Tell me in sadness, who is that you love. ROMEO What, shall I groan and tell thee? BENVOLIO Groan! why, no. But sadly tell me who. Capitalized name shows who is speaking. No quotation marks are used. Capitalized name shows who is speaking. No quotation marks are used.
Organization: Stage Directions Definition • Instructionsto the actors, director, and stage crew regarding scenery, lighting, music, sound effects, and the way for actors to move and speak. • Included in the script • Usually in italicized type and enclosed in parentheses. Purpose • To give the actor’s hints as to how to portray a line, or if they should do a particular action. • Example: The line “What a beautiful day!” could be stated with sincerity or with sarcasm, drastically changing the end result. • Sometimes the playwright will also include suggestions for scenery and props in the stage directions, but not always.
Dramatic Aside Definition • Remark or speech made by one character speaking his or her thoughts directly to the audience • The other characters are not intended to hear the aside. • Usually, an aside is a brief comment Purpose • May add humor to a play • May let the audience know what a character is about to do or what he or she is thinking. • Provides the audience with information that they need to know, but that the other characters do not know.
Dramatic Aside Examples • Ferris Bueller's Day off Simonides: Traitor, thou liest.Pericles: Traitor!Simonides: Ay, traitor.Pericles: Even in his throat--unless it be the king--That calls me traitor, I return the lie.Simonides:(Aside) Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage. ~William Shakespeare, Pericles. Act II, Scene IV
Monologue Definition • A speech by one character. • The other characters and the audience are intended to hear the speech. Purpose • A monologue reveals the thoughts, and feelings of the speaker • The sole focus of the audience is on the speaker
Monologue Examples • All the Worlds a Stage • 10 Things I Hate About You Monologue • Macbeth's monologue “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” after he learns that Lady Macbeth has killed herself: • She should have died hereafter;There would have been a time for such a word.Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,To the last syllable of recorded time;And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and furySignifying nothing. — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)
Soliloquy Definition • Along speech expressing the thoughts of a character on stage. • Only the audience is intended to hear the speech. Purpose • To reveal the characters thoughts to the audience • Unlike in a book, the character must “think out loud” for the audience to know what is happening inside his or her mind.
Soliloquy Examples • Clueless • Soliloquy from Shakespeare's Hamlet: To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune, Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles, And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep No more; and by a sleep, to say we end The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep, To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. There's the respect That makes Calamity of so long life....
Allusion Definition • A figure of speech that makes a reference to people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. • Can be found in poetry, prose, and dramas Purpose • To refer to something that readers may associate with the works to which the writer alludes • To reveal a connection between the text and to the person, literary work, or place. Example • Martin Luther King, Jr., alluded to the Gettysburg Address in starting his "I Have a Dream" speech by saying 'Five score years ago..."; his hearers were immediately reminded of Abraham Lincoln's "Four score and seven years ago", which opened the Gettysburg Address. • King's allusion effectively called up parallels in two historic moments.
