The Main Types of Drama

1. The Main Types of Drama

2. Tragedy • It is a serious work of Drama that presents the downfall of its protagonist/ hero (person better than ourselves) who through some error in judgment, weakness of character, or twist of fate suffers crushing defeat or death. • Aristotle, in his Poetics, provides the classical definition of tragedy: “ the artistic imitation of an action that is serious, complete in itself, and certain magnitude” and that involves “incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish the catharsis of such emotion”.

3. According to Aristotle, the purpose of tragedy is best accomplished by careful attention to the characterization of the protagonist/hero and to the structure of the plot. • The tragic hero should be presented as a person neither entirely good nor entirely evil, who is led by some tragic flaw, or hamartia, to commit an act that results in suffering and utter defeat. In classical drama, this tragic flaw is often hubris, an overweening pride, arrogance, or self-confidence. • The plot should structure events around a change in fortune from good to bad that is precipitated by the recognition of some awful truth and should progress through complications to a catastrophe.

4. History of Tragedy • Greek Tragedy: Tragedy originates from “tragos,” which means “goat.” Winners of festivals would receive a goat as prize. Focused on popular myths and legends and the gods and goddesses Examined the consequences of individual actions,the relationship of people to the gods, and the role fate plays in life

5. Middle Ages: Tragedies were not dramas but narratives, brief stories about persons of ranks or success who, as a result of bad luck, fall from prosperity and high estate to poverty and wretchedness.

6. Elizabethan Age: It is the beginning of the revenge tragedies, plays featuring murders and other sensational horrors, quests for revenge urged on by ghosts, suicides, and feigned or real insanity. Most of the Elizabethan tragedies differed radically from the classical tragedy described by Aristotle. They ignore the unity of action, time, and place and employed subplot and scenes of comic relief.

7. The 18th century: Most of the play are domestic tragedies, written in proseabout middle-class protagonists/heroes suffering commonplace disasters. • The 19th century: They continue writing domestic tragedies about middle-class tragedies and they focus on social issues and problems.

8. Some of the Literary Terms in Tragedies • Tragic flaw/ Hamartia: It is the error, misstep or flaw that causes the down fall of the hero of a tragedy. As a translation of Aristotle's term Hamartia, “tragic flaw” is misleading. Hamartia in a tragic hero might be a character flaw, but it could just as easily be an error in judgment, ignorance, an inherited weakness, or pure miss fortune.

9. Tragic Irony: In tragedy, those instances in which a character, ignorant of the true situation, says or does something that contrasts ironically with what the audience knows to be the truth. • Comic relief: In tragedy, a humorous incident, action or remark that relieves emotional tension. • Catastrophe: the final event in a drama (a death in a tragedy).

10. Comedy • In general, any literary work that aims to amuse by dealing with humorous, familiar situations involving ordinary people speaking everyday language. • In particular, a play written primarily to amuse or entertain and usually having a happy ending. • While tragedy often begins in happy circumstances and ends in disaster, at the end, comedy often begins with characters in difficult but amusing situations that are happily resolved. • While the characters of tragedy tend to be idealized, noble, or almost godlike, the characters of comedy are –more realistically- average (or worse) human beings.

11. There are different kinds of comedy: • The comedy of humors: is a play in which each character’s actions are directed by some exaggerated trait, or humor. The characters are personifications of particular humors and are often given characterizing names. • The comedy of intrigue: is a play in which plot manipulation is more important than the characterization. • The comedy of manners: presents the manners and social code of a sophisticated society in which wit and polished behavior valued over fundamental morality.

12. Historical Drama • A play centered on historical event. It attempts to re-create past events that occurred before the author's time. • This type of drama was popular during the Elizabethan Age.

13. Useful Websites • http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/introtheater/types_of_drama.htm • http://renierdrama.wordpress.com/category/types-of-drama-plays-comedy/

14. Work Cited • NTC's Dictionary of Literary Terms by Kathleen Morner and Ralph Rausch • http://drb.lifestreamcenter.net/Lessons/Drama.htm