Transcript Varieties of Drama - Kentucky Department of Education

Chapter 6
The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.
--Horace Walpole, Author (1717-1797)
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What are the differences between tragedy and
comedy?
What are some of the devices playwrights use
to make people laugh?
What are the types of comedy?
What dramatic styles have influenced the
theater in the twentieth century?
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Complete vocabulary on page 269
DUE TODAY!!!!
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The two most recognized varieties of drama are
tragedy and comedy
Tragedies are serious and end in catastrophe
Comedies are usually lighthearted, with clever
dialogue and amusing characters who are in
amusing situations, end happily
Tragicomedies: plays that have both qualities
Dramas: are not tragedies, but are serious in
nature
Literary/Dramatic Styles (sub-class):
romanticism, realism, naturalism, symbolism,
expressionism
Historical Eras (sub-class): Greek theater,
Commedia dell’arte, Restoration period
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Considered humanity’s highest literary
achievement
Sober and thoughtful, based on profound
human emotions and conflicts that do not
change with time or place
Focus is the protagonist who is engaged in a
struggle but ultimately fails and is overcome
by opposing forces
External forces set in motion by a choice or
error the character makes
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Tragic character has no control over
internal/external forces once the choice has
been made or action has begun
Inevitability: Outcome appears predestined –
audience sees that there is nothing the
character can do to avoid it.
◦ E.g. Prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls characters
“star-crossed lovers” and shows their fate is sealed.
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Protagonist’s struggle elicits audience’s pity
and compassion (Pathos)
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By the end of the tragedy, pathos is purged
and audience feels a sense of relief (catharsis)
The type of protagonist has changed over
time (from kings to commoners)
Regardless of how common they seem,
protagonists have something that sets them
apart or elevates them above other people.
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They have a flaw or make an error that has
serious consequences
They make no apology for their actions
They set goals based on unyielding beliefs
They know that almost everything worth
having demands some sacrifice
They are willing to make the sacrifice
themselves, never asking another to make
sacrifices for them
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According to Aristotle’s Poetics:
◦ Tragic protagonist is average or better person who
is brought from happiness to misery in a play
◦ Through this suffering, the protagonist gains a
sense of awareness (self-truth, or truth of others)
◦ Protagonist becomes alienated/isolated from
society
◦ Hamartia (character weakness or error in judgment)
causes the action/inaction that brings protagonist’s
difficulties
◦ Most common form of hamartia is hubris (excessive
pride)
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Audience reactions (pity and fear) brought
about by:
◦ Spectacle (visible part of the play)
◦ Plot (“the soul of the tragedy”)
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Pity is for the protagonist, fear is for the
audience
When a person of stature, struggling against
dynamic forces falls, resulting effect is
purging (catharsis)
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Tragedy includes scenes of recognition and
reversal
Recognition
◦ Protagonist achieves inner awareness
◦ Protagonist identifies a loved one, relative, or friend
from birthmark or scar or by some other means
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Reversal
◦ Ironic twist in which an action produces an effect
opposite to what would at first seem likely
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From Jean Anouilh’s Antigone:
◦ Tragedy is clean, it is firm, it is flawless. It has
nothing to do with melodrama.
◦ In a tragedy, nothing is in doubt and everyone’s
destiny is known.
◦ Tragedy is restful; and the reason is that hope, that
foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. There isn’t
any hope. You’re trapped. The whole sky has fallen
on you, and all you can do about it is to shout.
◦ And you don’t say these things because it will do
any good to say them: you know better than that.
You say them for their own sake; you say them
because you learn a lot from them.
◦ But in tragedy, where there is no temptation to try
to escape, argument is gratuitous: it’s kingly.
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Arthur Miller’s modern tragedy Death of a
Salesman
◦ While watching the film, take notes regarding:
 What forces is the protagonist struggling against?
 What is his main weakness?
 Explain how the play communicates a sense of
inevitability?
◦ There will be an essay due about this tragedy on
Monday (April 15)
1.
2.
3.
Examine Death of a Salesman as it fits into
the framework of a “tragedy”.
Examine Willy Loman using the “5
Characteristics of Tragic Characters”
Examine Death of a Salesman using
Aristotle’s philosophy of tragedy from
Poetics
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2-4 Pages, Typed, Double-Spaced, 12pt
Font
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Greek: komos + ode = lit. “revel song”
Societal & conciliatory: all characters come
together at the end of the play – even the
villains rejoin the group!
Often depends on a specific time and place
BUT greatest/longest-lasting comedies have
situations that most audiences can easily
identify with.
Many types
Doesn’t always make you laugh out loud
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Protagonist overcomes opposing forces,
achieves desired goals, or both.
Protagonist often less-than-average person
Like all drama, comedy is built around
character, situations and dialogue
Comic situations consist of predicaments that
seem insurmountable or improbable
◦ Mistaken identities, rash promises, or a series of
events in which everything seems to go wrong are
typical comic situations
Tragedy
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Inevitable – no way to
change the outcome
Universal theme &
appeal
Emotional
Protagonist fails
Protagonist alienated
from society
Protagonist average or
better
Protagonist falls from
leadership/power
Comedy
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Predictably
unpredictable
Time and place
oriented
Intellectual, mental
Protagonist achieves
Protagonist becomes
leader of new society
Protagonist less than
average
Protagonist achieves
success (often because of
mistakes/shortcomings)
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It is difficult to determine what makes people
laugh
Comic plays are more difficult to perform
than serious dramas because of the
unpredictability
Senses of humor change over time and in
different places
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Likely the most noticeable characteristic of
comedy
Comes in various forms: overstatement or
understatement
May include physical characteristics – bulbous
nose/large teeth/mannerisms
Or mental characteristics – almost-toobrilliant child prodigy or incredibly dense
person
Exaggeration of “humors” from Shakespeare’s
time – personality determiners
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Anything that seems out of place, time, or
character
Comes in many forms:
◦ Unnatural Action – treating a poor person like he’s
rich
◦ Unnatural sound or pronunciation
◦ A twist or turn of events that changes logical
completion of a pattern
◦ Reversal – tables turned and weak overthrow strong
◦ Dialogue about irrelevant when something critical is
at stake
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Looking forward to a potential laugh
E.g. “banana peel on the sidewalk”
Gets laughs before the punch line
Also occurs in mistaken identity
◦ The reversal of roles and anticipation that truth with
come out is the source of laughter
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Created by a “plant” – idea, line, or action
emphasized early (foreshadowing) – 3
exposures needed
◦ Plant, establish, clinch (combination = running gag)
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Incompletion: a line or bit of action started
but never finished
◦ Completed with the audience’s laughter
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Anticlimax (letdown): excitement about
something is built up to great proportions,
and there is nothing (like bursting a bubble)
◦ A flat line is always good for a laugh. It follows a
build-up to the punch line, but the follow-through
is never equal to the preparation. Instead of
maintaining the momentum of the joke or the gage,
the line is delivered with either a drop in pitch or
with little or no expression in the voice.
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Double meaning – the heart of many
humorous lines
Puns and word play
Depend on audience recognizing the possible
interpretations and selecting the least likely
one
Can be in dialogue or names of characters
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Discovering hidden or obscure meanings
Audience is often amused to recognize the
difference between a character’s inner
motivation and the apparent motivation.
Also amused to discover what is going to
happen just before it actually does
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One of the most important elements of
comedy
Cruel, violent, grotesque, abusive actions and
events cause laughter because the audience
is protected by knowing they are not really
happening or not as damaging as they seem.
◦ Think Wiley Coyote/Road Runner
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Good comedy builds up pressure and releases
it
Relief of pressure is humorous when pent-up
emotions are allowed to explode in a laugh
◦ E.g. A comic character lights the fuse on a powder
keg and places it in the path of an adversary (the
plant). Fuse goes out at the last moment and the
adversary passes unharmed (anticlimax/letdown).
Character approaches powder keg to see what went
wrong (anticipation). Powder keg blows up in
character’s face (incongruity). Comic character
emerges ragged and soot-covered, but unharmed
(protection and relief).
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Three main classifications of comedy come from
study in ancient Greece:
◦ Old Comedy: scathing satirical attack on political events
and figures
◦ Middle Comedy: evolved to focus more on social
occurrences, incorporated everyday speech
◦ New Comedy: (originated by Menander) presents a
sentimental view of life and tries to appeal to audiences’
intellect rather than base sense of humor
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These classifications ONLY used for comedies of
ancient Greece
Comedies after categorized as LOW or HIGH
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Focuses on physical antics (The Three
Stooges)
Characters are usually outlandish, and play is
exaggerated in style and performance
Utilizes various comic techniques to get the
laugh…
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Based on improbable characters and implausible
coincidences and events
Practical jokes, clowning, physical indignities (ear
pulling, shin kicking, pie throwing)
Achieved sometimes through screen scenes and
asides
Used more since end of WW2 to enhance serious
works
Latin word farcire means “to stuff” – when first
used in theater, farce referred to any sort of
impromptu addition “stuffed” into a play (esp.
jokes or gags)
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Relies on physical comedy and exaggeration
Less coherent than farces
Mockery of a broad topic, such as a style,
societal view, or literary form
Audience should have previous knowledge of
the play’s subject or will not enjoy its humor
In the US, burlesque evolved into the bawdy
variety show
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Mockery of a certain person or work,
incorporating a caricature (exaggerated
feature) of the subject
Requires prior knowledge of the subject
being ridiculed (Tina Fey/Sarah Palin)
Relies less on physical than farce or
burlesque
E.g. Space Balls
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Intellectual humor
Essential to pay attention to the dialogue,
because high comedy almost exclusively
relies on witty dialogue, not physical action
Like parody and burlesque, ridicules a
particular subject, but presents the subject in
a different way…
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“Drawing Room Comedy” – the main action
takes place in the drawing rooms of upperclass citizens
Usually mocks pretenses of the upper classes
Built on clever use of language – wit includes
puns, paradoxes, epigrams, and ironies
Dialogue often attacks socially-accepted
standards of the day
Extremely popular in the Restoration Period
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Ridicules human folly, societal views, or
individuals
The satirist usually has the goal of changing
something for the better by ridiculing it
Intellectual in its attack – mocks using
language rather than physical antics
Has been around since the Old Comedy of
Aristophanes
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Blazing Saddles
◦ Classic 1974 Satire Comedy from Mel Brooks
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While viewing, consider:
◦ Is Blazing Saddles an example of “low” or “high”
comedy?
◦ What elements of comedy do you observe?
◦ What conventions of satire are present?
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You may use
technology to
search the
internet for
additional info.
Research & Teach a style:
Textbook page 288. Choose a style with a
partner and create an informational “poster”
to teach the class about your style. Include:
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An image that conveys the style
Production examples
Definition
Style Choices
Conventions
*Romanticism
*Constructivism
*Realism & Naturalism
*Theater of the Absurd
*Theater of Involvement
*Total Theater
*Symbolism
*Expressionism
*Epic Theater
Theatricalism