Transcript The Structure of Drama - Carroll County Schools

The Structure of Drama
Chapter 5
Focus Questions
• What are the narrative essentials of a written play?
• What influence has Aristotle had on drama?
• How does modern drama differ from traditional
drama?
• What does the exposition of a play reveal?
• How is a plot divided into parts?
• How do playwrights create characters?
• What is the theme of a play?
• How do playwrights use dialogue, action, and
situation?
Introduction
• A play has four narrative essentials: exposition,
plot, characters, and theme.
▫ The essentials are communicated through
dialogue and action
• Structure: the way the playwright arranges and
presents the essentials
• Plays that will survive will be those that reveal
the heights and depths of human experience
and serve as an uplifting and creative force
in civilization.
Tradition and Innovation – Aristotle
• Aristotle (Greek philosopher, 384-322BC) wrote
Poetics stating the key elements of a successful
play.
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Drama is an imitation of life
We learn through imitation
Learning something is the greatest pleasure in life
Human happiness or misery takes the form of
action
▫ Therefore, plot is the most important
element of a play
Aristotle’s Key elements of a Play
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Spectacle (visible part)
Sound (audible part)
Diction (language)
Character (people)
Reasoning (they way speech is used to present
aspects, including emotions)
• Plot (action and events)
Aristotle’s Philosophy
• Action must have unity
• Events must occur in logical order with a
plausible conclusion
• Protagonist must be believable, “average or
better” people who experience happiness or
misery resulting from reactions to situations
• Action in tragedy should purge emotions (of
audience) though pity or fear (catharsis)
• Play should reveal universal truth
Evolution of Aristotle’s Ideas
• Aristotle’s theories came to be considered rules
• French & neoclassicists (16th C) set up rules
requiring 3 unities: time, action, and place
▫ Their rules required a 24-hour period and a single
place
▫ The 3 unities became essentials in French classical
tragedy
• Later playwrights discarded traditional rules
Modern Changes to Structure
• Many plays are two parts of several scenes with
an intermission instead of 3-Act or 5-Act
structure
• Open stage is increasingly used
▫ Eliminates the principle of aesthetic distance
▫ Removes reminder that a play is a play and not
reality
Narrative Essentials – Exposition
• The literary setting exposed in exposition:
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what kind of play is being presented
where and when it takes place
who the leading characters are
what situations and conflicts take place
• Problem: exposition is necessary but
information without action is uninteresting
• Effective exposition: brief and unobtrusive; gives
information in a subtle way
Methods of Exposition
• Time and place printed in program and assumed
at the beginning
• A character states the facts, then what follows
reveals information that the audience needs in
order to understand the play action
Atmosphere and Mood
• Established in the exposition
• Atmosphere largely created by staging and
lighting
▫ Added to with various tempos of speech and
movement, and choice of language
• Atmosphere brings out feelings that create the
mood of the play
▫ Mood established by characters, setting, lighting,
dialogue
• Audience should be able to identify mood at the
start of the play. (Playwright’s job)
• Mood is subject to change or reversal as play
progresses.
Essentials of Exposition
• Preliminary Situation (Antecedent Action): the
most important part of the exposition
▫ Events that occur before the action of the play
begins; therefore, the basis for the play
• Techniques for exposition PS:
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Minor characters bring audience up to date
Prologues
Telephone conversations
Narrators
Ingenious scenic effects
Prologue Example – Romeo & Juliet
• The expert dramatist conveys a great deal of info
very quickly. Shakespeare’s beginning of R&J
show:
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Romeo’s and Juliet’s families are feuding
Romeo thinks he’s in love with Rosaline
Paris in interested in Juliet
Romeo & Juliet are doomed to death
Prince decrees death penalty for next to start
quarrel
▫ Romeo hears of a party at Juliet’s and decides to
go in disguise
Application Activity
• Read first two scenes of any Shakespearean play.
• Identify elements that reveal:
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Where
When
Why
Who
• What methods are used to convey the
information necessary for the exposition?
• Be specific
Plot
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Events that take place
Problem faces protagonist
Conflict between protagonist & antagonist
Conflicting elements give rise to suspense
Conflict is resolved in some manner
Plot unfolds in several stages
Stages in Plot Structure
Stage
How the Plot Develops
Preliminary Situation
Explanation of events that occurred before action
of play begins.
Initial Incident
First important event from which the rest of the
plot develops. Makes the audience wonder what
will happen next.
Rising Action
All or nearly all important characters introduced;
goals and obstacles facing protagonist revealed;
series of situations develop from conflict.
Lifts the level of interest in the audience.
Climax
Turning point of action; moment of intense crisis.
Determines the outcome of the conflict.
Falling Action
Shorter than the rising action; incidents must be
significant.
Conclusion
Logical outcome of preceding action: success,
failure, happiness, sorrow of characters
Plot Structure
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Preliminary Action
Initial Incident
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Conclusion
Another term for resolution is denouement – French term for “untying the knot”
It addresses the untangling of complications.
Aristotle explains, “By complication I mean everything from the beginning of the
story up to the point where the hero suffers a change of fortune; by denouement,
everything from the latter point to the end.”
Georges Polti: The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations
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Supplication
19. Slaying of unrecognized kinsman
Deliverance
20.Self-sacrificing for an ideal
Crime pursued by vengeance
21. Self-sacrifice for kindred
Vengeance taken for kindred upon 22. All sacrificed for passion
kindred
23. Necessity of sacrificing loved ones
5. Pursuit
24. Rivalry of superior and inferior
6. Disaster
25. Adultery
7. Falling prey to cruelty or misfortune 26. Crimes of love
8. Revolt
27. Discovery of loved one’s dishonor
9. Daring enterprise
28.Obstacles to love
10. Abduction
29. An enemy loved
11. The enigma
30.Ambition
12. Obtaining
31. Conflict with a god
13. Enmity of kinsmen
32. Mistaken jealousy
14. Rivalry of kinsmen
33. Erroneous judgment
15. Murderous adultery
34. Remorse
16. Madness
35. Recovery of lost one
17. Fatal imprudence
36. Loss of loved ones
18. Involuntary crimes of love
Application Activities
• Choose a play or a story with you are familiar.
Outline the elements of the plot, using a chart
similar to one explaining plot of Romeo & Juliet.
• Test Georges Polti’s assertion that all drama is
based on just 36 situations. Recall several
dramatic situations from plays or films. Do they
fit one (or more) of Polti’s categories?
Characters
• Characters in a play should be people who can
hold the audience’s interest throughout the play.
• In a well-written play, even minor characters are
interesting and unique
• Some plays (esp. 20th C), have group
protagonists
▫ Our Town
• Must be vivid and varied in personality
• Traits made evident through speech and action,
and what others say about them
Characters
• Actions must suit positions in life and past
experience
• Dialogue reflects:
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Character’s time
Social class
Community
Experience
• Character actions/speech must move plot
forward
• Cannot speak aimlessly like do in real life
Character Actions
• Clever lines *Witty dialogue can hurt a play if
not in harmony with overall aim of the
playwright*
• Soliloquies: speeches when actors talk alone
▫ Vital part of drama until realistic plays became
popular
• Most important phase of characterization is
understanding character motivation
▫ Action/speech must have a reason behind it
Questions Playwrights Must Ask
• What does the character want or need?
• Who or what stands in the way of the character’s
needs or wants?
• What conditions affect the character’s thoughts,
words, and actions?
• Why does the character say or do certain things?
Application Activity
• Study a character in a play or a work of fiction.
Use the questions above to define the character’s
motivation and personality. Then assume the
part of that character as other members of your
class ask you questions. Answer the question as
you think the character would answer them.
Theme
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The basic idea of the play
Dramatized through conflicts of characters
Often left to interpretation
Do not mistake a minor truth for the main
theme
• Theme is the specific idea that gives unity and
purpose to everything that happens
▫ Title of play
▫ Key Line
Theme vs. Moral
• Moral is a lesson or a principle contained within
a play
• Although some plays make moral statements,
many plays have no particular moral
Review
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Vocabulary Terms – know definitions
Name and define the four narrative essentials of a play.
How are the essentials communicated by a playwright?
Who first expressed the principles of traditional drama?
What did he identify as key elements of a play?
How does modern drama differ from traditional drama?
What are the five major parts of plot structure that follow
the preliminary situation?
How does theme differ from moral?
Describe three methods of characterization playwrights use.
Identify the four narrative essentials present in a movie or a
play. Discuss how the playwright presents each.
Describe how theme is conveyed in a play or a movie.