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7 - Literary Genres - Drama

Drama is a form of literature meant to be performed on stage, with key features like acts, scenes, and characters. The document discusses the history and types of drama, from ancient Greek and Roman plays to modern drama by influential playwrights like Shakespeare, Shaw, and Beckett. It also examines elements of drama texts like dialogue, staging techniques, and provides context about the success of Elizabethan theater.

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Abdulqadir Aziz
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73 views15 pages

7 - Literary Genres - Drama

Drama is a form of literature meant to be performed on stage, with key features like acts, scenes, and characters. The document discusses the history and types of drama, from ancient Greek and Roman plays to modern drama by influential playwrights like Shakespeare, Shaw, and Beckett. It also examines elements of drama texts like dialogue, staging techniques, and provides context about the success of Elizabethan theater.

Uploaded by

Abdulqadir Aziz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LITERARY GENRES – DRAM

DEFINITIONS, HISTORY, AND TYPES

A lecture presented to students of Soran University


On 09 & 10.12.2019
DRAMA DEFINITION

The word drama comes from the Greek word


for action.


Is a literature that is written to be


performed on the stage.

It includes such writers as Shakespeare,


Sophocles, and Christopher Marlowe.

However, it is a form that tends to go in and


out of fashion depending on the availability
of theaters and audiences.
IMPORTANT FEATURES
Unlike novels or short stories, plays have
special features.

Plays are divided into acts and scenes.

Drama texts contain lists of characters


and stage directions which require the
reader to pause and visualize the set up.

Readers and actors must pay close


attention to the dialogue in order to
understand the characters and action.
IMPORTANT TECHNIQUES

Monologue – an extended speech by one


character.

Soliloquy – an extended speech by one


character, alone on stage. Soliloquies are
used to express the private thoughts of one
character.

Aside – a character’s direct address to the


audience, which is not heard by the other
characters.
SOME HISTORICAL FACTS
Many say drama originated in Greece over 2,500
years ago as an outgrowth of the worship of the
god Dionysus.
At first it appeared in the form of Mystery Plays
(derived from holy scripture) and Miracle plays
(dramatized the lives of the saints).
Theatre developed and expanded considerably
under the Romans who first experienced theatre in
the 4th century BCE.
The flowering time of drama was during the reign
of queen Elizabeth in 16th and 17th centuries.
Theatre took a big pause during 1642 and 1660 in
England because of the Puritan Interregnum.
TYPES OF DRAMA
Comedy
(Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well)
Tragedy
(Shakespeare's Othello)
Tragicomedy
(combines both comedy and tragedy – Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice)
Romantic Comedy (boy gets the girl, loses her, and gets her again: Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Satiric Comedy (critique of society, wit, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being
Earnest)
Farce (verbal humor, mixed plot, subversion, eg. Shakespeare's The Taming of the
Shrew)
Absurd (meaningless of existence, Beckett’s Endgame, Pinter’s The Homecoming)
IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGIES
The actors and actresses who perform the
play are known as the cast.

The people who build sets, manage lighting, or


work backstage are called the crew.

dramatization is a play that was once a


novel, short story, folk tale, biography, or other
type of writing. Some plays are completely new
works. Other plays are adapted from novels,
short stories, or even from nonfiction.
Dialogue is what the characters say, and it is
used to reveal their personalities.
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THEATRE SUCCESS
IN ELIZABETHAN TIME

Political factors:
Queen Elizabeth’s support.
General themes were not against the authority.
Stability and Britain’s role as a major power .

Social factors:
Prosperity and wealth
General taste of the audience/Message convenience

Human factors:
Artistic excellence of the playwrights
The spirit of the renaissance/ Revival of the classics
MAJOR PLAYWRIGHTS OF ELIZABETHAN TIME
William Shakespeare
38* plays

was financially successful because he was an actor and a shareholder


in the company for which he acted.

Christopher Marlow
was the foremostElizabethantragedianof his day.

A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest. it was thought to be


connected to allegations of blasphemy.

he was stabbed to death.

The Jew of Malta, Tamburlaine the Great


MAJOR PLAYWRIGHTS OF ELIZABETHAN TIME

Ben Jonson
was an English playwright, poet, actor, and
literary critic of the 17th century.
He popularized the comedy of humors.
He is best known for
the satirical plays Every Man in His
Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Fox (c.
1606), The Alchemist (1610)
LONG-LASTING INFLUENCE OF SHAKESPEARE

Shakespeare is often credited with having a profound influence


on language, literature, theater, and other elements of culture.
we owe most of modern storytelling’s characteristics to
Shakespeare.

Theater up until his time had been uniquely reserved for the
wealthy and the educated. With the emergence of
Shakespeare’s writing came tales that appealed to the masses.

Shakespeare had an influence on an international level as


well.
MODERN DRAMA
Unlike the earlier drama of Shakespeare
and Sophocles, modern drama tended to
focus not on kings and heroes, but instead
on ordinary people dealing with everyday
problems.

Yet, like much of the literature of this


period, which expressed reactions to rapid
social change and cataclysmic events like
World War I, it often dealt with the sense of
alienation and disconnectedness that
average people felt in this period.
IMPORTANT FIGURES IN MODERN DRAMA
George Bernard Shaw
-Major Barbara
-Pygmalion
John Osborne
- Look Back in Anger
Samuel Beckets
- Waiting for Godot
-Krapp’s Last Tape
Tennessee Williams
-The Glass Menagerie
-A Streetcar Named Desire
AN EXAMPLE PAGE OF DRAMA TEXT - WAITING FOR GODOT
(Italics: secondary text, non-italics: primary text)

ACT I
A country road. A tree.

Evening.

Estragon, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot. He pulls at it with
both hands, panting.
He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again. As before. Enter Vladimir.
ESTRAGON: (giving up again). Nothing to be done.
VLADIMIR: (advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart). I'm beginning to
come round to that opinion. All my life I've tried to put it from me, saying
Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything. And I resumed the
struggle. (He broods, musing on the struggle. Turning to Estragon.) So there you
are again.
ESTRAGON: Am I?
VLADIMIR: I'm glad to see you back. I thought you were gone forever.
YOUR QUESTIONS?

New Assignment:

Elements of Drama

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