- Presents fiction or fact in a form that could be acted before an audience.
- Play = novel (in plot, characters, dialogue, etc.)
- Differences
Consists the following:
Generally, drama had 5 acts (Eg. Elizabethan drama) later 3 acts then 1 act. In the English theatre of today, a play is less than 3 hrs.
- Dryden says – ‘just and lively image of human nature’.
- Hamlet says – ‘its end is to hold a mirror up to nature as it were’.
- Ben Johnson says – ‘it shows an image of the times’.
Solution:
- All art is directly or indirectly coloured by artist’s personality.
- Drama is dramatist’s criticism of life.
- Great play is the product of imagination working upon experience and observation.
- Shakespeare – as a romantic poet did not aim at a realistic portrayal of actual life.
Conclusion:
- Realism tends to fade with conditions it represents.
- Romantic drama is always admired.
- English literature intermingled (as in realities of life), final situation is more effective – unhappy in tragedy & happy in comedy.
Eg. Byron’s “Childe Harold”
Comedy – refined the conduct
Eg. (Tragedy) Milton’s “Samson Agonistes”
Origin:
(Of the art name):
From a Latin word meaning 'to stuff'. (Initially farces were comic interludes inserted (stuffed) into the main play.)
Examples : Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Merry Wives of Windsor'.
(Of the art form):
Towards the close of the seventeenth century.
Example : 'The Rehearsal'
Theme:
Farce is an exaggerated form of comic play employing all resources of absurd characters, situations and dialogue.
Technique:
- At a time, atleast one short farce was considered important to recognize a play as a complete one.
- The full-length-piece developed later.
Examples:
- Charles Hautry's 'The Private Secretary'
- Brandon Thomas' 'Charley's Aunt'
- George Bernard Shaw's
'Arms and the Man'
'You Never Can Tell' and
'Androcles and the Lion'
Melodrama was a debased form of tragic play which consisted of a song but later meant a sensational play with theatrical events or behaviour.
Origin:
Eighteenth century.
Theme:
Melodrama was a debased form of tragedy which consisted of a song but later meant a sensational play with theatrical events or behaviour.
Technique:
Previous consideration:
A prominent place in such a tragic drama was assigned to a song. (it meant etymologically like this)
Current consideration:
A sensational play consisting of purely theatrical actions or behaviour (such as - extravagant story of crime, revenge, evils of drink or gambling, lost wills, missing heirs, etc in which villainy is foiled and virtue triumphant) and naive sentiment.
Examples:
- Kyd's 'Spanish Tragedy'
- Webster's 'Duchess of Malfi'
Note:
Rarely attempted now because cinema can show much more convincingly.
The Masque is a costly form of dramatic entertainment comprising of music and dance in addition, designed either for presentation at court or to grace a festive occasion at a nobleman's house.
Example:
Marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda in Shakespeare's ' Tempest' is celebrated with a Masque for the real marriage of Earl of Essex and Lady Frances Howard.
Origin:
Italian origin. Introduced into England in early sixteenth century.
Example:
The earliest in English is Hall's 'Chronicle'
Theme:
The Masque is a costly form of dramatic entertainment comprising of music and dance in addition.
Example:
Shirley's 'Triumph of Peace'
Milton's 'Comus' (after the forms decline; as a family entertainment)
Characteristics:
1) Characters - deities of classical mythology, nymphs and personified abstractions like Love, Delight, Harmony, etc.
2) No. of characters - six.
3) Setting - scenes are laid in ideal regions such as Olympus, Arcadia, the Fortunate Isles.
4) Dances are introduced in appropriate places.
5) Scenery and costumes are very elaborate.
6) Anti-Masque - a frequent comic interlude.
7) Length - as long as a single act of one of Shakespeare's plays.
Current status:
Lost favour.
Since: 17th century. On the King's death in 1625 .
Reasons:
- Enormous cost of production
(Even if this need not be practised further another drawback hindered its permanence)
- Low literary quality of text ( because much attention was paid to elaborate dresses and scenic effects)
Playwrights:
Johnson, Shirley, Sidney, Beaumont, Fletcher, Daniel, Chapman and Carew.
Tragi - Comedy is a complete tragedy up to a certain point, and a complete comedy thereafter.
Comparison:
1) Tragedy: tragedy is the dominating theme even if comedy is present to some extent. Comedy does not affect the tragic theme.
2) Comedy: comedy is the dominating theme even if tragedy is present to some extent. Tragedy does not affect the comic theme.
3) Tragi - comedy: tragedy is the dominating theme for the first half and comedy dominates the other. Both are distinctive in the same play.
Structure:
-Complication : tragic
-climax: separates both
-denouement : comic
Examples:
Shakespeare's
1) Cymbeline
2) Winter's Tale
3) The Tempest
Origin:
(Unintentional usage):
In Greek, against their convention, Unity of Action one attempted. Plautus's 'Amphitruo'
(Intentional usage):
In English
Period : In the reign of James I
Influences :
- Italian - Pastoral element
- Spanish - Romantic plot
Disappeared in 1642
- Play = novel (in plot, characters, dialogue, etc.)
- Differences
Structure of play
Drama sets forth a problem – tragedy or comedy
Consists the following:
| 1 | Exposition | situation from which action starts |
| 2 | Complication (Rising action) | action grows |
| 3 | Climax (crisis) | action takes a turn- (better or worse according to comedy or tragedy) |
| 4 | Denouement (Falling action) | action unravels the complication |
| 5 | Solution (in comedy) /Catastrophe: (in tragedy) | A process of dissolving in comedy / A sudden great disaster in tragedy |
REALISM AND ROMANCE
Realism:
- Dryden says – ‘just and lively image of human nature’.
- Hamlet says – ‘its end is to hold a mirror up to nature as it were’.
- Ben Johnson says – ‘it shows an image of the times’.
Solution:
- All art is directly or indirectly coloured by artist’s personality.
- Drama is dramatist’s criticism of life.
- Great play is the product of imagination working upon experience and observation.
- Shakespeare – as a romantic poet did not aim at a realistic portrayal of actual life.
Conclusion:
- Realism tends to fade with conditions it represents.
- Romantic drama is always admired.
DRAMATIC TYPES
TRAGEDY AND COMEDY
TRAGEDY
|
COMEDY
|
Description
|
|
| Dark side of life | Light side of life |
| We impart pity and awe | We laugh |
| Characters suffer unhappy fate | Characters may be sad for a while but all right at the end |
Character choice
|
|
| Greek drama: | |
| Characters of high importance | Characters of low importance |
| In later literature: | |
| Lowly life
Eg. Hardy’s “Tess of D’Urbervilles” has dairymaid as heroine (no hero) |
High society
Eg. Shakespeare’s have people of rank, Men - Falstaff & Sir Toby Belch Women – Portia & Rosalind |
TRAGIC AND COMIC ATMOSPHERE
Literary variations
- Classical plays of Greece & Rome were either pure tragedy or pure comedy.
- English literature intermingled (as in realities of life), final situation is more effective – unhappy in tragedy & happy in comedy.
Aim
Both tragedy & comedy aim at giving pleasure. Carries the audience a level far from the troubles of everyday life.
Eg. Byron’s “Childe Harold”
Greek purpose
Tragedy - purified the feelings,
Comedy – refined the conduct
Eg. (Tragedy) Milton’s “Samson Agonistes”
Medium
Initially verse then prose.
TYPES OF TRAGEDY
|
|||||
Based on form
|
Based on theme
|
||||
Classical
(Greek conventions - Aristotle's writings)
|
Romantic
|
1) Horror tragedy:
(of Webster and Ford) ~ violence and cruelty 2) Heroic tragedy: (of Dryden and Otway) ~ exploits of a hero 3) She – tragedy: (of Rowe) ~ female dominates the action 4) Domestic tragedy: (of 18th century) ~ portrayal of middle class life |
|||
3 unities
|
Chorus
|
This is not restricted by 3 unities and does not employ Chorus. This can have long durations, mixture of tragic and comic themes and scene
of action can be changed). It is as the writer pleases.
Eg. is of Shakespeare. |
|||
Unity of time:
|
Unity of action:
|
Unity of place:
|
Chorus:
|
||
| The play should limit itself to events that cover only a few hours. Compressing events extending over years into few hours is not accepted. | Plot should either be purely tragic or purely comic. No mixture. Incidents should be logically connected. | Scene and events should be confined to one place. Different acts cannot have scenes of different places. | Violent physical actions which cannot be represented on the stage were reported by a body of actors. | ||
TYPES OF COMEDY
|
||
Based on form
|
Based on theme
|
|
Classical
If rules observed
Eg. (as by Ben Jonson and Restoration playwrights) |
Romantic
If rules not observed
Eg. (as by Shakespeare, Lyly, Greene and Nashe) |
1) Humour comedy:
(of Ben Jonson) ~ making fun of unconventional and strange things. 2) Restoration comedy: ~ infidelity in love and marriage. 3) Comedy of Manners: ~ language and behaviour was highly stylised and artificial. 4) Genteel comedy: (of Colley Cibber) ~ ridiculing artificial and pretentious behaviour of 18th century 5) Sentimental comedy: presents not laughter but tears, not arousing curiosity but distressing situations, not rogues but honest servants. 6) Comedy of Dialogue: ~ If plot unfolds mainly through dialogues. 7) Comedy of Incident: ~ If plot unfolds mainly through action. |
Farce:
Definition: Farce is an exaggerated form of comic
play employing all resources of absurd characters, situations and dialogue. Origin:
(Of the art name):
From a Latin word meaning 'to stuff'. (Initially farces were comic interludes inserted (stuffed) into the main play.)
Examples : Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream' and 'Merry Wives of Windsor'.
(Of the art form):
Towards the close of the seventeenth century.
Example : 'The Rehearsal'
Theme:
Farce is an exaggerated form of comic play employing all resources of absurd characters, situations and dialogue.
Technique:
- At a time, atleast one short farce was considered important to recognize a play as a complete one.
- The full-length-piece developed later.
Examples:
- Charles Hautry's 'The Private Secretary'
- Brandon Thomas' 'Charley's Aunt'
- George Bernard Shaw's
'Arms and the Man'
'You Never Can Tell' and
'Androcles and the Lion'
Melodrama:
Definition: Melodrama was a debased form of tragic play which consisted of a song but later meant a sensational play with theatrical events or behaviour.
Origin:
Eighteenth century.
Theme:
Melodrama was a debased form of tragedy which consisted of a song but later meant a sensational play with theatrical events or behaviour.
Technique:
Previous consideration:
A prominent place in such a tragic drama was assigned to a song. (it meant etymologically like this)
Current consideration:
A sensational play consisting of purely theatrical actions or behaviour (such as - extravagant story of crime, revenge, evils of drink or gambling, lost wills, missing heirs, etc in which villainy is foiled and virtue triumphant) and naive sentiment.
Examples:
- Kyd's 'Spanish Tragedy'
- Webster's 'Duchess of Malfi'
Note:
Rarely attempted now because cinema can show much more convincingly.
The Masque:
Definition: The Masque is a costly form of dramatic entertainment comprising of music and dance in addition, designed either for presentation at court or to grace a festive occasion at a nobleman's house.
Example:
Marriage of Ferdinand and Miranda in Shakespeare's ' Tempest' is celebrated with a Masque for the real marriage of Earl of Essex and Lady Frances Howard.
Origin:
Italian origin. Introduced into England in early sixteenth century.
Example:
The earliest in English is Hall's 'Chronicle'
Theme:
The Masque is a costly form of dramatic entertainment comprising of music and dance in addition.
Example:
Shirley's 'Triumph of Peace'
Milton's 'Comus' (after the forms decline; as a family entertainment)
Characteristics:
1) Characters - deities of classical mythology, nymphs and personified abstractions like Love, Delight, Harmony, etc.
2) No. of characters - six.
3) Setting - scenes are laid in ideal regions such as Olympus, Arcadia, the Fortunate Isles.
4) Dances are introduced in appropriate places.
5) Scenery and costumes are very elaborate.
6) Anti-Masque - a frequent comic interlude.
7) Length - as long as a single act of one of Shakespeare's plays.
Current status:
Lost favour.
Since: 17th century. On the King's death in 1625 .
Reasons:
- Enormous cost of production
(Even if this need not be practised further another drawback hindered its permanence)
- Low literary quality of text ( because much attention was paid to elaborate dresses and scenic effects)
Playwrights:
Johnson, Shirley, Sidney, Beaumont, Fletcher, Daniel, Chapman and Carew.
Tragi
- Comedy (also called as Dramatic Romance)
Definition: Tragi - Comedy is a complete tragedy up to a certain point, and a complete comedy thereafter.
Comparison:
1) Tragedy: tragedy is the dominating theme even if comedy is present to some extent. Comedy does not affect the tragic theme.
2) Comedy: comedy is the dominating theme even if tragedy is present to some extent. Tragedy does not affect the comic theme.
3) Tragi - comedy: tragedy is the dominating theme for the first half and comedy dominates the other. Both are distinctive in the same play.
Structure:
-Complication : tragic
-climax: separates both
-denouement : comic
Examples:
Shakespeare's
1) Cymbeline
2) Winter's Tale
3) The Tempest
Origin:
(Unintentional usage):
In Greek, against their convention, Unity of Action one attempted. Plautus's 'Amphitruo'
(Intentional usage):
In English
Period : In the reign of James I
Influences :
- Italian - Pastoral element
- Spanish - Romantic plot
Disappeared in 1642
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