Elements of Drama

Elements of Drama

Page 752-755 • Write notes for the following terms: • Play • Script • Dialogue • Stage directions • Tragedy • Tragic hero • Tragic flaw • Comedy

For the next 15 minutes, these are your options: • Study your Week 6 vocabulary • Study the first 8 lines of the Alma Mater • Review the notes you just took from the book • Work on an assignment for another class • Read silently at your desk • Play, Script, Dialogue, Stage directions, Tragedy, Tragic hero, Tragic flaw, Comedy Yes, you have options, but you must be doing something productive.

Remember…. • Tomorrow is your second alma mater quiz. Please use this time to study. Near the Blue Ridge Mountains’ splendor, Under skies of blue, Stands our noble Alma Mater, Glorious and true. Many memories has she brought us, Pleasures, knowledge, truth. Giving light to all her children, Making better youth.

Ben Franklin’s Autobiography • Pg. 166 • What is an autobiography? • What is an inference?

A play is a story acted out live and onstage. • The script is the text of a play. It includes all of the words that actors will speak and some instructions for the actors, set designers, and director.

The Words Characters Speak • The conversation between characters is called dialogue. However, in a play, characters do not always simply speak one another. Sometimes that talk to themselves.

Stage directions describe the appearance of the stage as well as how the characters move and speak. Stage directions are not read aloud and are usually written in italics. • Winter. The Servingman(in rags) and the Prince (as a frog) sitting around a campfire.

A tragedy is a play about a serious topic that ends unhappily. Tragedies usually deal with the topics of fate, life, and death. • In most tragedies, the person suffering is the tragic hero. This is noble, likable person who has a personal failing that leads to their downfall. This is called their tragic flaw and may include characteristics such as pride, ambition, naivety, etc.

A comedy is a play that ends happily. A comedy does not necessarily have to be funny or happy at all parts during the play. It simply must end well aka most people survive in the end.

Apostrophe • Directly speaking to a person or object that cannot respond • Ex: Ms. Lacey to the Promethean board: “Why won’t you work!” • Ex: Ms. Lacey said to her cat “Stop meowing!”

Aside and Soliloquy • Aside- A line which is spoken directly to the audience generally to emphasize an important point of plot (other characters cannot hear these lines unless indicated) • Soliloquy A long speech given by a character that tells his/her true feelings (other characters cannot hear these lines)

Monologue • Monologue - refers to a speech by one person in a drama, a form of entertainment by a single speaker, or an extended part of the text of a play uttered by an actor. • It is heard by everyone.

Irony • Consider possibly referring to downloaded powerpoint Irony is something unexpected; there are three types • Dramatic irony-the audience knows something that at least one actor on stage does not know • Situational irony- when there is a discrepancy between the character’s expected result and actual result • Verbal irony- a character says one thing but means the opposite

Oxymoron A two-word phrase that appears to be opposite but is not • Authentic replica • Bitter sweet • Detailed summary • New classic

Paradox A statement that appears to be opposite in meaning but is true • “I can resist anything but temptation.” Oscar Wilde • “Don’t go near the water until you learn to swim.” – parents everywhere

Synecdoche When part of something represents the whole • All hands on deck • “Take thy face hence.” – Will Shakespeare • The White House issued a press release today.

Terms you should still know… • Alliteration- the repetition of beginning sounds in words • Assonance- the repetition of vowel sounds in the middle of words that do not share the same end consonant sound • Metaphor • Simile • Personification

Elements of Drama