Adapting Fiction Into Drama

1. Adapting Fiction Into Drama Essay 1, Compare/Contrast Structure, Aristotle’s Unities

2. Demystifying “comparison and contrast” • Many teachers in the past may have told you that when you are comparing things, you are only looking at similarities, and when you are contrasting things, you are only looking at differences. • So… do you have to deal with BOTH similarities and differences in your essay? • ONLY YOU can answer that question. This is YOUR paper. YOU are the one coming up with the literary analysis. If you ONLY wish to focus on similarities, go for it. If you want to focus on ONE striking difference, do that. If you want to have a couple of paragraphs comparing the works and a couple of paragraphs contrasting them, that’s fine too. • The point is, YOU HAVE FREEDOM TO MAKE CHOICES THAT SUIT THE NEEDS OF YOUR UNIQUE ESSAY. Use it wisely.

3. The Purpose of a Literary Compare/Contrast Essay • When you write a compare/contrast essay about literature, you have two goals: • Goal 1: To provide excellent analysis that shows a deep understanding of each individual work you are writing about. Your analysis should give your reader insight into the works of literature that they might not have had just reading it. • Goal 2: To look at the works of literature side by side and make observations that could not have been made if you were writing about only one work. In other words, when you compare/contrast the works you choose, you must say why these similarities and differences you are pointing out MATTER.

4. What Not to Do • Some textbooks and websites that give advice about compare/contrast essay suggest that you structure your essay like this: • Intro • Paragraph about first work • Paragraph about second work • Paragraph comparing first and second works • Conclusion • DO NOT DO THIS. Having read many essays for these prompts, I can say that for 99% of students, this structure does not help you fulfill the purpose of the essay.

5. Successful Structures • A successful compare/contrast essay for these prompts will constantly be looking at the works of literature together, moving back and forth between them and using the tools of literary analysis to point out significant similarities and differences. • This means that using a point-by-point compare/contrast structure is more effective for these prompts. • Point-by-point structure calls for you to choose several points of comparison between your works of literature, and for each body paragraph to discuss multiple works and how those works deal with the topic of that paragraph.

6. Example Compare/Contrast Point-by-Point Structure • Thesis: In introduction. What major point are you going to make about the relationship between your play and the original story? • Body paragraph 1: Setting in play vs. setting in story • Body paragraph 2: Symbolism in play vs. story • Body paragraph 3: Foreshadowing in play vs. story • Conclusion • Please note that there are LOTS of ways to use this structure. I chose setting, symbolism, and foreshadowing as the topics for my body paragraphs, but you might focus on three (or more) different characters, three different themes, etc. Choose the points of comparison that work for YOU.

7. Problems of Adaptation • Think of a book you have read that has been adapted as a film. • Did the film manage to capture the “feel” of the book? Did you think it did a good job of presenting the story in a different medium? In what ways did it succeed? In what ways did it fail? • What are some of the challenges you think you might encounter adapting the short story you choose into a play?

8. Aristotle’s Unities (and How to Break Them) • Neo-classical playwrights believe that Aristotle (who they held in high regard) had said that a play should observe three “unities:” • Unity of action: They thought a play should have one main plot and no subplots. • Unity of time: They thought that the events of a play should take place in the span of 24 hours, or, even better, that the action of the play should unfold in “real time.” • Unity of place: They thought that the stage should represent one place, and one place only. (So no scene changes.)

9. How to Throw Aristotle’s Unities out the Window • Most modern drama does not observe these three unities. (And neither did Shakespeare.) • Action can take place in many different settings. A playwright can indicate to an audience that the setting has changed by a change in props or lighting, or by writing dialogue that mentions where the characters are. Some playwrights who have a large stage to work with assign different parts of the stage to different settings. • The important thing is, if a playwright chooses to switch from one setting to another, the audience should not be confused about where the new setting is.

10. How to Throw Aristotle’s Unities out the Window • Many plays do not observe the “Unity of Time,” either. So, how do playwrights indicate that time has passed? • If enough time has passed in the story of the play, they call for the director of the play to cast different actors. • They include dialogue for their actors that indicates how much time has passed. • Subtle changes in lighting, props, costumes, and music can indicate a passage of time. • You may assume you have a very generous budget for putting on your play, but you cannot have your actors do anything illegal or impossible.

11. Reading for Changes in Time and Place • Any time you see a scene or act change in a play we read for class, there is a good chance that the playwright just broke one of the unities. Be on the lookout for how much time has passed and whether or not the characters are in the same place they were before. Notice how much information the playwright gives the director/actors about passage of time and the new setting.