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Introduction to Literature > Drama > Flashcards

Drama Flashcards

1
Q

For what is dramatic text written?

A

As a script for a theater performance, not primarily to be read. They are to be performed as plays.

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2
Q

What is the most appropriate mode of reception for drama?

A

Watching a play/a drama performed on stage.

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3
Q

How can we describe theater perfomance?

A
  • multimedial form of presentation
  • wide repertoire of verbal and non-verbal signs and codes
  • variety of communication channels.
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4
Q

What is analyzed in literary studies when regarding to drama?

A
  • text vs. perfomance
  • script with primary and secondary text (= stage directions)
  • tension between written and performed text
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5
Q

How can the structure of dramatic text & performance be described as opposed to narrative text?

A
  • “absolute nature of dramatic texts” (= no narrator)
  • speech of characters/no inner thoughts (monologue/soliloquy is used for this sometimes)
  • interpersonal (dialogue form)
  • presentness (you are present as the speech is delivered on stage)
  • auditorium = 4th Wall of a closed space
  • plurimedial: synaesthetic text (seeing, hearing, smelling)/non-verbal codes
  • collective and ephemeral process (no perfomance is like the one before)
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6
Q

Describe the communication model for dramatic texts!

A
  • internal communication system between fictional characters
  • no mediating communication system (fictional narrator) which is compensated by non-verbal communication, visuals and internal communication (soliloquy)
  • presence of a fictional addressee, implied author and implied receiver, and empirical author and actual reader
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7
Q

What is the aim of dramatic speech?

A
  • to communicate information about past (exposition) and future events
  • to introduce characters and setting or perform actions
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8
Q

Characteristics of a monologue

A
  • character speaks alone but in the explicit presence of others
  • can express inner thoughts -> high degree of subjectivity
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9
Q

Soliloquy

A

the person delivering a monologue is alone (or regardless of any hearers) on stage

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10
Q

Aside

A
  • speech directed at the audience or other characters but concealed from other characters on stage
  • result is often dramatic irony: discrepant awareness between the recipient and a character (insight into the character’s misjudgements)
  • monological aside, dialogical aside & aside ad spectatores
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11
Q

Dialogue

A
  • line by line exchange
  • report by messsenger (recount events that happened before)
  • teichoscopy (viewing from the walls) = reporting something that is happening off-stage simultaneously but cannot be seen by audience
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12
Q

Classical unities/three unities

A
  • unity of action = a play should have one main action that it follows, with no or few subplots
  • unity of place = a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography, nor should the stage represent more than one place.
  • unity of time = the action in a play should take place over no more than 24 hours
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13
Q

catharsis

A
  • effect of purgation or purification achieved by tragic drama
  • brings relief to the audience after witnessing the disturbing events enacted in tragedies
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13
Q

Dramatic Arc

A
  1. Exposition: inciting moment
  2. Rising action or complication
  3. Climax: turning point
  4. Falling action or reversal: moment of final suspense
  5. Dénouement (comedy) or catastrophe (tragedy)

BUT: 20th century dramatics challenge/change these conventions; open forms no longer rely on classical unities or dramatic arcs

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13
Q

tragedy

A
  • imitation of a serious heroic and complete action
  • protagonist’s fortune turns from good to bad
  • action incited pity and fear, we empathize with the suffering hero(ine) and their recognition of their mistake/guilt
  • this was to induce catharsis
  • domestic tragedy replaces nobelmen with middle-class characters and private life to bring a moral message closer to the middle-class audience
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14
Q

comedy

A
  • stages ordinary people in the middle or lower classes as flat types with stereotypical forms of behavior
  • characters reveal shortcomings, make mistakes, violate rules and are frustrated by failure
  • action is usually marked by stock elements, such as mistaken identities, surprising turns and revelations
  • in general, poetic justice prevails in the end
15
Q

dramatis personnae

A

refers to all of the literary characters who appear in a play, mostly listed at the beginning of a play

16
Q

character constellation

A
  • graphic representation of the characters’ relationships to each other
  • used to describe the dynamic structure of the dramatis personnae
  • includes sources of impending conflict
17
Q

character configuration

A
  • entrance or exit of one or several characters
  • which characters are on stage together/alone and how often
  • reveals how important a single character is in a play
18
Q

character perspective

A
  • the individual, more or less restricted view of reality of every character
  • determined by three major factors:
    1. the character’s level of knowledge
    2. the character’s psychological disposition
    3. the character’s ideological persuasions (values and norms)
19
Q

round character

A
  • multidimendional, complex character comparable to a human being, personal indivduality and uniqueness
20
Q

flat character

A

stereotypical, few specific human characteristics and individual features
e.g. psychological type (embodies a particular mode of human behavior) or social type (based on a particular profession or social class)

21
Q

Techniques of characterisation

A
  • figural vs. authorial
  • explicit vs. implicit
  • self-commentary vs. commentary by others
  • mode of speech (dialogue/soliloquy)
  • verbal vs. non-verbal
22
Q

Open-Air stage forms

A
  • ancient greece: amphitheater in a semicircle
  • middle ages: pageants (Bühnenwagen)
  • renaissance: apron stage
23
Q

Indoor stage forms

A
  • picture frame stage: invisble 4th wall
  • theater in the round
  • thrust stage
  • traverse
24
Q

What characterizes a theater performance?

A
  • engages audience physically, intellectually, emotionally, individually and collectively
  • theater needs an audience
  • success or failure of a performance might be measured by the degree it reimagines the text within its historical context
25
Q

Name other theater forms!

A
  • alienation effect by Brecht: actor can stand outside the character –> epic theater: montage rather than stringent plot
  • theater of the absurd by Samuel Becket: projects irrationalism, helplessness and absurdity of life in dramatic forms that reject realistic setting, logical reasoning or a coherently evolving plot
26
Q

Which theater codes and sign systems can be present in plays?

A

actor:
1. acoustic
- individual vocal characteristics (d)
- pitch (nd)
- voice-quality (d)
- utterances (nd)
2. visual
- appearance (d): stature, physiognomy, costume, makeup
- body language (nd): facial expression, movement, gesture

stage:
1. acoustic
- loudspeaker (nd)
- noise (nd)
- music (nd)
2. visual
- stage-set (d)
- props (nd)
- lighting (nd)
- placards (nd)

d = durative
nd = nondurative

27
Q

Which basic conceptions shape the construction of characters

A

personification, type or individual:
- flat our round (simple types or individuals)
- static or dynamic (unchanging or developing)

28
Q

In which way does the author inform us about characters?

A

authorial information:
- general constellation of characters (dramatis personnae: hierarchy of race, class, gender?)
- coresspondences and contrasts
- explicit descriptions in secondary text, telling names
- dramatic pairing: protagonist and antagonist, foil, confidant(e)
- settings characters are associated with (overlaps with space)

29
Q

In which way does the figural information help us with characterization?

A
  • explicit characterization of selves and others in speech
  • implicit characterization
  • the manner and timing of entrances and exits
  • external appearance: stature, physiognomy, costume, mask and hair
  • body language: facial expression, gesture, choreographic grouping and movement
  • characteristic vocal quality, pitch, volume, stylistic features
  • delivery of speeches, varying according to pace, rhythm, intonation
30
Q

In which way does acting inform us about the characters?

A
  • Do words agree with acts, support acts or differ from acts?
  • Do actors impersonate characters or display characters with role distance?
31
Q

Name and describe three types of comedy!

A
  • Romantic comedy: humor, entertainment, lovers who are able to overcome obstacles -> reconciliation, happy ending
  • satiric comedy: individual flaws and social vices, moral message: poetic justice instead of reconciliation
  • comedy of manners: celebrates sophisticated taste and manners, battles of wit and the sexes and worldy pleasures instead of naivety, sobriety and hypocrisy
32
Q

What is a tragicomedy?

A

combination of serious conflicts or topics with light-hearted elements

Introduction to Literature (4 decks)

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