Drama Flashcards by Carina K

William Shakespeare

1564-1616
- most important/popular author

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Types/Genres of Drama

most popular:
- comedy
- tragedy
- history

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Comedy
Drama

happy end
mostly ends in marriage

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Tragedy
Drama

sad/bad end
mostly ends in death

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

History
Drama

not really popular

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Drama to Theatre

Author <-> Dramatic text <-> Reader

Theatre/Apparatus <-> Performance Text <-> Audience

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Communication Model Narrative Texts
Levels of Communication

extra-textual Level of Communication: empirical author -> empirical reader
intra-textual level of communication I + II: Internal Communication System: character communication

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

How does drama compensate for the lack of mediator?

through Dramtic Text (primary and secondary) and Theatrical Text
Plurimediality
primary: what actors say on stage
secondary: everything that’s not spoken, helps organise the play

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Plurimediality

usage of a lot of different medias/codes

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

What is a chorus?

a character who is not part of the play is introduced to the audience

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

epic tendencies
Drama

character talks directly to the audience
“breaks” the fourth wall between external and internal communication

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Codes and Channels of Theatre Communication

Channel: visual or acoustical
Code: verbal or non-verbal
Sender: Character or stage

acoustical & verbal -> linguistic or paralinguistic -> Character or stage

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

from text to play
Drama

Theatre/Acting Company: commissions the writer
Writer: writes the Foul Papers, then reviews these and makes a fair copy
Foul Paper/Fair Copy: given to Master of Revels
Master of Revels: censors the Performance (decides if it’ll be played/printed)

Theatre/Acting Company: performs the Play OR
Printer: prints the play/text as Quarto or Folio

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Different Types of Speech
in drama

Dialogical Speech
Monological Speech
-> Monologue
-> Soliloguy
Asides
-> Monological Aside
-> Aside ad spectatores
-> Dialogical Aside

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Dialogical Speech

two ore more characters talking to each other

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Monological Speech

character talks for an extended amount of time, alone
- Monologue: character is NOT alone on the stage, other characters are there
- Soliloguy: character is alone on stage

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Asides

character breaks out (i.e. to the audience)
- Monological aside
- Aside ad spectatores
- Dialogical aside (talks to one character and suddenly breaks out to talk to another [without the first character hearing him])

-> the character he originally talks to, doesnt hear him

Discrepant Awareness
Drama

superior audience awareness (dramatic irony -> the reader/audience knows way more than most of the characters)
inferior audience awareness

Figure conceptions
Drama

static vs. dynamic
one-dimensional vs. multidimensional

static vs. dynamic
Figure Conceptions (Drama)

static: character stays the same the whole time
dynamic: characters views, etc. change/develop over time

one-dimensional vs. multidimensional
Figure Conceptions (Drama)

one-dimensional: there’s not much to the character
multidimensional: the character is more complex

Characterisation
(Drama)

Figural (explicit) Character communication
Figural (implicit) character’s presence
Authorial

Figural (explicit) Character communication
Characterisation (Drama)

Self Commentary
- Monologue or
- Dialogue

Commentary by Others
- Monologue
-> before 1st appearance
-> after 1st appearance
- Dialogue
-> in praesentia
-> in absentia

Figural (implicit) Character’s Presence
Characterisation (Drama)

non-verbal Characterisation
-> stature, facial expressions, mask, costume, setting
Verbal Characterisation
-> voice, rhetoric, register (dialect, jargon,…)

Authorial Characterisation (Drama)

* Explicit -> Paratexts, Speaking names (Names with a meanign, ex.: Severus Snape -> Snape - Snake Symbol of Slytherin) * Implicit -> Contrasts and Parallels in the Configuration (i.e. form of texts) –> high class characters speak in verses (Gedichtsform), low class characters speak in prose (Blockabsatz)

Exposition (Drama)

* transmission of information to do with the events and situations from the past that determine the dramatic present -> referential function (mostly related to the context of a message)

Dramatic Introduction (Drama)

* used to simulate the audience’s attention and to attune it to the fictional world of the drama -> phatic function -> example: a chorus (not part of the play) introduces the fictional world

Isolated vs. Integrated Exposition/Dramatic Introduction

isolated: not part of the play/Characters integrated: a character of the play

Monological vs. dialogical exposition/dramatic introduction?

monological: character(person talks alone dialogical: character/person talks with someone else

Classical 5-Act Structure Drama G. Freytag

1. Act: Exposition 2. Act: Rising Action (complication) 3. Act: Climax and peripeteia (reversal) 4. Act: Falling Action (unravelling/untying) 5. Act: catastrophe or denoument

Dramatic Conventions and concepts Aristotle’s Unities

Unity of Action Unity of Time Unity of Place => not all plays stick to these unities

Unity of Action Aristotle

every part is important to the outcome and effect of the play

Unity of Time Aristotle

a play can’t cover more than a day

Aristotle’s Conception of Tragedy

ideally only one place -> you can’t switch between several places during a play

Aristotle’s Conception of Tragedy

usually has a tragic hero -> a man whose character is generally good, whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity but by some error

Classical Conception according to Aristotle

* hubris * hamartia * peripeteia * anagnorisis * catharis

hubris Classical Conception Aristotle

refers to the tragic hero at the beginning of the play -> over-confident

hamartia Classical Conception Aristotle

translates to: tragic flaws -> hero has some ‘mistakes’

peripeteia Classical Conception Aristotle

at some point of the play there’s a reversal of fortune

anagnorisis Classical Conception Aristotle

change from ignorance to knowledge of own downfall

catharis Classical Conception Aristoteles

when reading a Tragedy we experience pity and fear -> through thi: purification of these emotions