Drama Vocab

Question 1

Absurd

Answer 1

radically nonrealistic in both content and presentation, that emphasizes the absurdity, emptiness, or meaninglessness of life.

Question 2

Allegory

Answer 2

has a second meaning beneath the surface.

Question 3

Aside

Answer 3

when a character turns from the person being addressed to speak directly to the audience.

Question 4

Catharsis

Answer 4

an emotional release experienced by the audience.

Question 5

Chorus

Answer 5

a group of actors speaking or chanting in unison; a characteristic device of Greek drama for conveying communal or group emotion.

Question 6

Deus ex machina

Answer 6

the resolution of a plot by the use of a highly improbable chance or coincidence.

Question 7

Dramatic conventions

Answer 7

the specific actions and techniques the actor, writer or director has employed to create a desired dramatic effect/style.

Question 8

Farce

Answer 8

emphasizes improbable situations, violent conflicts, physical comedy, and course wit.

Question 9

Hamartia

Answer 9

a criminal act committed in ignorance of some material fact or for the sake of the greater good.

Question 10

Melodrama

Answer 10

features sensational incidents, emphasizes plot at the expense of characterization, and often has a virtuous protagonist who triumphs over the villainous antagonist.

Question 11

Narrator

Answer 11

a character found in some plays who speaks directly to the audience, introduces the action, provides commentary between dramatic scenes, and may or may not be a major character in the action itself.

Question 12

Nonrealistic

Answer 12

drama that, in content, presentation, or both, departs significantly from fidelity to the outward appearances of life.

Question 13

Realistic

Answer 13

drama that attempts, in content and in presentation, to preserve the appearance of actual, everyday life.

Question 14

Romantic Comedy

Answer 14

a play in which sympathetic characters are rescued from their difficulties at the end of the play.

Question 15

Scornful Comedy

Answer 15

exposes and ridicules human folly, vanity, or hypocrisy.

Question 16

Soliloquy

Answer 16

a speech in which a character, alone on the stage, addresses himself or herself; a character “thinking out loud.”

Question 17

Tragedy

Answer 17

a type of drama, opposed to comedy, which depicts the causally related events that lead to the downfall and suffering of the protagonist, who is often a person of unusual moral or intellectual stature or outstanding abilities.