Dramatic Terms

Question 1

Act

Answer 1

A major division in a play. an act can be sub-divided into scenes

Question 2

Antagonist

Answer 2

A character or force against which another character struggles.

Question 3

Antihero

Answer 3

A protagonist or central character who lacks the qualities typically associated with heroism but still manages to earn sympathy from the reader

Question 4

Aside

Answer 4

Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, but not “heard” by the other characters on stage
during a play.

Question 5

Blocking

Answer 5

Movement patterns of actors on the stage.

Question 6

Catastrophe

Answer 6

The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement or falling action of a play.

Question 7

Catharsis

Answer 7

The purging of the feelings of pity and fear.

Question 8

Chorus

Answer 8

a character/narrator coming on stage and giving a prologue or
explicit background information or themes.

Question 9

Climax

Answer 9

The turning point of the action in the plot of a play and the point of greatest tension.

Question 10

Comic relief

Answer 10

gives the spectator a moment of “relief” with a light-hearted scene, after a succession of intensely tragic dramatic moments.

Question 11

Complication

Answer 11

An intensification of the conflict in a play.

Question 12

Cyclic plot

Answer 12

A plot in which the play ends in much the same way it began.

Question 13

Denouement / Resolution

Answer 13

The final outcome of the main complication in a play.

Question 14

Deus Ex Machina

Answer 14

When an external source resolves the entanglements of a play by supernatural intervention.

Question 15

Diction

Answer 15

The manner in which words are pronounced; a style of speaking

Question 15

Diction

Answer 15

The manner in which words are pronounced; a style of speaking

Question 16

Dramatic irony

Answer 16

a situation in which the audience or reader has a better understanding of events than the characters in a story do.

Question 17

dynamic character

Answer 17

a character that undergoes an important change in the course of the play

Question 18

exposition

Answer 18

the first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot in which background information is revealed

Question 19

falling action

Answer 19

when the events and complications begin to resolve themselves and tension is
released. We learn whether the conflict has or been resolved or not.

Question 20

flashback

Answer 20

an interruption of a play’s chronology to describe or present an incident that occurred prior to the main time-frame of the play’s action

Question 21

flat character

Answer 21

simple minor characters. they tend to be presented through particular and limited traits

Question 22

foil

Answer 22

a character who contrasts the main character

Question 22

foreshadowing

Answer 22

a literary technique that introduces an apparently irrelevant element early in the story and its significance becomes clear later in the play.

Question 23

fourth wall

Answer 23

The imaginary wall that separates the spectator/audience from the action taking place on stage.

Question 24

gesture

Answer 24

The physical movement of a character during a play.

Question 25

linear plot

Answer 25

A traditional plot sequence in which the incidents in the drama progress chronologically; in
other words, all of the events build upon one another and there are no flashbacks.

Question 26

monologue

Answer 26

A speech by a single character without another character’s response. The character however, is speaking to someone else or even a group of people.

Question 27

motif

Answer 27

a series of recurring details that have symbolic importance in the story

Question 28

motivation

Answer 28

The thought(s) or desire(s) that drives a character to actively pursue a want or need.

Question 29

plot

Answer 29

the sequence of events that make up a story.

Question 30

point of attack

Answer 30

The point in the story of a play where the plot begins.

Question 31

prologue

Answer 31

the introduction of a literary work or play.

Question 32

props

Answer 32

Articles or objects that appear on stage during a play.

Question 33

protagonist

Answer 33

The main character of a literary work.

Question 34

Reversal or Peripeteia

Answer 34

The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the
protagonist.

Question 35

Rising Action

Answer 35

Events that are part of the play’s plot that lead up to the climax.

Question 36

Round Characters

Answer 36

A character that is depicted with such psychological depth and detail that they seem like a real person.

Question 37

Satire

Answer 37

A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies.

Question 38

Scene

Answer 38

A traditional segment in a play.

Question 39

Scenery

Answer 39

The physical representation of the play’s setting

Question 40

Soliloquy

Answer 40

A speech meant to be heard by the audience but not by other characters on the stage (as opposed to a monologue which addresses someone who does not respond).

Question 41

Stage direction

Answer 41

A playwright’s descriptive or interpretive comments that provide readers (as well as actors
and directors) with information about the dialogue, setting, and action of a play.

Question 42

staging

Answer 42

The spectacle a play presents in performance, including the position of actors on stage, the scenic background, the props and costumes, and the lighting and sound effects.

Question 43

static character

Answer 43

A literary or dramatic character who undergoes little or no inner change.

Question 44

subplot

Answer 44

A secondary plot that usually shares a relationship with the main plot, either thematically or
incidentally. The subplot often deals with the secondary characters in the play.

Question 45

subtext

Answer 45

A secondary plot that usually shares a relationship with the main plot, either thematically or
incidentally. The subplot often deals with the secondary characters in the play.

Question 46

suspension of disbelief

Answer 46

when you accept something as real when it obviously is not real.

Question 47

stock character

Answer 47

A recognizable character type found in many plays. (a stereotypical character)

Question 48

Tableau

Answer 48

A motionless dramatic scene created by actors to depict the appearance of a moment frozen in time.

Question 49

Theatre of the Absurd

Answer 49

A type of drama and performance that conveys a sense of life as devoid of meaning and purpose.

Question 50

Tragedy

Answer 50

A type of drama in which the characters experience reversal of fortune, usually for the worse.

Question 51

Tragic flaw

Answer 51

A weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the fall of the tragic hero.

Question 52

Tragic hero

Answer 52

A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who, by virtue of a tragic flaw and/or fate, suffers a fall from a higher station in life into suffering.