Dramatic Terms

Question 1

Drama

Answer 1

Performance

Question 2

Comedy

Answer 2

Humorous

Question 3

Tragedy

Answer 3

A play that ends in disaster (sad)

Question 4

Acts

Answer 4

Segments into which long plays divided

Question 5

Scenes

Answer 5

Shorter divisions

Question 6

Props

Answer 6

Objects used on stage

Question 7

Staging

Answer 7

Positions of actions, background

Question 8

Stage directions

Answer 8

Instructions the playwright includes for the director and the actor move and speak

Question 9

Fourth wall

Answer 9

The imaginary wall of theater supposedly removed to allow the audience to see action

Question 10

Antagonist

Answer 10

Opposing force

Question 11

Protagonist

Answer 11

Main character

Question 12

External conflict

Answer 12

A character struggles with a problem with another entity

Question 13

Internal conflict

Answer 13

A character struggles with emotionally within him/herself with a problem

Question 14

Static character

Answer 14

Stays the same throughout the play

Question 15

Dynamic character

Answer 15

Changes by growing in understanding throughout play

Question 16

Foil

Answer 16

A character that contrasts another character

Question 17

Dialogue

Answer 17

Conversation

Question 18

Monologue

Answer 18

Long speech many characters present

Question 19

Soliloquy

Answer 19

Speech by one character alone

Question 20

Aside

Answer 20

Words spoken by an actor directly to audience which is not heard from another actor

Question 21

Flashback

Answer 21

Interruption of main plot to present a scene that occurred in the past

Question 22

Symbol

Answer 22

An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself

Question 23

Theme

Answer 23

The idea of literary work abstracted from its details of language, character, and action

Question 24

Chorus

Answer 24

A group of characters in both Greek Tragedies and in later forms who comment on action of a play with little to no participation in it

Question 25

Catharsis

Answer 25

The purging of the feeling of pity and fear that occur in the audience of a tragic drama at end of play

Question 26

Tragic hero

Answer 26

A privileged exalted character who by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate suffers a fall from glory into suffering

Question 27

Comic relief

Answer 27

The use of a comic scene to interrupt a succession of intensely tragic dramatic moments

Question 28

Deus ex machina

Answer 28

An unexpected artificial or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot