Drama

Drama is an important type of literature

Drama is an imitation of life.The playwright writes a

representation of real life and the actors perform the writer’s word on a stage

Writer = dramatist \ playwrightdrama = plays

text = the dialog actors = characters

the stage

Plays are two kinds: 1- Tragedy :

is a play that ends with a sad ending

2- Comedy: is a play that ends with a happy

ending

Comedy: is a story that amuse and

entertained a story in which nobody suffered and real pain

Tragedy: is a story in which the main character

suffered a great deal and which ends in a death or a series of deaths.

Tragedy is serious and deals with situations that test man’s intelligence and morals.

Aristotle's definition of Tragedy:tragedy is an imitation of an action that is

serious, complete and has a certain magnitude.

Tragedies should be written in verse not narrative language

and they arouse the feelings of pity and fear in the audience to make him purify

his own feelings. (P.62)

Elements of a drama: 1- Theme

2- Plot3- Character

4-Dialog5- Music

6- Visual Element

Theme: The theme of a drama refers to the central idea of the play.

Plot: The order of events occurring in a play

It is the basic storyline that is narrated through a play.

Characters: The characters that form a part of the story are interwoven with the plot of the

drama. Each character in a play has a personality of its own and has a distinct set of principles and beliefs. Actors who play various

roles in a drama have the very important responsibility of bringing the characters to life.

Dialog: The story of any play is taken forward by means of the dialog. The story is narrated to the audiences through the

dialog written by the playwright. The success of a drama depends hugely on the contents of the dialog and the quality of dialog delivery by the actors of the play.

Music: This element of drama comprises the melody in the use of sounds and

rhythm in dialogs as well as melodious compositions, which form a part of many

plays. The background score, the songs and the sound effects that are used in a play make up the musical element of drama.

Visual Elementdeals with the scenes, costumes and special effects used in it. The

visual element of drama, also known as the spectacle

End of Lecture