The Forms of Drama

(Form is another word for GENRE)

Key Terms:

Genre

History play

Spectacle

Action

Cycle play

Procession

Conflict

Documentary

Proagon

Tragedy

Musical

Transition

Comedy

Convention

Exposition

Utile culce

Parts of a play

Climax

Melodrama

Plot

Denouement

Tragicomedy

Character

Curtain call

Farce

Theme

Criticism

Black or dark comedy

Diction

Interludes

Music

This chapter will look first at definitions and conventions of classical Greek drama, and then at
forms in general.
Tragedy (togos ode--"goat song")

Definitions and Conventions of Classical Greek Theatre

Aristotle's definition, found in Poetics, is an analysis of Sophocles' Oedipus the King. It is
a classical definition used throughout history to define tragedy, but also has been used for
discussion of drama in general. "Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious,
complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic
ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action,
not of narrative; through pity and fear affecting the proper purgation of these emotions."

Notes on this definition from the classical point of view:

The imitation of the action--the arrangement of the incidents.
Serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude: Unity of plot demands the structural
union of the parts so that if any one of them is displaced or removed, the whole will be
disjointed and disturbed.)
In Language embellished: The accepted verse of the era.
In the form of action: Denotes dramatic action, not activity, which is the movement
of spirit behind the play. It is purposeful, varied, probable, and engages interest. For
instance, "Find the killer of Laius" is the dramatic action of Oedipus the King. The entire
play happens because of that action.
The separate parts: These are plot, character (moral disposition), thought, diction,
song, spectacle.
Purgation: Means to rid one's self of.

Plot
Kinds.
Climactic (most common for Greek drama).
Episodal.

Situational.
Parts.
Beginning
Exposition.
Major conflict.
Middle.
Climaxes, conflicts shown as a series of incidents,
investigations
Revelations and confrontations.
End.
Final climax including, in tragedy, Reversal, Recognition
(change from ignorance to knowledge) or both.
In tragedy: Catharsis.
Scene of suffering: There will be destructive or painful action. The plot ought to be
so constructed that, even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told would
thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes place. (DTF)
Denouement. With this untying or unravelling comes the new order (or new way of
life) after the hero is destroyed. Oedipus steps down as king to wander in search of a
burial ground. Hamlet's immediate family dies, and Fortinbras assumes the throne.
Character (moral disposition).
Certain qualities are ascribed to the agents. Character reveals moral purpose,
showing what kind of things a man chooses or avoids.
In tragedy, a tragic hero is of nobility.
Theme (intellect, idea, thought).
Required wherever a statement is proven or a general truth enunciated.
Diction (language).
The expression of meaning in words.
Varies with conventions of the time.
Music (song).
Gives pleasure.
Greek plays were largely musical. The chorus is often called the dancers
Spectacle.
Depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet.
Convention.
The set of understandings between audience and artists.

Action.
Movement of spirit behind the plot. (See above).

FORMS:
Tragedy
The tragic view of life.
The tragic nature of the human condition is its struggle with necessity.

We must accept the inevitability of our fate.

The spirit of tragedy is not passive, it is an active struggle.
The tragic hero (protagonist, or carrier of the action).
He will have nobility of spirit.
He will have excessive pride or hubris (sin of excess that caused pride and arrogance)
His hamartia (tragic flaw) will not allow him to compromise.
Division, choice and responsibility.
The catastrophe is caused by the inner dividedness of the protagonist, not by some
external force. The antagonist (opposer of the action) in tragedy is larger than life--gods,
ghosts, "fate". He complicates the action and forces the protagonist to act. The hero must
accept the responsibility for his actions.
Condition in a society for tragedy:
Elevation of man.
Cruelty of the world.
Greek Golden Age/Elizabethan England
Some principal writers.
Classical.
Greece (The Golden Age).
Aeschylus.
Sophocles.
Euripides.
Italy (Rome).
Seneca.
Middle Ages.
Renaissance.
England (Elizabethan or Shakespearean era).
Shakespeare.
Jonson.
Marlowe.
Spain (The Golden Age).
Cervantes.
de Vega.
Calderon.
Neoclassic (French Classicism).
France.
Racine.
Corneille.
Romantic.
France.
Hugo.
Germany.
Schiller.
Goethe.
Modern.

Norway.
Ibsen.
Sweden.
Strindberg.
England.
Shaw.
America.
O'Neill.
Williams.
Miller.
Albee.
Comedy (song of melody).
The comic view of life.
We will renew ourselves.
Comedy is physical and energetic.
The protected world of comedy.
There is an absence of pain.
There is stability at the end.
It is moral--morally offensive possibilities are hinted but do not happen.
The boundaries of the comic.
Behavior is ludicrous--somewhere between the serious and absurd.
There is an absence of pain.
Types of comedy.
Situation.
Character.
Idea.
Farce (This is sometimes dealt with as a separate form).
Romantic.
Comedy of Manners.
Sentimental (This is maudlin, sappy, and silly. Popular ing England and
America in the 18th. & 19th. centuries.)
Black/Dark (Actually this is sometimes dealt with as a separate form, since it
is the opposite of tragicomedy).
Comic devices.
Exaggeration.
Incongruity.
Surprise.
Repetition.
Wisecrack/Sarcasm.
Some principal writers.
Classical.
Greece.
Aristophanes (Old or High Comedy).
Menander (New or Low Comedy).

Italy.
Plautus (New Comedy).
Terence (New Comedy).
Renaissance.
England.
Shakespeare (Romantic).
Jonson.
Italy.
Goldoni (commedia dell'arte).
Neoclasic (French Classicism).
France.
Moliere.
Restoration.
England.
Etherege (Comedy of Manners).
18th Century.
England.
Sheridan (Comedy of Manners).
Goldsmith (Comedy of Manners).
19th Century.
England.
Wilde (Comedy of Manners).
Shaw (Comedy if Ideas).
20th Century.
England.
Coward (Comedy of Manners).
Shaw (Comedy of Ideas).
America.
O'Neill (Romantic/Sentimental/Character).
Kaufman & Hart (Idea/Situation/Character).
Simon (Situation/Character/Romantic/Black).
Melodrama (drama of disaster) (Think of the film Jaws with theme music every time
the shark got near. Music underscores most evil in melodramatic films, radio and
television. The music of melodrama is apparent in theatre, also.)
Melodrama and disaster.
All the significant events of the plot are caused by forces outside the protagonist.
The protagonist is a victim:
1) Who is acted upon.
2) Whose moral character is not essential to the event.
3) Whose suffering does not imply related guilt or responsibility.
There is no sense of moral consequence (as in a change of the universe) in the event.
Woe is me.
Paranoia abounds in melodrama.
People are alive in a universe of danger.

One always knows where one "is" in melodrama. Moral principles are established, as
are rules of proper conduct. Punishment fits the crime.
Good guys vs. bad guys.
There is maintenance of self in a hostile world. There can be reordering of one's self
in relationship to others, but the primary goal is NOT self-knowledge and reordering of self
to the universe.
Melodrama as entertainment.
It simplifies and idealizes human experience.
All issues are resolved in a well-defined way with little or no shadows or doubts.
Some principal writers.
Renaissance.
England.
Shakespeare & Marlowe (Revenge plays).
19th Century.
America.
Stowe & Aiken.
Boucicault.

Tragicomedy

(tragedy that ends happily).

It thrives in a society in a state of flux. It focuses on character relationships.
Hope springs eternal in tragicomedy. It is non-judgmental.
It is a mixed form. It is the most lifelike of the forms. There are no absolutes.
Some principal writers.
Modern.
Russia.
Chekhov.
France.
Beckett.
Farce (Exaggerated physical activities growing out of situations).
Some principal writers.
Classical.
Italy.
Plautus.
Terence.
Renaissance.
England.
Shakespeare.
Italy.
Commedia dell'arte.
Neoclassic.
France.
Moliere.
19th Century.

France.
Feydeau.
Modern.
Russia.
Chekhov.

Black or dark comedy (The play is comic but ends darkly or ironically.)
Interludes (These are comic entertainments between plays or courses of a dinner in
medieval times.)

History plays (These chronicle historical events, but do so with almost the cathartic
depth of tragedies. Shakespeare is the principal writer.)
Cycle plays (These are stories of the Bible set into dramas.)
Documentary (These use authentic evidence to bring historical events to light.
Musical (This is actually a style, as one can have a musical tragedy, musical comedy,
and so on. This will be dealt with later in the semester.)