Thematic Unit: Friendship - Designs of Drama

Introduction

text annotation indicator Watching a movie, seeing a play, or listening to a musical serves to bring literature to life. This dramatic literature represents a specific literary genre. Dramatic literature serves the purpose of a performance. Actors and actresses come together with props and costumes to visually entertain the audience through words and actions. Scripts provide the basis for any type of drama. When reading a drama, the reader has to work a bit harder to put the pieces together and create the characters and setting in his or her mind. Dramatic literature provides creative freedom for the readers to act out and live the text.

Essential Questions

What is dramatic literature?
What is the purpose of dramatic literature?
How do I identify monologue and dialogue?
What is the plot structure of dramatic literature?
What is the difference between an act, a scene, and a line?
What are the elements of dramatic literature?

Key Terms

Drama: Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance.
Act: A major division of a drama.
Scene: A division of an act into smaller parts.
Line: The words making up a part in a drama. Usually used in plural.
Plot: The sequence of events in a story.
Exposition: The background of a play, usually presented at the beginning in order to understand the story properly.
Rising action: The events in a conflict that lead to a climax.
Climax: The point where forces in conflict meet; turning point.
Falling action: The conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist; events that occur after the climax has been reached.
Dénouement: When the falling action unwinds to a conclusion—all ends are tied; another word for the resolution.
Monologue: A (usually long) dramatic speech by a single actor.
Soliloquy: A character speaks alone on stage to allow his/her thoughts and ideas to be conveyed to the audience.
Dialogue: The lines spoken by the characters to other characters.
Stage directions: Written instructions in the script of a drama given to the director, actors, crew, etc.
Prop: Short for "properties." The pictures, furnishings, historical nuances, and so on, that provide the stage's background.
Cast: A group of performers.
Aside: A line spoken by an actor to the audience but not intended for others on the stage.
Theme: The central idea of a work of literature.
Tragedy: A type of serious drama that usually ends in disaster for the main character.
Foreshadowing: The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen next.
Flat character: A one-dimensional character, showing a single personality trait.
Round character: A character who shows many different traits.
Antagonist: The most prominent of the characters who go against the protagonist or hero/heroine.
Protagonist: The central character in a story.
Conflict: A clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story.
Narrator: The teller of a story.

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