Featutes of Drama

Fetures of Drama

Characters or figures

Characters are the persons through whom the playwright communicates his ideas to the reader, The personality and image of a character is assessed through what the playwright says he does and what other character says about him. Character is the combination of the different qualities which a person has.

Types of Character

A Round Character

A Flat Character

A Round Character

A Round Character is that character who changes in the unfolding of the event, He is usually a complex character whose positionbis determined by desires, values and moral alternatives. These lead him into different directions he display new kinds of attitude when he is caught within the web of tension and do he is unpredictable.

A Flat Character

A Flat character's response, conceit and behavior are predictable. He does not grow psychologically or emotionally and so does not change in the events.

Characterization

Characterization is the network of people animating the events in a story. It is the qualities that position the personalities of the character, if a character is a major character, he must play a dynamic role. Any changes a character undergoes must be logical for the sort of person the writer has drawn .

Plot

Plot can be define as the sequential arrangements of events in a creative work.
it shows the structure of the action as arranged to achieve certain emotional and artistic effect.
A plot begins with a kind of conflict ba point where the protagonist himself in a situation which pushes him into action, then series of futhee steps will follow. so plot is either simple or complex. plot is said to be complex when self-knowledge of a character is accompanied by reversal of fortune. A simple plot does not usually involve this complex process.

Dialogue

Dialogue can be define as the conversation or exchanging of ideas and opinion between two or more character in a play

Monologue

Monologue can be define as a long speech by one actor, when a character speaks all by himself and some of his words are actually addressed to some absent fellow character.

Cast

This refers to a set of actors and actresses and other people involved in the production of a play

Playwright

A playwright refers to as a piece of drama or play

Dramatis Personae

This is the sum total of all the perticipant in drama

Protagonist

The protagonist is the character that play the most prominet role in a play. The protagonist is also called hero or heroine

Antagonist

An antagonist is a character that opposes the protagonist, the character is seen as the opposite of protagonist

Conflict

Conflict can be define as the basis of action between characters in a play it involves the protagonist and the antagonist in their rivalry and struggle for assertion of influrnce or relevance.

Flashback

Flashback is a dramatic or literary technique which entails a recall of what had happened before. It is a device employed by the playwright by which the here-and-now of the play's events as interrupted by an action which is set to the past.
Its purpose is to create better understanding on current happenings, offer more information pertaining to the present state of the affairs of the drama, and also follow the memory of a character who tries to recollect past event.

Flashback can be achieved through
i. A dream state
ii. Character's recollection
iii. Narrator's interpolation of past event

Foreshadowing /Projection

It is the opposite of flashback, it refers to a technique whereby the playwright goes into the future in other to make us see the consequences of current action

Prologue

Prologue can be define as the front piece - a kind of duction which precedes the real beginning of a story

Epilogue

Epilogue can be define as the clossing comment in a play which justifies an earllier course of action.

Stage Direction

They are the playwright's written instructuion about the actors, directors or crew and readers are to stage perform or imagine the play

Peripetial

Peripetial is a sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumtances of a major character, and the beginning of such a character tragic fall

Poetic drama

This refer to as a play wholly written in verse which can be performed or simply read as closed drama

Catharsis

This occurs when the audience in a tragic play purge bottled, up emotion, it occurs after watching the fall misfortune or even signs which serve as kind of therapy

Tragic Flaw / Hamartia

This term is simply refers to as character's flaw or error. Tragic flaw is the humanly unavoidable attribute in the tragic character which causes his downfall in a play

Dramatic Irony

This occur when the audience knows something that one or more of the characters is not aware of, audience have more knowledge about happenings in the play than member of of tthe cast on stage

Suspense

Suspense is the anxiety band expectation in the reader/ audience of a play or novel as to how an event is likely to unfold. It raises a reader's interest and keeps him/her guessing as to what will happen next. The use of suspense in drama is as old as drama itself. Suspense keeps the reader interested and is usually achieved by withholding the resolution until the play end

Soliloquy

This is a speech express by an actor on stage. It usually expresses the inward emotions of the actor purged out to himself

Prompter

This refers to as 'the-actor-off-the-stage', his role is to assist the real actor on stage in carrying out their assigned performance roles, he reminds the actor/actresses thir lines, guides them when they stray off and generally assist them to make performance a success

Climax

The point of climax is ussually the highest point of dramatic tension, where a resolution of the knotty issues becomes inevitable.

Aside

Aside can be define as the speech by the character directrd to the audience to exclusion of fellow characters or actors in drama

Chorus

Tyhis refers to as a group of actors in a play whose member act in unison and share thesame opinion

in