Dramatic Features of Greek Theater

Allusion

A reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history.  In many Greek plans there are allusions to specific gods or specific battles in history

Anagnorisis

A moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery.

Catastrophe

The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement or falling action of a play.  Catastrophe is a synonym of denouement. 

Catharsis

The purging of the feelings of pity and fear that, according to Aristotle, occur in the audience of tragic drama. The audience experiences catharsis at the end of the play, following the catastrophe.

Characterization

The means by which writers present and reveal character. Although techniques of characterization are complex, writers typically reveal characters through their speech, dress, manner, and actions.

Chorus

Throughout a tragedy, a chorus or a group of male actors observes and comments on the actions, builds atmosphere, and prepares the audience for future events through songs.

Climax

The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work.

Complication

An intensification of the conflict in a story or play. Complication builds up, accumulates, and develops the primary or central conflict in a literary work. 

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces in a story or play, usually resolved by the end of the work. The conflict may occur within a character as well as between characters.

Denouement

The resolution of the plot of a literary work. The denouement of Hamlet takes place after the catastrophe, with the stage littered with corpses.

Dialogue

The conversation of characters in a literary work. In fiction, dialogue is typically enclosed within quotation marks. In plays, characters' speech is preceded by their names.

Diction

The selection of words in a literary work. A work's diction forms one of its centrally important literary elements, as writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values. We can speak of the diction particular to a character, as in Iago's and Desdemona's very different ways of speaking in Othello.

Dramatic irony

Where the audience or reader is aware of something important, of which the characters in the story are not aware.   Macbeth responds with disbelief when the weird sisters call him Thane of  Cawdor; ironically, unbeknownst to him, he had been granted that title by king  Duncan in the previous scene

Exposition

The first stage of a fictional or dramatic plot, in which necessary background information is provided. Ibsen's A Doll's House, for instance, begins with a conversation between the two central characters, a dialogue that fills the audience in on events that occurred before the action of the play begins, but which are important in the development of its plot

Falling action

In the plot of a story or play, the action following the climax of the work that moves it towards its denouement or resolution. The falling action of Othello begins after Othello realizes that Iago is responsible for plotting against him by spurring him on to murder his wife, Desdemona

Flashback

An interruption of a work's chronology to describe or present an incident that occurred prior to the main time frame of a work's action. Writers use flashbacks to complicate the sense of chronology in the plot of their works and to convey the richness of the experience of human time. Faulkner's story "A Rose for Emily" includes flashbacks

Foil

 A character who is meant to represent characteristics, values, ideas, etc. which are directly and diametrically opposed to those of another character, usually the protagonist. (Although it is technically a literary element, the term is only useful for identification, as part of a discussion or analysis of character; it cannot generally be analyzed by itself.)The noble, virtuous father Macduff provides an ideal foil for the villainous, childless Macbeth

Foreshadowing

Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story. Ibsen's A Doll's House includes foreshadowing as does Synge's Riders to the Sea. So, too, do Poe's "Cask of Amontillado" and Chopin's "Story of an Hour."

Hamartia

A tragic flaw, weakness of character or error in judgment which causes the downfall of the hero

Hubris

Arrogance or overweening PRIDE which causes the hero's transgression against the gods

Motif

A recurring important idea or image. A motif differs from a theme in that it can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase, while a theme usually must be expressed as a complete sentence. Blood is an important motif in A Tale of Two Cities, appearing numerous times throughout the novel.

Nemesis

The inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall. In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis is the goddess who enacts retribution against those who succumb to hubris, and arrogance before the gods.

Pathos

A quality of a play's action that stimulates the audience to feel pity for a character. Pathos is always an aspect of tragedy and may be present in comedy as well.

Peripeteia

A sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances, especially in reference to fictional narrative.

Recognition

The point at which a character understands his or her situation as it really is. Sophocles' Oedipus comes to this point near the end of Oedipus the King; Othello comes to a similar understanding of his situation in Act V of Othello.

Resolution

The sorting out or unraveling of a plot at the end of a play, novel, or story

Reversal

The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the protagonist. Oedipus's and Othello's recognitions are also reversals. They learn what they did not expect to learn.

Rising action

A set of conflicts and crises that constitute the part of a play's or story's plot leading up to the climax.

Setting

The time and place of a literary work that establish its context. The stories of Sandra Cisneros are set in the American southwest in the mid to late 20th century, those of James Joyce in Dublin, Ireland in the early 20th century.

Staging

The spectacle a play presents in performance, including the position of actors on stage, the scenic background, the props and costumes, and the lighting and sound effects. Tennessee Williams describes these in his detailed stage directions for The Glass Menagerie and also in his production notes for the play

Stichomythia

Dramatic dialogue, as in a Greek play, characterized by brief exchanges between two characters, each of whom usually speaks in one line of verse during a scene of intense emotion or strong argumentation.

Symbol

An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself, stands for something beyond itself. The glass unicorn in The Glass Menagerie, the rocking horse in "The Rocking-Horse Winner," and the road in Frost's "The Road Not Taken"--all are symbols in this sense

Tragic flaw

A weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the fall of the tragic hero. Othello's jealousy and too trusting nature is one example.

Tragic hero

A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who, by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory into suffering. Sophocles' Oedipus is an example.

Unities

The idea that a play should be limited to a specific time, place, and storyline. The events of the plot should occur within a twenty-four-hour period, should occur within a given geographic locale, and should tell a single story. Aristotle argued that Sophocles' Oedipus the King was the perfect play for embodying the unities.