Drama Terms

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Aside

Aside

Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience that are not “heard” by the other characters on stage during a play.

Catastrophe

The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the denouement of a play.

Catharsis

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

Comic Relief

The use of a comic scene to interrupt a succession of intensely tragic dramatic moments. The comedy of scenes offering this typically parallels the tragic action that the scenes interrupt.

Deus ex machina

A god who resolves the entanglements of a lay by supernatural intervention. The Latin phrase roughly translates to “a god from the machine” or “a god in the machine.”

Fourth wall

A term to describe the invisible wall between the audience and the actors on stage.

Gesture

The physical movement of a character during a play. This term is used to reveal character and may include facial expressions as well as movements of other parts of an actor’s body.

Hamartia

A fatal error or simple mistake on the part of the protagonist that eventually leads to the final catastrophe. It can be something as big as a tragic error, or small as a miscalculation.

Hubris

The sin par excellence of the tragic or over-aspiring hero. It is understood as a sort of insolent daring, a haughty overstepping of cultural codes or ethical boundaries. AKA “violent transgression”

Implied Stage Action/Direction

Actions in a play suggested within the dialogue itself.

Monolgoue

A speech by a single character without another character’s response.

Nemesis

The inevitable punishment of cosmic payback for acts of hubris.

Psychomachia

A Latin phrase meaning spirit war. It is the conflict in every human heart between good and evil; the conflict of the soul.

Anagnorisis

The point at which a character understands his or her situation as it really is. AKA “Recognition”

Paripateia

The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected direction for the protagonist. It’s a change in his or her situation from seemingly secure to vulnerable. AKA “Reversal”

Soliloquy

A speech in a play that is meant to be heard by the audience but not by other characters on the stage. If there are no other characters present, this term represents the character speaking aloud.

Stage direction

A playwright’s descriptive or interpretive comments that provide readers (and actors) with information about the dialogue, setting, and action of a play. Modern ones use them more often, while earlier playwrights use them more sparsely or implicitly.

Staging

The spectacle a play in performance, including the position of actors on stage, the scenic background, the props and costumes, and the lighting and sound effects.

Subplot

A subsidiary or subordinate or parallel plot in a play/story that coexists with the main plot.

Tragedy

A type of drama in which the character’s experience reversals of fortune, usually for the worse. Catastrophe and suffering await the characters, especially the hero.

Tragic flaw

A weakness or limitation of character, resulting in the fall of the tragic hero.

Tragic hero

A privileged, exalted character of high repute, who by virtue a tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory into suffering. He must be in a high position, a good person (at least shown to be), have impactful decisions, have a usually good trait but is a tragic flaw in the play, suffer from catharsis and the reversal of fortune, suffer both inwardly and outwardly, and finally die. Usually, he makes further errors after his misdeed, is blind to reality, and recognize his mistakes at the end.