Drama Unit Test Flashcards

Tragedy

First defined by Aristotle; drama treating a serious subject involving significant people; audience feels pity+fear since they recognize themselves in the characters (very important in Greek drama)

Catharsis

Purging of emotions of pity and fear audience experiences from Tragedy plays as they see dramatic action unfold; protagonist myst be worthy of audience’s attention for this to occur; protagonist not all good or all evil, but a mixture.

Irony

Central to tragedy; discrepacy between what characters say and what the audience believes to be true.

Cosmic Irony

Irony of fate; God, fate, large uncontrollable foce seems to intentionally decieve characters into believe they can escape their fate; in Greek culture, none can escape fate.

Catastrophe

Called the epiphany in short stories; after the climax, protagonist begins to recognize and understand the reasons for their downfall; ___________ is the moment of recognition.

Pathos

Occurs in a tragedy without a catastrophe; suffering that exists to satify the sentimental or morbid sensibilities of the audience.

Tragicomedies

Works with serious them but end happily, usually because of sudden turn of events.

Melodramas

Sensational play that appeal mainly to emotions; include many elements of tragedy, but end happily; rely on convention and stock characters.

Realism

19th century response to artifical melodrama; serious and sometimes tragic themes and believable characters in everyday context; authors use it to teach; audience exposed to problems of society they live in.

Naturalism

Rejexts the unrealistic plot and sentimentality of melodrama; influenced by Charles Darwin’s ideas about evolution and natural selection and Karl Marx’s ideas about economic forces that shape people’s lives; pessimistic philosophy that presents a world that is hostile and/or indifferent to human concerns; protrays humans as higher-order animals driven by base instincts (hunger, fear, greed, ‘love’) and subject to econ, social, and bio factors beyond their understanding/control.

Comedy

Treats themes and characters wuth humor; typically has happy ending; focus on public personal and protagonist as a social being; characters seen in the public arena where people intentionaly assume the masks of pretention and self-importance.

Thebes

Chief city of ancient Boeotia in eastern central Greece; location of Oedipus

Zeus

Chief diety of Greek mythology; son of Chronus and Rhea; husband of Hera.

Athena

Goddess of wisdom, skills, and warfare.

Apollo

God of music, poetry, prophecy, and medicine in Greek/Roman mythology; Apollo most important in Oedipus as source of oracle’s prophecies.

Oracle

Greek/Roman the medium by which dieties are consulted; revelation priest; very important in Oedipus.

Sphinx

Winged monster with lions body and womans head and torso; in Oedipus, a moster that plauged Thebes by devouring anyone who couldn’t answer her riddle.

Delphi

Town in Phocis on the slopes of Mt. Parnassus; seat of the famous oracle of Appollo.

Theban Plays of Sophocles

In Order: Oedipus Rex (the King), Oedipus at Colonus (exile years), Antigone (Oedipus’s daughter); each play can stand individually; tell the connected story of Oedipus and his daughter; technically are not a trilogy, but most writers refer to them as a trilogy.

Characteristics of Sophoclean Tragedy

Based on events audience knows/have already happened; protagonist is noble; protagonist has isolating weakness and suffers downfall; protagonist gains audience’s sympathy since downfall not always all their fault; fallen protagonist fains self knowledge/deeped understanding of their shortcomings (most important part of Greek tragic play); audience experiences catharsis and leaves feeling better; drama takes place in one setting + a short period of time (one day)

Chorus

15 people (later 12) who function as one actor; explain action; interpret action in relation to state/godly law; foreshadow; serve as actor within play; sing/dance (originated with religious ceremonies honoring Dionysus; present author’s view point; probvide background info

Pride

Greatest sin according to Greek gods; places emphasis on individual will; makes people unwillng to accept wisdom of others; peope act rashly and make horrible decisions

Hubris

Extreme pride; seen in Oedipus’s character.

Dramatic Works/Plays

Distinct from other forms of literature; written scenes (location changes) and acts (time periods); has a script including stage directions (entraces, exits, settings, and characters actions); stage directions evolved since Shakespeare/Greeks to be more detailed; consists primarily of dialouge (lines spoken); written/purpose is to be performed; usually no narrator; audience knows what the characters reveal only (characterization very important); use of costume, scenery, props, music, lighting, etc enhances audience impact.

Theasthai

Greek; means to view or to see

Monolouges

exteneded speeches made by one character; compensates for lack of narrator.

Soliloquie

monolouges where character expresses private thoughts on-stage; compensates for lack of narrator.

Aside

brief comment by a character that reveals their thoughts while speaking directly to the audience; compensates for lack of narrator

Closet Drama

Play meant to be read, not performed

Traditional Greek Tragedy Structure

Divided into 5 parts: Prologos (prolouge, background info given for rest of play); Parodos (chorus enters and comments on background events/fills in details/projects future ideas); Episodia (episodes; characters speak to develope central conflict of the play); Stasimon (choral odes; chorus commentary on current events during the play); Exodus (last scene of the play; conflict is resolved and actors leave the stage).

Agon

Heroic struggle of a tragedy; would simply be reduced to torture if gods devided to impose suffering on innocent human character (greek plays)

Classical Greek Civilization

Rich and vibrant culture; advances in sculpture, architecture, poetry, and drama; principals of democracy passed down to W. EU; political freedom important in individual expression and achievements; scholar sector (comman man) afforded individualism

Greek Drama

Annual competition of dramatists; competition led to the creation of Sophocles’ plays (includes Oedipus); hight was during 5th century BC; unique values of balance and harmony present both in drama and in all other aspects of the Greek world.

Greek Tragedy

Developed from celebrations honoring Dionysus (greek god of wine and fertility); including dancing of a chorus as part of religious ritual; leader of chorus (choragos) role was to engage the rest of the chorus in chanting responses.

Sophocles

responsible for adding a third actor to stage (traditionally had only been one actor and a chorus); never had more than three actors onstage at a time; actors doubled for specific parts; wrote over 100 plays, 7 survive; rivals included Aeschylus and Euripides (the three major greek playwrites); lived in Athenian Golden Age (5th century BC); focused on individual’s search for truth (component of existentialism)

Greek Theater

performed in a huge outdoor amphitheaters (14,000 people); theaters began as hillsides, and were buit up as civilization expanded; audience seated in tiers; hills echoed/amplified sound; large and exaggerated masks also worn to amplify sound (cont. small megaphones); actors wore elevated shoes to give characters larger than life presentation; actors limited in physical and facial movement; playwrites depended on language to express characteristics (not movement); performed on elevated platform; skene = dressing room/senic background function; orchestra below stage and a dance place for the chorus; chorus typically stood in middle of staging area and voice of common man; when chorus performed, they mark the decision between scenes; 2 actors on stage debating each other; plays very brief (90 mins) and based on familier myths; music used only at strong conflicts and creates emotional impact.

Stichomythia

Follows speeches; rapid/direct dialogue that brings characters antagonisms to a climax; pattern repeated (speeches then stichomythia) during play leading up to a tragic catastrophe

Elizavetgab Play Strucutre

Loosely structured into five acts; main plot and subplot stories both framed by the story; Act I- exposition/groundwork; Act II- rising action/conflict; Act III- climax; Act IV- falling action; Act V- catastrophe/resolition; Shakespeare ties every storyline together in Act V.

Shakespearia Tragedy

Protagonist (tragic hero) comes to unhappy/miserable end; tragic hero a person of importance in scoiety (king, queen, general, etc); tragic hero has extrodinary abilities and also a tragic flaw, fatal error in judgement, or weakness of character leading directly to downfall; antagonist hero fights is an outside person/force that contributes to hero’s downfall; series of casually related events lead to inevitable catastrophe/tragic resolution; final stage of plot ends with death of hero, but other characters are also affected; hero recognizes his/her tragic flaw by the end and gains audience sympathy; hero meets doom with courage and dignity, reaffirming greatness/dignity of the human spirit.

Moor

Othello; A muslim of mixed Arab and Berber descent; Berbers were N. African natives who eventually accepted Arab custum and Islam after Arabs invaded in the 7th century; used to refer to N. African Muslims and Muslim conquerors of Spain; derived from lati Mauri (residents of Roman provnce of Mauritania in N. Africa); both white ______ and black ______ (of Sudanese origin)

Medieval Theater Origins

England in the 12th-13th centuries; plays called spectacles; began as local religious pagents performed at festivals; performed on movable wagons by town guilds

Religious Plays

Used as teachings by the church; 3 types- Mystery (Bible stories), Morality (14/15th century; depicted scens from the Bible; alegories of Christian way of life; most popular was Everyman; characters represented virtues and vices); and Miracle (the lives of Saints)

Interludes

16th century; coarse farces with no religious meaning; often had baudy or slap-stick humor; plays given in halls of noblity during banquets; also performed on village green; actors were strolling companies of players.

William Shakespeare

1564-1616; considered greatest English writer; most details of his life based on conjecture/tradition; born in Stratford-Upon-Avon and baptised at Holy Trinity Church April 26, 1564; asigned birth date = April 23, 1564 (traditional to wait 3 days before baptism); little known about early life, by churhc records include some significant events: married Anne Hathaway 1582, had 3 children Suzanne (1583) and Judith and Hamnet (1585), left for London after children’s birth; first work (Venus and Adonis) publish in 1592; began stage career in 1594; enjoyed sucessful London career for 20 yrs (actor, playwrite, shareholder in Lord Chamberlin’s Men, partial owner of Globe Theater 1599-); wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets; 1610-1613 made enough $ to retire to Stratford-upon-Avon (landowner as well); died April 23, 1616 at 52; burried at Holy Trinity Church on April 26.

Lord Chamberlin’s Men

Acting company created and funded by Lord Chamberlin.

Christopher Marlowe

Contemporary of Shakespeare who claimed Shakespeare was a fraud and coppied his plays from other sources.