Drama Terms and Punctuation: The Em Dash

Flashcards covering drama terminology, character archetypes, and punctuation rules for em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens.

Drama

In the most general sense, work designed to be represented on a stage by actors; more strictly, a serious play dealing with a problem of importance.

Dramatis Personae

The list of characters in a play provided at the beginning of the script so the audience knows who is who before the action begins.

Act

A chunk of the play’s action. In Shakespeare’s plays, there are always five acts noted with a large Roman numeral.

Scene

A division of action within an act. Shakespeare’s plays have a variety of numbers of scenes noted with a small Roman numeral.

Monologue

A long speech delivered by one person, mostly addressed to others but sometimes alone, often in a play, film, or TV show.

Tragedy

A type of drama focusing on human suffering where the main character learns a lesson about himself and his place in the world that makes the suffering worth his while.

Comedy

A genre of theatrical performance aiming to entertain and amuse using humor, wit, and satire to highlight human flaws and social absurdities.

Tragic Hero

A person of high estate with potential for greatness who is virtuous and just, but whose misfortune is brought about by an error in judgment or character flaw.

Hamartia (tragic flaw)

A flaw in character leading the tragic figure to make errors of judgment directly responsible for their downfall and the catastrophe of the play.

Crisis/Climax

The turning point in the fortunes of the tragic protagonist where the consequences of hamartia compound the tragic situation.

Hubris

A tragic flaw common in traditional Greek tragedies which refers to pride to excess.

Catharsis

A cleansing or purifying of emotion, specifically terror and pity, felt by the audience after participating in a tragedy.

Soliloquy

When a character speaks his/her true thoughts and feelings while alone on stage to reveal their real thoughts on a subject.

Aside

When a character says something privately to another character or the audience while other characters are on stage, intended for specific ears alone.

Comic Relief

A humorous scene, incident, or remark within a serious or tragic drama used as a release from tension (Shakespearean only).

Em Dash (—)

A punctuation mark stronger and more forceful than a comma that interrupts sentences abruptly or connects words more closely than parentheses.

En Dash (–)

A mark slightly wider than a hyphen but narrower than an em dash, used for spans/ranges of numbers, scores, and showing conflict or connection.

Hyphen (-)

The narrowest dash used primarily for the formation of compound terms and compound adjectives when they appear immediately before the noun they modify.

Compound Terms

Terms consisting of more than one word but representing a single item or idea, often joined by a hyphen (e.g., eye-opener, free-for-all).

Em Dash Function: Interrupting an Idea

Using dashes to set off sharp interruptions in the thought of a sentence, similar to how parentheses function.

Em Dash Function: Substitute

Using the dash to replace phrases like "it is" or "they are" to make the words after the dash become more important.

Em Dash Function: Explaining Nouns

Using dashes to set off specific details or descriptions that might otherwise be confused with the noun they explain.

Em Dash Function: Introduce a List

Replacing a colon with a dash after an independent clause to present a series of items.

Em Dash Function: Changing Direction

Used in informal writing or dialogue when a speaker changes their mind or thought mid-sentence.