Focus on Literary Form: Drama
“Soul of the Age! The applause, delight, the wonder
of our stage.”-- Ben Johnson, “To the Memory of My Beloved Master William Shakespeare,
and What He Hath Left Us”
Background: Dramatic Structure
Renaissance playwrights were greatly influenced by
Humanism, looking not only to the Bible but also to Latin and Greek Scholarship for wisdom
and knowledge.
The Great ThemeAll of Shakespeare’s plays, like
most drama, are about one great general theme: disorder.
What is the order in this society?How is that order violated?
How do the characters respond to the loss of traditional order?
How is order restored?Is the new order at the end of the
play something healthy or is it shot through with ironic resonance?
Defining DramaA story written to be performed by
actors.Sophisticated (classical) dramas
originated in Greek religious ceremonies honoring Dionysus (god of wine, new life, illusion & fertility).
Classical Dramatic Structure: Comedy &
Tragedy• Always involves conflict• Opening scene conveys a sense of a normal society• A society which is held together by shared rules• Large group scene as symbol of social unity
• Something unusual and often unexpected happens to upset the normality• Creates confusion and conflict• Source of humor OR political, personal, and psychological torment
• Attempts to understand what is going on or to deal with it simply compound the conflict, accelerating it and intensifying it.• Finally, the conflict is resolved
Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy
“Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language
embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being
found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the
proper purgation of these emotions.”-- Aristotle, The Poetics, Part VI
Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy
“Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language
embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being
found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the
proper purgation of these emotions.”-- Aristotle, The Poetics, Part VI
Imitation(from Greek mimesis, or
mimeisthai which means to imitate)
The attempt to capture the essence of reality in artificial
form.
Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy
“Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language
embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being
found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the
proper purgation of these emotions.”-- Aristotle, The Poetics, Part VI
Pity(from Greek eleos, which means “pity” or “mercy”)
The feeling of pain one experiences when watching
another suffer.
Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy
“Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language
embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being
found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the
proper purgation of these emotions.”-- Aristotle, The Poetics, Part VI
Fear(from Greek phobos, which means fear, panic or flight)
The sense of panic or loss of self in terror.
Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy
“Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language
embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being
found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the
proper purgation of these emotions.”-- Aristotle, The Poetics, Part VI
Purgation(from Greek katharsis, which means "purging,
cleansing)
purificationRemoving impurities, as when metal is purified to remove trace elements so that only one material
remains. Tragedy “purifies” pity and fear so that we feel only
those two emotions.purging
Cleansing, as when something harmful is forcefully removed.
Tragedy “purges” harmful emotions like pity and fear from the body.distillation
The purification or concentration of a substance, as when alcohol is distilled to make it stronger.
Tragedy “distills” and “purifies” pity and fear so that they become even more intense for the audience.
TragedyDepicts the downfall of a
basically good person through some fatal error or
misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and
arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience.
Key Elements of a Tragedytragic hero
An outstanding person of high rank whose downfall is caused by his own flawed
behavior.tragic flaw
Part of the hero’s character that leads him to make a fatal mistake.
catharsisA cleansing through the emotions (pity,
fear, awe) generated by the play.
catastropheAn unhappy ending featuring the
destruction of the hero.
Tragic EndingsThe ending of a tragedy: looking back over
what has happened.resolution of conflict:
occurs only with the death of the main character who usually discovers (just before his death) that he brought about his own demise.
the final series of events: 1) Hero dies
2) Group laments over the body of fallen hero & reflects upon the significance of his life
3) Hero’s body is carried out & the social group is reformed (thanks to the sacrifice of the main
character(s))
ComedyDepiction of ordinary people in
conflict with society.Conflicts are always happily
resolved, and typically arise from misunderstandings, deceptions,
disapproving authority figures, and mistaken identities.
Emphasis is on human foibles & weaknesses of society.
Arouses sympathy & amusement.
Types of ComediesFarce
Plots full of wild coincidences (full of zaniness, slapstick humor, and hilarious improbability) and seemingly endless twists and complications (i.e.
deception, disguise, and mistaken identity).Romantic Comedy
Love plot featuring 2 lovers who tend to be young, likeable, and apparently meant for each other, but are kept apart by some complicating circumstance
until, surmounting all obstacles, they are finally wed.Satiric Comedy
Exploration of human vice & folly through plots that trace the rising fortune of a central character who is
likely to be cynical, foolish, or morally corrupt.
Comic EndingsThe ending of a comedy: looking forward to a joyful
future.
resolution of Confusion:Occurs when everyone recognizes what has been going on, learns from it, forgives, forgets, and re-
established his or her identity in the smoothly functioning social group.
final events:Typically ends with a group celebration (especially one associated with a betrothal or wedding), often
accompanied by music and dancing. The emphasis is on the reintegration of everyone
into the group, a recommitment to their shared life together.
All sources of anti-social discord have reformed their ways, been punished, or is banished from the
celebration.
Reading Shakespeare“The play’s the
thing.”Hamlet, Act II, Scene
ii
Follow the 3C’sHow can you tell what kind of
Shakespeare play you’re reading/watching?
Just follow the 3 C’s: Count the Couples, Corpses, and
Crowns at the end, and you know what your play is.
Histories – somebody’s named King.Comedies – everybody gets married.
Tragedies – everybody dies.
The History PlaysFactually based with dramatic
liberties.Keeping the monarch, Queen
Elizabeth, happy (and, consequently, staying out of jail) means ignoring
potentially great dramatic material.
Showing the messy divorces and deaths of Henry VIII’s six wives
might have sold a lot of tickets, but at what cost?
The History PlaysSynopsis of all the History plays
(they’re all pretty much the same):
An English king (usually named Henry, sometimes Richard, and
once John) is fighting the French. At the same time, someone at home is trying to take over the
throne of England from the reigning king.
The ComediesConstructing a Shakespearean comedy is like ordering from a
Chinese restaurant: Choose one item from Column A (setting), two
items from Column B (characters), five items from
Column C (unnecessarily complicated plot points), then select a title from Column D.
It’s simple & fun!
Make Your Own Shakespearean Comedy!
Setting Characters Plot Points
Title
VeronaVeniceArdenTyre
An islandA forestAthens
DenmarkSyracuseSchenect
ady
Long-lost identical twinsParents who
don’t understandDimwitted lower-class character
Girl disguised as boy
Cuckolded husband
Nondescript young lovers
Half-human/half-beast
A quarrelsome couple
Magical fairy or sorcerer
Jews!
ShipwreckMistaken identity
Unrequited love
Arranged marriagesA pound of
fleshMagical potions
Pretending to be dead
Drunkenness
Sibling rivalryBroken vows
Love As You Like It
Measure for Gentleman
The Comedy of Nothing
Twelfth Night Dream
A Midsummer’s Winter
The Taming of the Comedy
Much Ado About Ends
Troilus and Cymbeline
Love’s Errors LostPericles, Tyred of
Shrews
The TragediesIn Shakespeare’s tragedies you
know going in that the title character is going to die by the
end of Act V.
“Knowing the ending does not diminish the experience. It’s like the movie Titanic. You knew from the title that the ship was
going down, but you still enjoyed watching Leonardo DiCaprio freeze to death” – From Reduced Shakespeare
Freytag’s PyramidStructure of a 5 Act Tragedy
expo
sitio
n
com
plica
tion
reversal
catastropheclimax
Hints and Tips for Reading Shakespeare
What all Shakespearean Scholars Know:
Shakespeare’s Language
Language changes all the time. The way people spoke 400 years ago was different from the way we speak now.
When reading Shakespeare, remember that his words were
intended to be performed. The first rule of learning how to read Shakespeare is you must read it out
loud!!! The second rule is that you must read
it more than once.
Characteristics of Shakespeare’s English
Forms of “do”Forms of “do” were not necessary in forming questions or making imperative statement or
their negatives.How long within this wood intend you stay?
How long do you intend to stay in this wood?Using “do” was reserved for its emphatic use.
I love you not. I do not love you.What said she? What did she say?
I think not of them. I do not think of them.Slept she here? Did she sleep here?
Characteristics of Shakespeare’s English
Negatives Negatives were often compounded for
emphasis. Today, we would classify the following as “double negatives”
and consider them improper.“Which never shook hands, nor bade
farewell to him . . .”“Nor will you not tell me who you
are?”“No, nor I neither.”
Characteristics of Shakespeare’s EnglishPronouns
The pronouns thee, thou and thy are seldom, if ever, used today. They are occasionally employed to suggest
elevated language or a style of “classical” English. During Shakespeare’s day these words were
commonplace and followed a more or less specific structure.
Thee and thou, rather than you, were used as objects of a verb or preposition.
God give thee joy!You OR thee/thou were used as subjects with only
subtle distinctions if any.Would’st thou have me?
Thou hath killed my child!If you would not, it were a good sign.
Likewise with your and thy as possessive pronouns:
I do not fear your favours or your hate.So well thy words become thee as thy wounds.
Shakespeare’s Language
From Will to JillThe apparel oft proclaims the man.
It’s gotta be the shoes.There is small choice in rotten apples.
Beggars can’t be choosers.Now I am in a holiday humor.
Party on . . .Suit the action to the word, the word to the
action. Just do it.
An honest tale speeds best being plainly told. To make a long story short . . .
What’s gone and what’s past help should be past grief.
Don’t cry over spilled milk.And thereby hangs a tail.
That’s all, Folks!
Shakespeare’s Language & Legacy
Many of Shakespeare’s idioms or words/phrases have become part of
the English language.That boy is always hungry! He’ll eat us
out of house and home!“He hath eaten me out of house and
home.” – Henry IV, Part 2 II.i.75-6“There’s a method in my madness”
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.” – Hamlet, II.ii.99
The world is your oyster.“Why then, the world’s mine oyster.” – The Merry Wives of Windsor, II.ii.4-5
Line ReferencesPlays are divided into sections called acts and scenes. The following line reference is typically utilized when
quoting a Shakespearean play:
Macbeth, II.i.35The play’s title is written in italics.The act is written in capital Roman
numerals.The scene is in small Roman numerals.The line number is written as a normal
number.
Reading Shakespeare for comprehension
Due to the nature of the theater, Shakespeare had to create atmosphere and setting though language. He used words to paint scenery and language to achieve lighting effects. People
went to “hear” a play, not “see” it.Questions to ask about comprehension:• Who are the characters in the play? (The way characters speak and the language they use tell us a great deal about them and their situation.)• What is the situation in the play?• Where do the events take place?• When do the events take place?• How can the words be lifted off the page and hold the attention of the audience?
Reading Shakespeare for Literary Aspects
Identify literary devices and figurative language:
Reading Shakespeare for Theme
Some Common Shakespearean Themes:
conflict, appearance & reality, order & disorder, change
(metamorphosis)Questions to ask about theme:• Is there a specific point the author is trying to get across to the reader/viewer?• How does the theme or controlling idea relate to your world?
Elizabethan Beliefs
Historical Context You Need to Know
Elizabethan BeliefsMarriage
Age of Consent, for a female child:(from The Law’s Resolution of Women’s Rights, 1632)
7: “Father shall have aid of his tenants to marry her”9: “she is able to deserve and have dower”
12: can “consent to marriage”*”A woman married at 12 cannot disagree afterward.
But if she be married younger, she may dissent till she be 14.”*
14: considered to be outside wardship16: “to be past the Lord’s tender of a husband”
21: “able to make a land grant”Worthiness:
(from A Very Fruitfull and Pleasant Booke called Instruction of a Christian Woman, 1523)
“. . . first let her understand that chastity is the principal virtue of a woman.”
Elizabethan BeliefsMyths & Magic
Fairies, magic, witches, spells and prophecies all formed part of the Elizabethan view of life.
Folklore and superstition were often as important to people as the official religious
beliefs taught by the church.Many Elizabethans thought that fairies,
goblins and sprites came out at night to play tricks on innocent people. It was believed
they could make people go insane, give them terrible nightmares or even lure them into a
devilish underworld.Diseases and disasters were often blamed on
witches. Many women who didn’t fit into society were branded as witches and accused
of working for the devil.
Elizabethan BeliefsGhosts
There were many explanations of a ghostly visit during Shakespeare’s time. A ghost
could be . . .a hallucination brought about by stress, poor
diet, or exhaustion.a specter seen as a portent or omen
a spirit of a dead person returned to perform some deed left undone in life
a spirit of a dead person returned from the grave or from purgatory by divine permission
an angel disguised as a dead person, or a devil disguised as a dead person to tempt a
living relative into eternal damnation
Elizabethan BeliefsLittle & Large
The human body was thought to be a miniature representation of the
universe as a whole. Various parts of the body were linked to the planets and the signs of the zodiac. Things that happened in the universe (the
“macrocosm”), were suppose to happen on a much smaller scale
within the human body (the “microcosm”).
Elizabethan BeliefsThe 4 Humours
The body was thought to contain four “humours”, or fluids – black bile, phlegm, blood & choler. A person’s temperament depended on the way the humours were mixed. In Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony describes Brutus as a man in whom all these humours are mixed perfectly. But most people were thought to have one
humour that was more dominant than the others.
Illnesses & mental disorders were blamed on an imbalance of the humours. For
example, melancholia (depression) was thought to be caused by an excess of black
bile.
Elizabethan Beliefs & ShakespeareStrange States of Mind
Characters have mental problems in several of Shakespeare’s tragedies. They go insane with grief or with the pressure of having to make a decision. Feelings of guilt may come
out in strange ways.Some examples:
Lady Macbeth pretends to be tough and mocks Macbeth for feeling guilty for their
crimes, but her own horror is revealed when she starts sleepwalking and imagines she
can see blood on her hands.Ophelia in Hamlet goes insane with grief,
eventually committing suicide, when Hamlet rejects her and kills her father, Polonius.
Elizabethan BeliefsThe Chain of Being
A concept inherited from the Middle Ages as an attempt to give order or “degree” to the vastness
of creation. The idea was that God created everything in a strict hierarchy, or chain that
stretched from God himself down to the lowest things in existence. Everything had its own place.
Humans occupied a place in the chain below angels but above animals, plants, and stones
Humans, from Highest to Lowest:MonarchNobles
ChurchmenGentlemenCommoners
All women were considered to be inferior to men; except Queen Elizabeth – her position as monarch outweighed the fact that
she was a woman.Accepting one’s place in the chain was a duty that would be rewarded by God in heaven. Disrupting
the chain was thought to lead to chaos.
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