STEFANIE LETHBRIDGE AND JARMILA MILDORF:
Basics of English Studies:
An introductory course for students of
literary studies in English.
Developed at the English departments of the
Universities of Tübingen, Stuttgart and Freiburg
3. Drama
Table of Contents:
3.1. Text and Theatre ...................................................................................90
3.2. Information Flow ..............................................................................91
3.2.1 Amount and Detail of Information ....................................................91
3.2.2. Transmission of Information ..............................................................93
3.2.3. Perspective .............................................................................................94
3.2.3.1. Dramatic Irony ...................................................................................95
SO WHAT? .........................................................................................................96
3.3. Structure ..................................................................................................98
3.3.1. Story and Plot ........................................................................................98
3.3.2. Three Unities .........................................................................................98
3.3.3. Freytag’s Pyramid ..................................................................................99
3.3.4. Open and Closed Drama .................................................................. 101
3.4. Space ..................................................................................................... 102
3.4.1. Word Scenery ..................................................................................... 103
3.4.2. Setting and Characterisation ............................................................. 104
3.4.3. Symbolic Space ................................................................................... 104
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 104
3.5. Time ...................................................................................................... 106
3.5.1. Succession and Simultaneity ............................................................. 107
3.5.2. Presentation of Temporal Frames ................................................... 107
3.5.3. Story-Time and Discourse-Time ..................................................... 108
3.5.3.1. Duration ........................................................................................... 108
3.5.3.2. Order ................................................................................................ 111
3.5.3.3. Frequency ........................................................................................ 112
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 113
3.6. Characters ............................................................................................ 113
3.6.1. Major and Minor Characters ............................................................ 113
3.6.2. Character Complexity ........................................................................ 114
3.6.3. Character and Genre Conventions .................................................. 114
3.6.4. Contrasts and Correspondences ...................................................... 115
3.6.5. Character Constellations ................................................................... 116
3.6.6. Character Configurations .................................................................. 116
3.6.7. Techniques of Characterisation ....................................................... 117
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 120
Basics of English Studies, Version 03/04, Drama 88
,3.7. Types of Utterance in Drama ......................................................... 122
3.7.1. Monologue, Dialogue, Soliloquy ...................................................... 122
3.7.2. Asides ................................................................................................... 123
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 123
3.7.3. Turn Allocation, Stichomythia, Repartee ...................................... 125
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 126
3.7.4. The Significance of Wordplay in Drama ........................................ 129
3.8. Types of Stage .................................................................................... 130
3.8.1. Greek Classicism ................................................................................ 131
3.8.2. The Middle Ages ................................................................................ 131
3.8.3. Renaissance England ......................................................................... 132
3.8.4. Restoration Period ............................................................................. 132
3.8.5. Modern Times .................................................................................... 133
3.9. Dramatic Sub-Genres ....................................................................... 133
3.9.1. Types of Comedy ............................................................................... 133
3.9.2. Types of Tragedy ............................................................................... 134
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 135
Bibliography: Drama ................................................................................ 138
Basics of English Studies, Version 03/04, Drama 89
, 3. Drama
3.1. Text and Theatre
Key terms:
When one deals with dramatic texts one has to bear in mind that drama • primary text
differs considerably from poetry or narrative in that it is usually written for • secondary text
• dramatis personae
the purpose of being performed on stage. Although plays exist which were
• multimedia elements
mainly written for a reading audience, dramatic texts are generally meant to
be transformed into another mode of presentation or medium: the theatre.
For this reason, dramatic texts even look different compared to
poetic or narrative texts. One distinguishes between the primary text, i.e.,
the main body of the play spoken by the characters, and secondary texts,
i.e., all the texts ‘surrounding’ or accompanying the main text: title,
dramatis personae, scene descriptions, stage directions for acting and
speaking, etc. Depending on whether one reads a play or watches it on
stage, one has different kinds of access to dramatic texts. As a reader, one
receives first-hand written information (if it is mentioned in the secondary
text) on what the characters look like, how they act and react in certain
situations, how they speak, what sort of setting forms the background to a
scene, etc. However, one also has to make a cognitive effort to imagine all
these features and interpret them for oneself. Stage performances, on the
other hand, are more or less ready-made instantiations of all these details. In
other words: at the theatre one is presented with a version of the play which
has already been interpreted by the director, actors, costume designers,
make-up artists and all the other members of theatre staff, who bring the
play to life. The difference, then, lies in divergent forms of perception.
While we can actually see and hear actors play certain characters on stage,
we first decipher a text about them when reading a play script and then at
best ‘see’ them in our mind’s eye and ‘hear’ their imaginary voices. Put
another way, stage performances offer a multi-sensory access to plays and
they can make use of multimedia elements such as music, sound effects,
lighting, stage props, etc., while reading is limited to the visual perception
and thus draws upon one primary medium: the play as text. This needs to
be kept in mind in discussions of dramatic texts, and the following
introduction to the analysis of drama is largely based on the idea that plays
are first and foremost written for the stage.
The main features one can look at when analysing drama are the following:
• information flow
• overall structure
• space
• time
• characters
• types of utterance in drama
• types of stage
• dramatic sub-genres
Basics of English Studies, Version 03/04, Drama 90
, 3.2. Information Flow
Key terms:
Since in drama there is usually no narrator who tells us what is going on in • communication
model drama
the story-world (except for narrator figures in the epic theatre and other • epic theatre
mediators, the audience has to gain information directly from what can be • alienation effect
seen and heard on stage. As far as the communication model for literary (estrangement effect)
texts is concerned (see Basic Concepts ch. 1.3.), it can be adapted for • chorus
communication in drama as follows: • perspective
• dramatic irony
PLAY
STORY-WORLD
author Character Character reader of Real
Real author of sec. secondary spectator
text text
Code/Message
In comparison with narrative texts, the plane of narrator/narratee is left
out, except for plays which deliberately employ narrative elements.
Information can be conveyed both linguistically in the characters’ speech,
for example, or non-linguistically as in stage props, costumes, the stage set,
etc. Questions that arise in this context are: How much information is
given, how is it conveyed and whose perspective is adopted?
3.2.1. Amount and Detail of Information
The question concerning the amount or detail of information given in a play
is particularly important at the beginning of plays where the audience
expects to learn something about the problem or conflict of the story, the
main characters and also the time and place of the scene. In other words,
the audience is informed about the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘why’
of the story at the beginning of plays. This is called the exposition.
Consider the first act of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The
audience learns about where the play takes place (Athens and a nearby
forest) and it is introduced to all the characters in the play. Moreover, we
realise what the main conflicts are that will propel the plot (love triangle and
unrequited love for Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius). Different
variations of love immediately become obvious as the prominent topic in
this play. Thus, we are confronted with Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s mature
Basics of English Studies, Version 03/04, Drama 91
Basics of English Studies:
An introductory course for students of
literary studies in English.
Developed at the English departments of the
Universities of Tübingen, Stuttgart and Freiburg
3. Drama
Table of Contents:
3.1. Text and Theatre ...................................................................................90
3.2. Information Flow ..............................................................................91
3.2.1 Amount and Detail of Information ....................................................91
3.2.2. Transmission of Information ..............................................................93
3.2.3. Perspective .............................................................................................94
3.2.3.1. Dramatic Irony ...................................................................................95
SO WHAT? .........................................................................................................96
3.3. Structure ..................................................................................................98
3.3.1. Story and Plot ........................................................................................98
3.3.2. Three Unities .........................................................................................98
3.3.3. Freytag’s Pyramid ..................................................................................99
3.3.4. Open and Closed Drama .................................................................. 101
3.4. Space ..................................................................................................... 102
3.4.1. Word Scenery ..................................................................................... 103
3.4.2. Setting and Characterisation ............................................................. 104
3.4.3. Symbolic Space ................................................................................... 104
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 104
3.5. Time ...................................................................................................... 106
3.5.1. Succession and Simultaneity ............................................................. 107
3.5.2. Presentation of Temporal Frames ................................................... 107
3.5.3. Story-Time and Discourse-Time ..................................................... 108
3.5.3.1. Duration ........................................................................................... 108
3.5.3.2. Order ................................................................................................ 111
3.5.3.3. Frequency ........................................................................................ 112
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 113
3.6. Characters ............................................................................................ 113
3.6.1. Major and Minor Characters ............................................................ 113
3.6.2. Character Complexity ........................................................................ 114
3.6.3. Character and Genre Conventions .................................................. 114
3.6.4. Contrasts and Correspondences ...................................................... 115
3.6.5. Character Constellations ................................................................... 116
3.6.6. Character Configurations .................................................................. 116
3.6.7. Techniques of Characterisation ....................................................... 117
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 120
Basics of English Studies, Version 03/04, Drama 88
,3.7. Types of Utterance in Drama ......................................................... 122
3.7.1. Monologue, Dialogue, Soliloquy ...................................................... 122
3.7.2. Asides ................................................................................................... 123
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 123
3.7.3. Turn Allocation, Stichomythia, Repartee ...................................... 125
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 126
3.7.4. The Significance of Wordplay in Drama ........................................ 129
3.8. Types of Stage .................................................................................... 130
3.8.1. Greek Classicism ................................................................................ 131
3.8.2. The Middle Ages ................................................................................ 131
3.8.3. Renaissance England ......................................................................... 132
3.8.4. Restoration Period ............................................................................. 132
3.8.5. Modern Times .................................................................................... 133
3.9. Dramatic Sub-Genres ....................................................................... 133
3.9.1. Types of Comedy ............................................................................... 133
3.9.2. Types of Tragedy ............................................................................... 134
SO WHAT? ...................................................................................................... 135
Bibliography: Drama ................................................................................ 138
Basics of English Studies, Version 03/04, Drama 89
, 3. Drama
3.1. Text and Theatre
Key terms:
When one deals with dramatic texts one has to bear in mind that drama • primary text
differs considerably from poetry or narrative in that it is usually written for • secondary text
• dramatis personae
the purpose of being performed on stage. Although plays exist which were
• multimedia elements
mainly written for a reading audience, dramatic texts are generally meant to
be transformed into another mode of presentation or medium: the theatre.
For this reason, dramatic texts even look different compared to
poetic or narrative texts. One distinguishes between the primary text, i.e.,
the main body of the play spoken by the characters, and secondary texts,
i.e., all the texts ‘surrounding’ or accompanying the main text: title,
dramatis personae, scene descriptions, stage directions for acting and
speaking, etc. Depending on whether one reads a play or watches it on
stage, one has different kinds of access to dramatic texts. As a reader, one
receives first-hand written information (if it is mentioned in the secondary
text) on what the characters look like, how they act and react in certain
situations, how they speak, what sort of setting forms the background to a
scene, etc. However, one also has to make a cognitive effort to imagine all
these features and interpret them for oneself. Stage performances, on the
other hand, are more or less ready-made instantiations of all these details. In
other words: at the theatre one is presented with a version of the play which
has already been interpreted by the director, actors, costume designers,
make-up artists and all the other members of theatre staff, who bring the
play to life. The difference, then, lies in divergent forms of perception.
While we can actually see and hear actors play certain characters on stage,
we first decipher a text about them when reading a play script and then at
best ‘see’ them in our mind’s eye and ‘hear’ their imaginary voices. Put
another way, stage performances offer a multi-sensory access to plays and
they can make use of multimedia elements such as music, sound effects,
lighting, stage props, etc., while reading is limited to the visual perception
and thus draws upon one primary medium: the play as text. This needs to
be kept in mind in discussions of dramatic texts, and the following
introduction to the analysis of drama is largely based on the idea that plays
are first and foremost written for the stage.
The main features one can look at when analysing drama are the following:
• information flow
• overall structure
• space
• time
• characters
• types of utterance in drama
• types of stage
• dramatic sub-genres
Basics of English Studies, Version 03/04, Drama 90
, 3.2. Information Flow
Key terms:
Since in drama there is usually no narrator who tells us what is going on in • communication
model drama
the story-world (except for narrator figures in the epic theatre and other • epic theatre
mediators, the audience has to gain information directly from what can be • alienation effect
seen and heard on stage. As far as the communication model for literary (estrangement effect)
texts is concerned (see Basic Concepts ch. 1.3.), it can be adapted for • chorus
communication in drama as follows: • perspective
• dramatic irony
PLAY
STORY-WORLD
author Character Character reader of Real
Real author of sec. secondary spectator
text text
Code/Message
In comparison with narrative texts, the plane of narrator/narratee is left
out, except for plays which deliberately employ narrative elements.
Information can be conveyed both linguistically in the characters’ speech,
for example, or non-linguistically as in stage props, costumes, the stage set,
etc. Questions that arise in this context are: How much information is
given, how is it conveyed and whose perspective is adopted?
3.2.1. Amount and Detail of Information
The question concerning the amount or detail of information given in a play
is particularly important at the beginning of plays where the audience
expects to learn something about the problem or conflict of the story, the
main characters and also the time and place of the scene. In other words,
the audience is informed about the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘why’
of the story at the beginning of plays. This is called the exposition.
Consider the first act of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The
audience learns about where the play takes place (Athens and a nearby
forest) and it is introduced to all the characters in the play. Moreover, we
realise what the main conflicts are that will propel the plot (love triangle and
unrequited love for Helena, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius). Different
variations of love immediately become obvious as the prominent topic in
this play. Thus, we are confronted with Theseus’ and Hippolyta’s mature
Basics of English Studies, Version 03/04, Drama 91
