Knowing Your Dramatic Elements

It will be recalled that in Year One you learned about drama and getting to know your dramatic elements. This section now will further strengthen your understanding of drama with forms of drama, their features and how you can distinguish among the various forms of drama in texts.

Additionally, the section deals with how dramatic forms are developed in texts. It also identifies the main forms of drama in literature and why a text is categorised under each form of drama. Knowing this will enable you to be equipped with the skills to analyse different dramatic texts in order to explore the various issues in life, how to go about it, and how you will be able to fit in situations in your own life, in your society and the world as a whole.

KEY IDEAS

• Drama is a form of literature that is acted using dialogues.

• The main forms of drama are comedy, tragedy, tragic-comedy and melodrama.

• The theme of a literary work is the central message communicated throughout the work.

• The main difference between comedy and tragedy is that comedy has comic scenes while tragedy has tragic scenes

Drama It is a form of storytelling that includes acting, dialogue and performance. It is also an art form that deals with one’s experiences, emotions and relationships. Drama has key elements such as stage direction, plot, characters, dialogues, setting, conflicts and theme.

Forms of Drama

₁. _(Comedy): Comedy is a drama with humour that is meant to create laughter, and it generally has a happy ending. Comedy is one of the most popular forms of drama in literature. Its tone is light and has humour that is meant to create laughter. Example, Dilemma of A Ghost by Ama Atta Aidoo, Ananse in the Land of Idiot by Yaw Asare and As You Like It by Shakespeare.

2. Tragedy: Tragedy is a type of drama that deals with serious actions with a sad destructive or disastrous ending. In tragedy, the protagonist or hero is brought down by his or her flaws. Murder, pain, death and insanity are among the most common ideas in tragedy. In tragic stories, the main character usually has some weakness or defect that causes their downfall. Example, Julius Caesar by Wiliam Shakespeare and The Gods are not to Blame by Ola Rotimi.

3. Tragi-comedy: It is a type of drama that represents both happy and sad events. It also explores serious themes with humorous undertones. It often has an ambiguous ending.

Such plays can have a sad plot and a happy ending or be serious with some elements of humour emerging throughout the play, for example, The Lion and The Jewel by Wole Soyinka and Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.

4. Melodrama- It is a kind of drama that makes good use of extensive exaggeration.

Melodrama is characterised by exaggerated emotions, sensational plot twists, and a clear distinction between good and evil.

Example: An Inspector Calls by J B Priestley and many movies such as Casablanca, Gaslight, Love Actually and the lengthy Gone With the Wind.

Figure 4.1: An image showing forms of drama. It summarises what has been discussed so far.

Activity 4.1

Reviewing knowledge using talking point Below is an activity involving a talking point. This activity, talking point, is to help you revise what you have learned so far about drama.

1. With your close friend, discuss how you will define drama in your own way.

2. Discuss with your friend three ways drama is distinctive from the other genres of literature.

3. Complete the table below.

Forms Ending Scenes Protagonist Theme

Comedy Has a happy ending Comic Common Love, beauty Tragedy Tragi-comedy Melodrama

Activity 4.2

Researching on drama forms Observe the picture below carefully with your literature study partner.

1. With your tablet or phone or dictionary, carry out research about the two forms of drama shown in the picture.

2. Identify African and non-African examples of the two drama forms shown in the picture.

3. Do another search about another form of drama which is not shown in the picture above.

4. Write and/or type neatly your findings from the research and share your findings for class discussion.

Activity 4.3

Analysing dramatic forms During a literature class discussion. You were asked to analyse drama text in groups.

Form a group of at least four people to carry out the activity below.

1. Use your tablet or phone to download one of the texts below:

2. Analyse the play with your friends.

3. With evidence from the text, determine its type of drama.

4. Put your findings into a flip chart presentation and upload it on your school website.

5. If you find difficulty, you can be guided by the prompts below

a. What is the background of the main character?

b. Did the hero die in the text?

c. What theme is dominant in the text?

The forms of literature are distinct in several ways. Each of the forms of literature has some features that are unique only to it.

1. Tragedy

a. It has a serious or sad tone.

b. It has a tragic hero.

c. The hero has tragic flaws that lead to his or her downfall.

d. It evokes emotions such as fear, pity and sorrow.

e. Decisions made by the protagonist result in death or suffering at the end. An

example, Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

2. Comedy

a. It makes use of love, false appearance and mistaken assumptions.

b. Sometimes, actions result in confusion and extreme entertainment.

c. It evokes emotions such as laughter, joy and amusement.

d. It ends happily usually with marriage and reconciliation, example, As You Like It by Shakespeare.

e. It generally has a light tone.

3. Tragi-comedy

a. It has a serious plot that is conveyed in a funny, sarcastic and exaggerated manner.

b. It uses complex characters who are dynamic but weak.

c. It employs plot twists.

4. Melodrama

a. Characters exaggerate in their actions.

b. It evokes emotions such as excitement, sympathy and suspense.

c. The literary themes are clear and concise.

d. Characters usually overcome downfalls to reach resolutions.

Tap on the link below to watch video on the types of drama Types of Drama in Literature: mini-lesson How Dramatic Forms are Developed in Varied Texts In drama, irrespective of the types of drama we have it is usually developed by several key elements of the text. These elements encourage the overall tone, theme and character interactions while shaping the form of the play.

1. Tragedy

a. It includes internal and external struggles, emotional release of pity and fear, protagonist weakness and a turning point leading to downfall.

b. Structurally, there is an exposition which introduces setting, rising action climax, falling action and resolution.

c. It also deals with human nature, suffering, fate, justice and exploring meaning, purpose and existence.

d. Emotionally, the audience feels pity, fear, empathy, shock and sadness for the protagonist.

2. Comedy

a. There are humorous flaws in characters.

b. There are exaggerated character types

c. Characters are mistaken for someone else.

d. Characters experience unexpected comic twists and fate.

e. It provides humorous moments to release tension.

3. Tragi-comedy

a. It combines elements of both tragedy and comedy giving complex, uncertain and open-ended resolutions.

b. It makes use of non-linear narratives which have comic sequence, unexpected twists and turns, shifts in tone and often an ambiguous conclusion.

c. It has human nature’s contradictions, ambiguity, complex morality and emotional self-awareness.

4. Melodrama

a. There is exaggeration in expressions and feelings, unrealistic events, clear distinction between good and evil, cruel and manipulative characters.

b. It stresses emotional response, builds suspense and tension, and arouses pity or sympathy.

c. Unlikely events drive the plot.

d. There are unexpected surprises, last-minute saves, shocks and usually ends in suspense.

Activity 4.4

Reviewing Knowledge through the guessing game

1. Play the guessing game with your friend on the forms of drama.

2. Your friend reads the guessing prompts below as you respond to them.

a. I am a form of drama with my protagonist as a person with noble characters.

Guess who I am.

b. I am a form of drama full of farce. Guess who I am.

c. I am a form of drama. I combine two different drama forms. I bring in comic relief when actions are tense. Guess who I am.

Activity 4.5

Analysing excerpts using the 5 Whys This is the first longer and demanding exercise in this section. The more time you allocate to it, the fuller your understanding of drama and its devices will become.

Don’t be tempted to rush through it.

1. Observe the passage below which is from the speech of Mark Antony in the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Here is a celebrated film version of the speech:

Charlton Heston Mark Antony speech “Julius Caesar” (1970) And another extract from Damian Lewis’s version Damian Lewis as Antony in Julius Caesar: ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’ | Shakespeare Solos Below is the first section of the speech.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answer’d it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest– For Brutus is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men– Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me:

But Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And, sure, he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once, not without cause:

What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.

2. Form a group of three members and use the information above to answer these ‘5’ whys:

a. Why is this long speech so compelling?

b. There are conflicts here, personal, moral and societal? Discuss why they stand out so clearly in the videos you have watched. Provide evidence of building irony in Mark Antony’s speech.

c. Why did the conflict in the text result in violence?

d. The violence has consequences. Why?

e. The issues of hatred and fate are important in the text. Prove this with evidence.

3. Organise your thoughts on the above in a straightforward manner.

4. Share your findings with the class on white or sticky notes.

Activity 4.6

Discussing a video of popular drama.

1. For a class discussion, watch the video below before class:

Tap on the link below to watch a comedy by Ola Rotimi, Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PsyE3DQQ7o

2. Discuss the form of drama in the movie you have watched and reasons for your view.

3. With your friend, explain your emotions about the movie you have watched.

How much is the Ola Rotimi video you have watched on comedy different from the videos of the speech of Mark Antony in Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare?

4. Use the 5 Whys strategy to analyse Anowa. Use the 5 Whys strategy to examine the speech from Julius Caesar after that.

1. Differentiate amongst the forms of drama.

2. Tabulate the forms of drama with their corresponding meanings.

3. Write the similarities and differences between:

a. Comedy and tragedy

b. Tragi-comedy and melodrama

4. What are the key differences between comedy and tragedy?

5. Using the PowerPoint app, do a presentation on how the types of drama can have an impact on the characters in a story.