LITERATURE (DRAMA)

Definitions:

Drama is a literary composition involving conflict, action crisis and atmosphere designed to be acted by players on a stage. Drama also can be definition as a display of emotions, a representation of relationships and the portrayal of the different phases of human life. It sketches different personalities and represents a wide variety of emotions through the different characters it portrays.

Aristotle, a philosopher who wrote on a variety of subjects like poetry, theater, music, rhetoric and handled subjects like biology, physics, logic and politics, writes that there are six elements of drama, namely the theme, plot, character, dialog, music, and the visual element.

Theme: The theme of a drama refers to the central idea of the play. It can either be clearly stated through dialog or action or can be inferred after watching the entire performance.

Plot: The order of events occurring in a play is referred to as the plot of the drama. It is the basic storyline that is narrated through a play. The entertainment one derives from a play depends largely on the sequence of events that occur in the story. The logical connection between the events and the characters, which enact the story form an integral part of the plot of drama.

Characters: The characters that form a part of the story are interwoven with the plot of the drama. Each character in a play has a personality of its own and has a distinct set of principles and beliefs. Actors who play various roles in a drama have the very important responsibility of bringing the characters to life.

Dialog: The story of any play is taken forward by means of the dialog. The story is narrated to the audiences through the dialog written by the playwright. The success of a drama depends hugely on the contents of the dialog and the quality of dialog delivery by the actors of the play.

Music: This element of drama comprises the melody in the use of sounds and rhythm in dialogs as well as melodious compositions, which form a part of many plays. The background score, the songs and the sound effects that are used in a play make up the musical element of drama. Music composers and lyricists sit together to create music that can go well with the theme of the play. If the scenes of a play are accompanied by well-suited pieces of music, they become more effective on the audiences. Hence, music forms a very important element of drama.

Visual Element: While the dialog and music constitute the audible aspect of drama, the visual element deals with the scenes, costumes and special effects used in it. The visual element of drama, also known as the spectacle, renders a visual appeal to it. The costumes worn by the artists must suit the characters they are playing. Besides, it is important for the scenes to be dramatic enough to hold the audiences to their seats. The special effects used in a play add to the visual appeal. Thus, the spectacle forms an essential component of drama.

Some of The Types of Drama:

1.        Tragedy -- In general, tragedy involves the ruin of the leading characters. To the Greeks, it meant the destruction of some noble person through fate, To the Elizabethans; it meant in the first place death and in the second places the destruction of some noble person through a flaw in his character. Today it may not involve death so much as a dismal life; Modern tragedy often shows the tragedy not of the strong and noble but of the weak.

2.        Comedy -- is lighter drama in which the leading characters overcome the difficulties which temporarily beset them.

3.        Problem Play -- Drama of social criticism discusses social, economic, or political problems by means of a play.