literature type drama

What is Drama? What is Drama in Literature? Features, Types & Details Students Must Know

Life is a drama… written by God (some say) and realised by us (we all know). However, when it comes to understanding drama as a concept – in literary terms or otherwise – it is a drama of mess and absurdity, at times, if you are new to the world of drama as a subject matter of study. Otherwise, we all may love to watch a nice drama being enacted by our favourite stage actors. Who would not?

Now, coming to the point, I have tried to Drama as a literary concept as simple as possible. As a genre and an artistic expression, and also from the point of view of the audience, there are many things about Drama one must know as a student of literature. In this article, you will learn what is Drama. Also, with its definition, you will know different types of drama, vital components of drama and a few other essential features of it. So, without any delay, let’s get straight into the subject at hand. Let us begin right with the definition of drama.

What is Drama?

Drama, both as a standalone concept and within the realm of literature, holds significant importance as artistic expression. It is a genre that presents a narrative through the enactment of characters on a stage, often involving dialogue , actions, and conflicts that unfold in front of an audience. In the domain of literature, drama often refers to written works intended for performance, encompassing plays and theatrical scripts that are designed to be enacted by actors on a stage.

It is remarkable to note that in literature, drama differs from other forms of storytelling in its focus on dialogue and the interaction between characters to convey the narrative, themes, and emotions. The structure of a dramatic work typically includes acts and scenes , which guide the progression of the storyline and offer distinct moments of tension, climax, and resolution . Through dialogue and actions, characters reveal their motivations, conflicts, and growth, making drama a dynamic medium for exploring the human experience.

Great dramatic works (or plays) in literature often reflect the societal, cultural, and psychological aspects of the time in which they were written. Playwrights utilise their creations to delve into complex themes, highlight moral dilemmas, challenge social norms, and provoke thought and emotional engagement among their audiences. The power of drama lies not only in its ability to entertain but also in its capacity to engage with issues that resonate deeply with the human condition.

Hint for Literature Students: before you start studying drama:

Students of English literature (or literature in any other language) should mark that understanding the nuances of drama in literature is crucial for analysing plays. They must take efforts to make themselves dexterous in identifying literary devices such as dramatic irony, soliloquies, and monologues, and uncovering the layers of meaning beneath the surface of characters’ interactions. By delving into the structure, themes, and character development of dramatic works, they can have a richer understanding of the complexities and artistry within this genre.

What are the Components of a Drama?

Below, you will find a list of components of a drama. I have tried to keep the sequence open, as open as I could, and it does not necessarily mean any order. You can understand the importance of each component and use your intellect to identify which ones are indispensable and which ones may be left alone when the need arises.

1. Characters: Characters are the heart of any dramatic work. They drive the plot, convey themes, and engage the audience emotionally. Characters can be protagonists, antagonists, foils, or supporting roles. Each character has distinct traits, motivations, and relationships that shape their interactions and influence the story’s development.

Example: In William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet,” the titular character Hamlet, driven by his quest for revenge and internal conflicts, interacts with other characters like Ophelia, Polonius, and Claudius, each contributing to the unfolding drama.

2. Plot: The plot is the sequence of events that constitute the storyline. It includes the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The plot structure creates tension and intrigue, guiding the audience through the narrative journey.

Example: The plot of Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” follows the escalation of accusations and trials during the Salem witch trials, building tension until the climactic courtroom scene.

3. Conflict: Conflict is the driving force behind the drama. It can be internal (within a character’s mind) or external (between characters or circumstances). Conflict propels the story forward and illuminates the characters’ struggles and growth. Conflict makes a drama engaging, reflective and consuming. A drama without conflict may seldom exist.

Example: In Sophocles’ tragedy “Oedipus Rex,” the protagonist’s quest to uncover the truth about his past and his role in his father’s murder leads to a profound internal conflict as well as clashes with other characters.

4. Dialogue: Dialogue is the spoken communication between characters. It reveals their personalities, intentions, emotions, and relationships. Effective dialogue captures the essence of the characters and advances the plot.

Example: The witty and engaging dialogue between Beatrice and Benedick in Shakespeare’s comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” not only entertains but also showcases their evolving romantic relationship.

5. Setting: The setting establishes the time, place, and environment in which the drama unfolds. It influences the mood, atmosphere, and context of the story.

Example: Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” is set in the bustling city of New Orleans, with its distinct ambience and cultural backdrop contributing to the characters’ experiences.

6. Theme: Themes are the underlying ideas or messages conveyed through the drama. They address universal truths, societal issues, and philosophical concepts. Themes enrich the narrative and provoke thought.

Example: In Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” the theme of women’s societal roles and the pursuit of self-identity is explored through the character of Nora Helmer.

7. Stage Directions: Stage directions provide guidance for actors, directors, and designers. They describe actions, gestures, emotions, and technical elements that enhance the performance and visualization of the drama.

Example: In Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” the sparse stage directions contribute to the existential atmosphere and emphasize the characters’ sense of aimlessness.

8. Symbolism: Symbolism involves the use of objects, actions, or characters to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Symbolic elements add depth and layers of meaning to the drama.

Example: In Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” the plant that Mama nurtures symbolizes her dreams of a better future for her family.

What are the types of Drama? 

There are several major types of drama, each with its own distinctive characteristics and purposes. Here is a list of some of the major types, along with examples and detailed descriptions:

1. Tragedy: Tragedy is a genre that explores the downfall of a protagonist due to tragic flaws, external circumstances, or a combination of both. Tragedies evoke emotions such as pity and fear and often end in catastrophe or death for the central character.

Example: William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” follows the tragic journey of Macbeth’s ambition leading to his ultimate downfall and demise.

2. Comedy: Comedy is characterised by humour, wit, and lightheartedness. It often involves misunderstandings, mistaken identities, and humorous situations. Comedies aim to entertain and uplift the audience.

Example: Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” is a classic comedy that employs wit and satire to explore themes of social conventions and identity.

3. Tragicomedy (Dramedy): Tragicomedy combines elements of tragedy and comedy, often blending serious themes with humorous moments. These plays explore the complexities of life, encompassing both light and dark aspects.

Example: Tom Stoppard’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” reimagines the story of “Hamlet” from the perspective of two minor characters, balancing existential reflections with comedic exchanges.

4. Historical Drama: Historical dramas are set in a specific historical period and often involve real historical figures and events. They provide insight into the past while addressing universal themes.

Example: Friedrich Schiller’s “Mary Stuart” dramatizes the conflict between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I, exploring power dynamics and personal struggles.

5. Musical Drama: Musical dramas combine theatrical performance with music, including songs and often dance routines. They can cover a wide range of themes and emotions, utilizing music to enhance storytelling.

Example: “Les Misérables” by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil adapts Victor Hugo’s novel into a musical drama that portrays the struggles of various characters against the backdrop of 19th-century France.

6. Absurdist Drama: Absurdist dramas challenge traditional narrative structures and explore the absurdity of human existence. They often feature illogical situations, disjointed dialogue, and existential themes.

Example: Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” is a quintessential absurdist play where two characters engage in nonsensical conversations while waiting for someone named Godot.

7. Political Drama: Political dramas centre around political conflicts, ideologies, and power struggles. They can focus on individuals, groups, or entire societies dealing with political issues.

Example: George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” uses allegory to portray the rise of totalitarianism and the corruption of political ideals through the actions of farm animals.

8. Melodrama: Melodramas emphasize heightened emotions and moral contrasts. They often feature clearly defined heroes and villains, and their plots revolve around intense emotional situations.

Example: Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts” is a melodrama that tackles taboo subjects like venereal disease and societal expectations within a family.

How to Study a Drama the Best Way?

Studying a drama effectively requires a systematic approach that delves into its various components and layers. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you navigate the process:

1. Preliminary Reading: Begin by reading the drama thoroughly. Read it once to grasp the overall plot and storyline. Take note of initial impressions, emotions, and questions that arise as you read.

2. Contextual Research: Research the playwright’s background, the historical period, and cultural influences at the time the drama was written. Understanding the context enhances your interpretation of the work.

3. Character Analysis: Analyse the characters’ personalities, motivations, and relationships. Take note of how they evolve throughout the drama. Pay attention to their roles in advancing the plot and conveying themes.

4. Plot Structure: Break down the drama’s plot into acts and scenes. Identify the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Map out the progression of conflicts and events.

5. Theme Exploration: Identify the central themes and underlying messages of the drama. Consider how characters, dialogue, and events contribute to the exploration of these themes.

6. Dialogue Examination: Analyse the dialogue between characters. Identify key speeches, monologues, and dialogues that reveal character traits, emotions, and thematic elements. Look for literary devices such as metaphors, similes, and symbolism.

7. Stage Directions and Setting: Study the stage directions and setting descriptions. Visualise how the playwright intended the scenes to be staged and how the environment contributes to the mood and themes.

8. Conflict Identification: Identify the primary conflicts within the drama. Distinguish between internal conflicts (within characters) and external conflicts (between characters or external forces).

9. Symbolism and Imagery: Identify symbolic elements and recurring imagery throughout the drama. Consider how these symbols enhance the meaning and depth of the story.

10. Comparative Analysis: Compare the drama with other works by the same playwright or within the same genre. Identify similarities and differences in themes, characters, and techniques.

11. Cultural and Societal Analysis: Consider how the drama reflects the cultural and societal values of its time. Explore how it addresses relevant issues and challenges norms.

12. Critical Interpretation: Read critical analyses, reviews, and scholarly articles about the drama. Engaging with different perspectives can enrich your understanding and help you form your own interpretation.

13. Personal Response: Reflect on your emotional and intellectual responses to the drama. What aspects resonated with you? How did the drama affect your thoughts and emotions?

14. Discussion and Interaction: Engage in discussions with peers, classmates, or online communities. Sharing insights and perspectives can lead to deeper understanding.

15. Writing and Presentation: Summarise your analysis in a well-structured essay, presentation, or discussion. Support your points with evidence from the text and external research.

16. Revisiting and Reflecting: After completing your analysis, revisit the drama with fresh insights. Reflect on how your understanding has evolved and consider new interpretations.

By following this comprehensive guide, you’ll be able to delve deeply into the layers of the drama, uncovering its nuances and appreciating the artistry and messages woven into the narrative. This methodical approach will enable you to attempt a comprehensive and insightful analysis of the drama you’re studying.

Conclusion: 

So, in this article, we have understood the definition of Drama, the major types of Drama with examples and also the chief components that form a good drama. Moreover, we also tried to form a list of actions or activities that we can execute to study and understand a play better and comprehensively. I am sure if you go through this study guide carefully, you will have a better approach to studying drama. All the best! Do well and keep learning!

By Alok Mishra for the English Literature Education Platform

Read related articles from this category:

Bildungsroman – literary term definition, examples, notes & help you need

List of important literary terms associated with studying drama or play – Literature Guides

Anticlimax – meaning of literary term: definition in context of literature and beyond

Have something to say? Add your comments:

9 Comments . Leave new

What are the feature of drama

Thanks for all the information and details it’s useful and clear

Thank you very much. I have learnt a lot from this

This is a very helpful article. I am a BA first semester student. Totally confused where to begin. This one helped me understand many things about drama. I also explored other articles on the site helpful for beginners in English literature. Please keep posting more. Thanks so much

Very good article. It really helped me understand the features of drama. Thank you

Great article I give most benefits This is easier way for learning, reading, understanding

Sir, You should also bring an article on Indian classical literature. Above article is fantastic about drama.

Thanks for reading, and this comment, Sanjana! I will write that article soon. I intend to keep writing articles about whatever I have to teach first-semester students of the new CBCS course, with an English major.

Keep exploring! All the best!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post Comment

What Is Drama? Literary Definition and Examples

• Basics & Advice
• Playwrights
• Play & Drama Reviews
• Best Sellers
• Classic Literature
• Shakespeare
• Short Stories
• Children's Books
• B.S., Texas A&M University

In literature, a drama is the portrayal of fictional or non-fictional events through the performance of written dialog (either prose or poetry). Dramas can be performed on stage, on film, or the radio. Dramas are typically called  plays , and their creators are known as “playwrights” or “dramatists.” 

Performed since the days of Aristotle (c. 335 BCE), the term “drama” comes from the Greek words δρᾶμα (an act, a play) and δράω (to act, to take action). The two iconic masks of drama—the laughing face and the crying face—are the symbols of two of the ancient Greek Muses : Thalia, the Muse of comedy and Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy.

What Makes Drama so Dramatic? 

To make their plays dramatic, playwrights strive to progressively build the audience’s feelings of tension and anticipation as the story develops. Dramatic tension builds as the audience keeps wondering “What happens next?” and anticipating the outcomes of those events. In a mystery, for example, dramatic tension builds throughout the plot until an exciting or unanticipated climax is revealed.

Dramatic tension is all about keeping the audience guessing. In the ancient Greek tragedy Oedipus the King , will Oedipus ever figure out that by killing his father and sleeping with his mother he had caused the plague that destroyed his city, and what will he do about it if he does? In Shakespeare’s Hamlet , will Prince Hamlet ever avenge his father’s death and get rid of his pesky ghost and visions of floating daggers by murdering the play’s antagonist Claudius?

Dramas depend heavily on spoken dialogue to keep the audience informed about the characters’ feelings, personalities, motivations, and plans. Since the audience sees characters in a drama living out their experiences without any explanatory comments from the author, playwrights often create dramatic tension by having their characters deliver soliloquies and asides.

Types of Drama

Dramatic performances are generally classified into specific categories according to the mood, tone, and actions depicted in the plot. Some popular types of drama include:

• Comedy: Lighter in tone, comedies are intended to make the audience laugh and usually come to a happy ending. Comedies place offbeat characters in unusual situations causing them to do and say funny things. Comedy can also be sarcastic in nature, poking fun at serious topics. There are also several sub-genres of comedy, including romantic comedy, sentimental comedy, a comedy of manners, and tragic comedy—plays in which the characters take on tragedy with humor in bringing serious situations to happy endings.
• Tragedy: Based on darker themes, tragedies portray serious subjects like death, disaster, and human suffering in a dignified and thought-provoking way. Rarely enjoying happy endings, characters in tragedies, like Shakespeare's Hamlet , are often burdened by tragic character flaws that ultimately lead to their demise.
• Farce: Featuring exaggerated or absurd forms of comedy, a farce is a nonsensical genre of drama in which characters intentionally overact and engage in slapstick or physical humor. Examples of farce include the play Waiting for Godot  by Samuel Beckett and the hit 1980 movie Airplane! , written by Jim Abrahams.
• Melodrama: An exaggerated form of drama, melodramas depict classic one-dimensional characters such as heroes, heroines, and villains dealing with sensational, romantic, and often perilous situations. Sometimes called “tearjerkers,” examples of melodramas include the play The Glass Menagerie  by Tennessee Williams and the classic movie of love during the Civil War, Gone With the Wind , based on Margaret Mitchell’s novel.
• Opera: This versatile genre of drama combines theater, dialogue, music, and dance to tell grand stories of tragedy or comedy. Since characters express their feelings and intentions through song rather than dialogue, performers must be both skilled actors and singers. The decidedly tragic La Bohème , by Giacomo Puccini, and the bawdy comedy Falstaff , by Giuseppe Verdi are classic examples of opera.
• Docudrama: A relatively new genre, docudramas are dramatic portrayals of historic events or non-fictional situations. More often presented in movies and television than in live theater, popular examples of docudramas include the movies Apollo 13  and 12 Years a Slave , based on the autobiography written by Solomon Northup .

Classic Example of Comedy and Tragedy

Perhaps no two plays better illustrate the juxtaposition of the masks of drama—comedy and tragedy—than these two William Shakespeare classics.

Comedy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

In his romantic comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream , Shakespeare explores one of his favorite themes—“love conquers all”—with a humorous twist. Due to a series of comical and unpredictable situations, young couples keep falling in and out of love. As they struggle with the foibles of love, their equally amusing real-world problems are magically resolved by a mischievous sprite named Puck . In the very Shakespearian happy ending, old enemies become fast friends and the true lovers are united to live happily ever after.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is cited as an example of how playwrights utilize the ageless conflict between love and social convention as a source of humor.

Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet

Young lovers live anything but happily ever after in Shakespeare’s unforgettable tragedy Romeo and Juliet . In what is still one of the most-performed plays in history, the love between Romeo and Juliet is doomed by the raging feud between their families, the Montagues and the Capulets. The night before the star-crossed lovers are secretly married, Romeo kills Juliet's cousin in a duel, and Juliet fakes her own death to avoid being forced by her parents to marry a family friend. Unaware of Juliet’s plan, Romeo visits her grave and, believing she is dead, kills himself. When she learns of Romeo’s death, Juliet truly does kill herself.

Through the technique of switching moods between hope and despair, Shakespeare creates heartbreaking dramatic tension in  Romeo and Juliet .

Drama Key Terms

• Drama: The portrayal of fictional or non-fictional events in theater, film, radio, or television.
• Thalia: The Greek Muse of comedy, depicted as one of the two masks of drama.
• Melpomene: The Greek Muse of tragedy, the other mask of drama.
• Dramatic tension: The most basic element of drama used to stir the emotions of the audience.
• Comedy: The humorous genre of drama intended to keep the audience laughing on the way to play’s happy ending.
• Tragedy: The portrayal of darker subjects like death, disaster, betrayal, and human suffering.
• Farce: An “over the top” form of purposely over-acted and exaggerated comedy.
• Melodrama: The depiction of simple classic characters like heroes and villains dealing with sensational, romantic, and often perilous situations.
• Opera: The artful combination of dialogue, music, and dance to tell grand stories of tragedy or comedy.
• Docudrama: Historical or non-fictional events portrayed in a dramatic fashion.
• Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. “The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.” Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43437-8.
• Carlson, Marvin. 1993. “Theories of the Theatre: A Historical and Critical Survey from the Greeks to the Present.” Cornell University Press
• Worthen, W.B. “The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama.” Heinle & Heinle, 1999. ISBN-13: 978-0495903239
• Tragedy, Comedy, History?
• How to Identify a Shakespeare Comedy
• Everything You Need to Know About Shakespeare's Plays
• Plays Written by Shakespeare
• What Types of Plays Did Shakespeare Write?
• William Shakespeare's Most Famous Plays
• The Top 10 Tragic Plays (Part 1)
• Ancient Greek Theater Basics
• The Best Plays For New Theatergoers
• What Is a Soliloquy? Literary Definition and Examples
• A Complete List of Shakespeare’s Plays
• Character Analysis of Bottom
• Who Were the 9 Greek Muses?
• The Best Shakespeare Plays for High School
• 7 Types of Female Characters in Shakespeare's Plays
• Overview of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest'

Definition of Drama

Drama is a mode of fictional representation through dialogue and performance. It is one of the literary genres , which is an imitation of some action. Drama is also a type of play written for theater, television, radio, and film.

In simple words, a drama is a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime or dialogue. It contains conflict of characters, particularly the ones who perform in front of an audience on the stage. The person who writes drama for stage directions is known as a “dramatist” or “playwright.”

Types of Drama

There are several types of dramas some of the most common forms are given below.

• Comedy : Plays or dramas that are meant to create laughter among the readers or the audiences.
• Comedy of Manners: Plays or dramas that are meant to make fun of the manners and ways of a social group to make fun of them for correction.
• Commedia Dell’artea : Italian plays that are meant to create characters to place them in improvised situations. It was also called a comedy of profession. Most of the characters presented in such plays were masters, lovers, and servants.
• Costume Drama: These plays or dramas are meant to present dresses of the time.
• Farce : These plays or dramas present buffoons, horseplay for crude characterization .
• Grand Guignol: These plays or dramas are meant to show brutality, horror , and violence during the 19 th century.
• Jacobean Drama: These plays and dramas were written during the period of James I.
• Kabuki: These plays and dramas are of Japanese style comprising dance, stylized performance, and glamorous costumes.
• Kathakali: These short plays with the music of Indian origin are known for colorful costumes and face masks.
• Melodrama : These dramas and plays are known for exaggeration of characters, events, and situations for sensationalism.
• Morality Plays: These dramas and plays were meant to highlight moral qualities during the 15 th and 16 th centuries of Europe.
• Mastery Play: These dramas were written during the Middle Ages to depict the life of Christ.
• Shadow Play: These dramas and plays used to present shadows instead of characters on the stage.
• Situation Comedy or Sitcom: These plays or dramas present various characters in their daily activities .
• Soap Operate: These plays or dramas present a domestic thematic strand full of sentimentalism.
• Sketch: These short dramas and plays are meant to create comic situations through short sketches.
• Street Theater: These dramas and plays are meant to entertain the public in the streets through readymade scenes and themes .
• Absurd Play: These plays and dramas are meant to present the irrationality of life through changing dramatic structures and conventions.
• Theatre of Cruelty: These dramas and plays are meant to change present sufferings and pains through characters, themes, and structures.
• Tragedy : This is the oldest form of drama that means to present tragic emotions on the stage.
• Tragicomedy : This type of drama presents tragedy and comedy together to make the people feel relieved after watching tragic events.
• Romantic Comedy: A form of comedy, these dramas, and plays are meant to present light-hearted moments of life.

 American Drama and the Postmodernism

Although this topic requires more content and space, here American drama means the American plays between the late 1900s and early 2000s (1990-2020), and postmodern means a theoretical perspective . Such types of plays are written with the following features:

• Theatrical experimentation
• Use of pastiches and intertextualities
• Presentation of mini or meta- narratives
• Fragmented themes, characters, and presentations
• Presentation of rejection of art
• Metatheatre
• Non-linearity

Dramatic Sentences – Use of Drama in Sentences

• George’s next-door neighbors, The Manfreds, were all asleep in their coffins when I climbed the fence to get my football.
• When Rosy saw her favorite choco-chip cookie at the Elite Bakers, she felt as if the time froze.
• Just after the old man died, he sat up!
• Icy fingers gripped Monica’s arm in the darkness . She let out a shrill cry.
• Ian had never seen a ghost in his entire life. But as they say, there is a first time for everything.

Examples of Drama in Literature

Example #1: much ado about nothing (by william shakespeare).

Much Ado About Nothing is the most frequently performed Shakespearian comedy in modern times. The play is romantically funny, in that love between Hero and Claudio is laughable, as they never even get a single chance to communicate on-stage until they get married.

Their relationship lacks development and depth. They end up merely as caricatures , exemplifying what people face in life when their relationships are internally weak. The love between Benedick and Beatrice is amusing, as initially, their communications are very sparky, and they hate each other. However, they all of sudden make up, and start loving each other.

Example #2: Oedipus Rex (By Sophocles)

Sophocles’ mythical and immortal drama Oedipus Rex is thought to be his best classical tragedy. Aristotle has adjudged this play as one of the greatest examples of tragic drama in his book, Poetics , by giving the following reasons:

• The play arouses emotions of pity and  fear , and achieves tragic Catharsis .
• It shows the downfall of an extraordinary man of high rank, Oedipus.
• The central character suffers due to his tragic error called Hamartia ; as he murders his real father, Laius, and then marries his real mother, Jocasta.
• Hubris is the cause of Oedipus’ downfall.

Example #3: The Importance of Being Earnest (By Oscar Wilde)

Oscar Wilde ’s play, The Importance of Being Earnest , is a very popular example of Victorian farce . In this play, a man uses two identities: one as a serious person, Jack (his actual name), which he uses for Cesily, his ward, and as a rogue named Ernest for his beloved woman, Gwendolyn.

Unluckily, Gwendolyn loves him partially because she loves the name Ernest. It is when Jack and Earnest must come on-stage together for Cesily, then Algernon comes in to play Earnest’ role, and his ward immediately falls in love with the other “Ernest.” Thus, two young women think that they love the same man – an occurrence that amuses the audience.

Example #4: The Heiress (By Henry James)

Melodrama :

The Heiress is based on Henry James’ novel the Washington Square. Directed for stage performance by William Wyler, this play shows an ungraceful and homely daughter of a domineering and rich doctor. She falls in love with a young man, Morris Townsend, and wishes to elope with him, but he leaves her in the lurch. The author creates melodrama towards the end when Catherine teaches a lesson to Morris and leaves him instead.

Function of Drama

Drama is one of the best literary forms through which dramatists can directly speak to their readers or the audience, and they can receive instant feedback from audiences. A few dramatists use their characters as a vehicle to convey their thoughts and values, such as poets do with personas , and novelists do with narrators . Since drama uses spoken words and dialogues, thus the language of characters plays a vital role, as it may give clues to their feelings, personalities, backgrounds, and change in feelings. In dramas the characters live out a story without any comments of the author, providing the audience a direct presentation of the characters’ life experiences.

Synonyms of Drama

The closest synonyms of drama are play, show, spectacle, dramatization, screenplay, stage, performance, theatrics, etc. It is mostly associated with a stage play, a theatre play, or a television play.

Post navigation

• Clerc Center | PK-12 & Outreach
• KDES | PK-8th Grade School (D.C. Metro Area)
• MSSD | 9th-12th Grade School (Nationwide)
• Gallaudet University Regional Centers
• Parent Advocacy App
• K-12 ASL Content Standards
• National Resources
• Youth Programs
• Academic Bowl
• Battle Of The Books
• National Literary Competition
• Youth Debate Bowl
• Bison Sports Camp
• Discover College and Careers (DC²)
• Financial Wizards
• Immerse Into ASL
• Alumni Relations
• Alumni Association
• Homecoming Weekend
• Class Giving
• Get Tickets / BisonPass
• Sport Calendars
• Cross Country
• Swimming & Diving
• Track & Field
• Indoor Track & Field
• Cheerleading
• Winter Cheerleading
• Human Resources
• Plan a Visit
• Request Info

• Areas of Study
• Accessible Human-Centered Computing
• American Sign Language
• Art and Media Design
• Communication Studies
• Data Science
• Deaf Studies
• Early Intervention Studies Graduate Programs
• Educational Neuroscience
• Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences
• Information Technology
• International Development
• Interpretation and Translation
• Linguistics
• Mathematics
• Philosophy and Religion
• Physical Education & Recreation
• Public Affairs
• Public Health
• Sexuality and Gender Studies
• Social Work
• Theatre and Dance
• World Languages and Cultures
• B.A. in American Sign Language
• B.A. in Art and Media Design
• B.A. in Biology
• B.A. in Communication Studies
• B.A. in Communication Studies for Online Degree Completion Program
• B.A. in Deaf Studies
• B.A. in Deaf Studies for Online Degree Completion Program
• B.A. in Education with a Specialization in Early Childhood Education
• B.A. in Education with a Specialization in Elementary Education
• B.A. in English
• B.A. in Government
• B.A. in Government with a Specialization in Law
• B.A. in History
• B.A. in Interdisciplinary Spanish
• B.A. in International Studies
• B.A. in Interpretation
• B.A. in Mathematics
• B.A. in Philosophy
• B.A. in Psychology
• B.A. in Psychology for Online Degree Completion Program
• B.A. in Social Work (BSW)
• B.A. in Sociology
• B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in Criminology
• B.A. in Theatre Arts: Production/Performance
• B.A. or B.S. in Education with a Specialization in Secondary Education: Science, English, Mathematics or Social Studies
• B.S in Risk Management and Insurance
• B.S. in Accounting
• B.S. in Accounting for Online Degree Completion Program
• B.S. in Biology
• B.S. in Business Administration
• B.S. in Business Administration for Online Degree Completion Program
• B.S. in Information Technology
• B.S. in Mathematics
• B.S. in Physical Education and Recreation
• B.S. In Public Health
• General Education
• Honors Program
• Peace Corps Prep program
• Self-Directed Major
• M.A. in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling
• M.A. in Counseling: School Counseling
• M.A. in Deaf Education
• M.A. in Deaf Education Studies
• M.A. in Deaf Studies: Cultural Studies
• M.A. in Deaf Studies: Language and Human Rights
• M.A. in Early Childhood Education and Deaf Education
• M.A. in Early Intervention Studies
• M.A. in Elementary Education and Deaf Education
• M.A. in International Development
• M.A. in Interpretation: Combined Interpreting Practice and Research
• M.A. in Interpretation: Interpreting Research
• M.A. in Linguistics
• M.A. in Secondary Education and Deaf Education
• M.A. in Sign Language Education
• M.S. in Accessible Human-Centered Computing
• M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology
• Master of Social Work (MSW)
• Au.D. in Audiology
• Ed.D. in Transformational Leadership and Administration in Deaf Education
• Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology
• Ph.D. in Critical Studies in the Education of Deaf Learners
• Ph.D. in Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences
• Ph.D. in Linguistics
• Ph.D. in Translation and Interpreting Studies
• Ph.D. Program in Educational Neuroscience (PEN)
• Individual Courses and Training
• Summer On-Campus Courses
• Summer Online Courses
• Certificates
• Certificate in Sexuality and Gender Studies
• Educating Deaf Students with Disabilities (online, post-bachelor’s)
• American Sign Language and English Bilingual Early Childhood Deaf Education: Birth to 5 (online, post-bachelor’s)
• Peer Mentor Training (low-residency/hybrid, post-bachelor’s)
• Early Intervention Studies Graduate Certificate
• Online Degree Programs
• ODCP Minor in Communication Studies
• ODCP Minor in Deaf Studies
• ODCP Minor in Psychology
• ODCP Minor in Writing
• Online Degree Program General Education Curriculum
• University Capstone Honors for Online Degree Completion Program

Quick Links

• PK-12 & Outreach
• NSO Schedule

Guide to Drama

202.448-7036

Drama Guide

• Basic Definition

Drama is a form of literature acted out by performers. Performers work with the playwright, director, set and lighting designers to stage a show. Live actors act as someone else called a character.

A script, written by a playwright, gives the actors words and cues to perform the dialogue, actions, and gestures of their characters on stage.

As a reader, you can only imagine what the gestures, expressions, and voices of the characters are like. Remember you must imagine the “sounds,” actions, and scenery when you are reading a script.

Reading a play is like listening to a conversation, and using your imagination to guess at what the characters are like. This conversation is what actors will perform on the stage and will give you an idea of how other people, including the playwright, imagined the play to be.

Drama differs from short stories and novels because it is made to be performed by different actors in different locations throughout time. While the script remains the same, actors’ interpretations of a single role may differ.

If you have read a play and then see it, you may be surprised because the play may be different from what you had imagined. This is similar to reading a story and then seeing a movie of that story– it is rarely exactly what you had imagined.

Some of the first forms of documented drama come from ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks performed both tragedies and comedies. Ancient tragedy – invented by the ancient Greeks to show the actions of a tragic hero or heroine. (Ex: Oedipus Rex. ) tragic hero/heroine – the protagonist, or main character, in the play.

• he/she must be of noble birth or hold an important social position
• he/she is generally virtuous
• he/she has a desire to do good deeds
• he/she dies in the end of the play
• crisis of feeling – painful or harmful experience that may upset or depress the audience.
• catharsis/ purgation – the audience cleanses their emotions. For example, they may feel uplifted and/or get a new sense of spiritual understanding or tragic pleasure.
• reversal/ peripeteia – the hero/heroine goes through a significant change in fortune for the worse. The reversal may happen after a discovery ( anagnorisis, ) or a recognition of something previously not known to the hero/heroine. Example:
• In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Oedipus experiences a reversal when he gets the message that his father, Polybos, has died of old age. Oedipus is at first relieved to find out that the prophecy that he would kill his father was wrong. Then his dream is renewed when the same message reveals that Polybos was not his biological father (Kennedy 871). (Comedies can have reversals too, but in comedy, the change is almost always for the better).

Modern tragedy – unlike Greek tragedy, the protagonist is often a common or middle-class person, not high born, noble or important. Ordinary people exemplify basic issues of social and personal conflict.

Ancient Greek Comedy – performed to show the humorous actions of one or more characters as they attempt to solve a problem.

• required action and conflict that led to a happy ending.
• included ridiculing and violent personal attacks on contemporary personalities.
• involved acting out of bawdy personal and social relationships.
• as opposed to ancient Greek tragedy, a change in fortune is almost always for the better.

Types of comedy from ancient to modern times:

• romantic – involves a love affair that does not run smoothly but ends happily.
• Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream
• the movie, Pretty Woman
• manners – portrays upper-class society involved in witty repartee that focuses on their relationships and “affairs.” A comedy of manners focuses on the behavior of men and women who violate the rules and manners of upper-class society.
• farce – “low comedy” with lots of “belly laughs” that uses quick physical action to induce immediate laughter. The verbal humor is often crude or ridiculous. Farce is sometimes based on incongruities of character and action; a character doing something that is completely unlike what we would expect of them.
• In Shakespeare uses farcical humor in his play, Twelfth Night. Malvolio, a very rude, self-important character, is convinced to wear funny clothing and act like a fool (Meyer 900).
• Most of Jim Carey’s comedy is a farce. His comedy is based on quick physical humor and often crude dialogue.
• satire – mean jokes (barbs) are aimed at people, ideas or things in order to improve, correct, or prevent something. Example: Again, the character Malvolio in Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night is a satirical character. He is held up for scrutiny and ridicule by other characters and the audience because of his self-important, pompous attitude. Shakespeare reveals Malvolio’s faults and shows him to be pathetic.
• The movies, Fargo, and Pulp Fiction

ANALYZING DRAMA How you react to a play will depend on:

• your individual perspective of the world
• your sense of humor
• you political attitudes
• your moral values

Analysis begins by asking what factors about the play shaped your response.

setting – The scenic design and props. These add meaning and historical context to what characters do and say in the drama. Some components of the setting are as follows:

• the orchestra, the performance and dancing area for actors and chorus, which was utilized by Greek theater to inform audiences of what happens “off stage.” (i.e. no murders or suicides were shown; instead, a messenger would inform the characters of the news).
• lighting is used to show the illusion of time, highlight an action, or emphasize an event or character. Lighting is more complicated today than it was in ancient times because plays used to be shown only outside.
• costumes are used to portray age, class, profession or ethnic culture.

structure – The way a play is organized into sections. Most plays are divided into acts and scenes. Ancient Greek drama did not use acts and scenes but had a system of divisions which were:

• prologue (exposition) – the introductory speech given to the audience at the beginning of the play.
• paradox (entry of chorus) – the paradox is the song chanted by the chorus on their entry. Their song is usually about the action of the play and helps to build emotion in the audience.
• episodes – modern drama would call these scenes, or acts. There are usually four or five episodes. Each episode consists of dialogue and action that takes place in one location at one time. Each is separated by a choric interlude, or the strophe and antistrophe .
• strophe and antistrophe – these are terms that describe the chorus’ movement from one side of the stage to the other. For the strophe, they are on one side of the stage, and for the antistrophe, they move to the other. When the chorus speaks outside of these interludes, directly with the characters, their lines are said by only one member of the chorus, their leader (Miller 38).
• exodus – the final scene and resolution.
• moral qualities
• physical presence

Qualities of a person may be either physical and superficial (external) or psychological and spiritual (internal). Characters can possess both types of traits. External characteristics (characteristics that flat, one-dimensional characters possess):

• physical appearance
• physical nature
• manner of speech and accent
• manner of dress
• social status
• community interests

Internal characteristics (characters that round, multidimensional characters possess):

Types of Characters:

• protagonist – the main character of a play, the one who is the center of the action and holds your attention.
• In Shakespeare’s play, Othello, Othello is the protagonist and Iago are the antagonists (Desdemona can also be considered to be a protagonist).
• In the fairy tale and movie, Cinderella, Cinderella is the protagonist and her wicked step mother is the antagonist.
• foil – the character that acts as the butt of the jokes. Also, a character used to show contrast with the main character.
• In Othello, Desdemona’s nurse acts as her confidant.
• In Cinderella, the friendly mice serve as Cinderella’s confidants.
• stock characters – superficial roles. (Ex: comic, victim, simpleton/fool, braggart, pretender).
• theme – the central purpose or message of the play as developed by the playwright (i.e. the playwright’s message for the audience).

dramatic irony – the contrast between what the character thinks the truth is and what the audience knows the truth to be. This occurs when the speaker fails to recognize the irony of his actions. For example, if the speaker were to put a curse on the murderer without realizing that he himself is the murderer, then he would have unwittingly cursed himself. Example: In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus places a curse on the murderer of Laios, not realizing that he was that murderer. Since the audience has information of which Othello is ignorant, they recognize the significance of Othello’s actions, while he does not.

202-448-7036

At a Glance

• Quick Facts
• University Leadership
• History & Traditions
• Accreditation
• Consumer Information
• Our 10-Year Vision: The Gallaudet Promise
• Annual Report of Achievements (ARA)
• The Signing Ecosystem
• Not Your Average University

Our Community

• Library & Archives
• Technology Support
• Interpreting Requests
• Ombuds Support
• Health and Wellness Programs
• Profile & Web Edits

Visit Gallaudet

• Explore Our Campus
• Virtual Tour
• Maps & Directions
• Shuttle Bus Schedule
• Kellogg Conference Hotel
• Welcome Center
• National Deaf Life Museum
• Apple Guide Maps

Engage Today

• Work at Gallaudet / Clerc Center
• Social Media Channels
• University Wide Events
• Sponsorship Requests
• Data Requests
• Media Inquiries
• Gallaudet Today Magazine
• Giving at Gallaudet
• Financial Aid
• Registrar’s Office
• Residence Life & Housing
• Safety & Security
• Undergraduate Admissions
• Graduate Admissions
• University Communications
• Clerc Center

Gallaudet University, chartered in 1864, is a private university for deaf and hard of hearing students.

Copyright © 2024 Gallaudet University. All rights reserved.

• Accessibility
• Cookie Consent Notice
• Privacy Policy
• File a Report

800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington, D.C. 20002

• Literary Terms
• Definition & Examples
• When & How to Write Drama

I. What is Drama?

Drama has two very different meanings. In modern pop culture, it means a genre of film or television that deals with serious, often negative, emotions. It’s the opposite of comedy, which is just for laughs. Drama refers only to film and television, not novels or other purely written art forms.

In the past (up until the rise of Hollywood), drama had an entirely different meaning. It was any kind of fictional performance – usually a play, but also including short skits, vaudeville shows, musicals, etc. Anything with actors counted as drama, even when it was a comedy. This definition is still used sometimes (for example, in the phrase “drama class”), but it’s become much less common than the other. This older definition also has an impact on the more modern definition: modern dramas are still “acted,” usually onscreen – that’s why novels can’t be dramas.

Because the first definition is more relevant to the modern world, that’s the one we’ll mainly focus on in this article.

II. Examples of Drama

Cartoons are usually associated with comedy, and the majority of dramas are live-action. But there are a few exceptions. For example, the wildly popular Dragon Ball Z is an action cartoon from Japan that deals with an alien prince, martial arts tournaments, and (in some episodes) the challenges of raising children. Although the show is mostly made for kids, it still has simplified elements of adult drama.

According to Rotten Tomatoes (and plenty of other critics), Citizen Kane is the greatest drama ever made. This historical drama is fictional, but it’s based on the life and career of William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper publisher who became fabulously wealthy and influential, but was also criticized for using deception and “yellow journalism” (scandalous exaggerations) in his papers. Citizen Kane suggests that Hearst may have been struggling with inner demons caused by his childhood abandonment by his parents.

III. Types of Drama

Hollywood has been producing dramas for decades, and they are an extremely diverse group – but there are a few broad categories that many of these dramas fall into.

These stories deal with human relationships and the various conflicts and complications that emerge from them. Romance dramas can get pretty steamy, and they’re definitely not for the younger crowd.

b. Thriller/Action

Thrillers and action dramas are extremely popular, especially in movie form. Audiences flock to see explosions, stylized violence, and screaming car chases. These stories are not exactly “emotional” in the typical sense, but they are certainly very dramatic.

c. Crime drama

Shows like CSI and Law and Order have made the crime drama very popular with modern audiences. These stories focus on a crime and the efforts of police officers and detectives to solve it. Along the way, the characters ’ personal struggles come into view and sometimes conflict with their police work.

d. Historical drama

History itself is littered with dramatic stories of intense emotion: Abraham Lincoln losing his 11-year-old son Willie in the middle of the Civil War; the Celtic queen Boudica taking bloody revenge on the Roman soldiers who had attacked and killed her children. These colorful stories have provided inspiration to generations of writers and filmmakers.

IV. The Importance of Drama

No one is entirely sure why we love drama so much, but it seems to be universal – human beings in every culture have loved a good story, and at heart that’s all a drama is. We love to hear about love, danger, betrayal, and adventure, especially when there’s a good conflict and a compelling cast of characters .

V. Examples of Drama in Literature

The Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner is widely considered one of the greatest achievements in both drama and music. It’s a series of operas about Norse gods and dragon-slaying heroes. At the end of the cycle, the whole world burns in the fires of the Gotterdammerung (Downfall of the Gods). In some stagings of the opera, the theater has actually been set on fire to simulate this apocalyptic event!

Since the Greeks, perhaps the most famous dramatist has been William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays still form the basis for much of modern drama, because he managed to write compelling stories that have stood the test of time. For example, the movie 10 Things I Hate About You was based on The Taming of the Shrew , while West Side Story was based on Romeo and Juliet .

VI. Examples of Drama in Popular Culture

Friday Night Lights is a popular TV drama about a high school football team in rural Texas. The drama in this show comes from two places: first, from the action on the field. The players’ on-field wins and losses play a huge role in setting the mood for each episode. Simultaneously, though, all the characters are dealing with the ups and downs of romantic relationships, so Friday Night Lights is a romance in addition to a “sports drama.”

Mad Max: Fury Road is a perfect example of a modern action drama. It has a small set of characters, a frightening villain, and a clear source of conflict – the effort to escape from Immortan Joe and get to the Green Place. Although there are a few moments of comic relief, the movie is mostly focused on emotions of fear, excitement, and rage – typical for an action drama.

With its four Oscar wins, The King’s Speech was one of the most acclaimed movies of recent years. This historical drama tells the story of King George VI, who held the British crown during World War II. George VI suffered from a severe stammer, which he had to overcome in order to serve as the symbolic leader of the British people during this traumatic period. Like many historical dramas, the film combines a historical story (the war) with a personal one.

VII. Related Terms

Melodrama is an exaggerated, extreme form of drama. In it, all the characters behave in slightly ridiculous ways due to the extreme emotional roller coasters that they’re experiencing. Soap operas are a great example of melodrama, with the overblown gestures and facial expressions of the actors and their incredibly over-the-top emotional twists and turns.

Modern dramas are somewhat similar to the ancient art form known as tragedy . Like dramas, tragedies deal with negative emotions and often cause sadness, anxiety, and pity in the audience. However, classical tragedy had a few distinguishing features. For one thing, there was no comic relief. For another, tragedies always had a sad ending – the hero had to be killed or brought down, usually through his own weakness and mistakes. In modern drama, these sad endings are quite rare, as modern audiences demand a more optimistic sort of story.

Dramedy is halfway in between comedy and drama. All dramas have a little comedy in them (comic relief), and most comedies have their serious moments. So there’s a sliding scale from drama to comedy, and stories right in the middle are called dramedies. The show Scrubs , for example, started off as a comedy but slowly became more of a dramedy as the writers focused more and more on the characters’ romantic relationships rather than on jokes.

List of Terms

• Alliteration
• Amplification
• Anachronism
• Anthropomorphism
• Antonomasia
• APA Citation
• Aposiopesis
• Autobiography
• Bildungsroman
• Characterization
• Circumlocution
• Cliffhanger
• Comic Relief
• Connotation
• Deus ex machina
• Deuteragonist
• Doppelganger
• Double Entendre
• Dramatic irony
• Equivocation
• Extended Metaphor
• Figures of Speech
• Flash-forward
• Foreshadowing
• Intertextuality
• Juxtaposition
• Literary Device
• Malapropism
• Onomatopoeia
• Parallelism
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Personification
• Point of View
• Polysyndeton
• Protagonist
• Red Herring
• Rhetorical Device
• Rhetorical Question
• Science Fiction
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
• Synesthesia
• Turning Point
• Understatement
• Urban Legend
• Verisimilitude
• Essay Guide
• Cite This Website

Literary Devices

Literary devices, terms, and elements, definition of drama.

Drama is a type of narrative, usually fictional, that is performed. Drama usually involves actors on stage in front of a live audience. Thus, as a narrative mode, there is the assumption that drama requires participation and collaboration between the actors and the audience. It is, of course, possible to read works of drama, yet the full expression of drama is in the context of performance.

The word drama comes from the Greek δρᾶμα ( drama ), in which it means “action.” Thus, the definition of drama includes the sense of live action occurring. Note that originally drama did not necessarily connote a genre characterized by serious themes and the absence of comedy. Indeed, both comedy and tragedy on stage are considered drama under this definition, because they both include action presented to an audience in real time.

Common Examples of Drama

Drama is also used to denote a popular genre of storytelling in film and television. Here are some examples of drama in these different forms of entertainment:

Drama Films:

• Citizen Kane
• The Godfather
• The Shawshank Redemption
• American Beauty
• Forrest Gump
• Jerry Maguire
• Good Will Hunting
• Brokeback Mountain
• Slumdog Millionaire

Television dramas:

• The Sopranos
• The West Wing
• The Walking Dead
• Breaking Bad
• House of Cards
• Game of Thrones

Significance of Drama in Literature

Drama is one of the first forms of storytelling in human history. Dating back to at least the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece, drama became an important part of celebrations for gods and competitions were held for the best new work of drama. Drama was popular in many other parts of the world as well, especially in the modern-day nations of India, China, and Japan. Drama examples have continued to be important in different areas of the world and throughout different time periods. One of the primary reasons that drama has continued to have such an important place in literature is its unique way of presenting a narrative in real time. Thus, even if the story is from Ancient Greece, the audience is confronted with the story in front of them in the modern day and should therefore be able to have stronger feelings of catharsis than if reading the text as a historical document.

Examples of Drama in Literature

ANTIGONE: My own flesh and blood—dear sister, dear Ismene, how many griefs our father Oedipus handed down! Do you know one, I ask you, one grief that Zeus will not perfect for the two of us while we still live and breathe? There’s nothing, no pain—our lives are pain—no private shame, no public disgrace, nothing I haven’t seen in your grief and mine.

( Antigone by Sophocles)

Antigone is one of Sophocles’s three “Theban plays,” which concern the area of Thebes during and after the reign of King Oedipus. Sophocles was a noted dramatist, and wrote these three plays for competitions during his day in Ancient Greece. Each one has very dark themes, the most famous of which is Oedipus killing his own father and marrying his mother, ignorant of their true relations to him. In Antigone , the third chronological play in the this group, the protagonist Antigone tries to bury her dishonored brother Polyneices. She is sentenced to death for this action, as King Creon has named Polyneices a traitor and anyone who would bury his body an accomplice to his treachery.

HAMLET: O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God, God, How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on ‘t! ah fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely.

( Hamlet by William Shakespeare)

William Shakespeare is one of the most noted dramatists in all of history. He is known to have written thirty-three plays, divided into the categories of comedy, tragedy, and history. All of these are examples of drama in the original sense in that they each present a story onstage to the audience in real time. Shakespeare’s tragedy of Hamlet is one of his most enduring narratives for the stage, characterized by deep psychological insight and memorable soliloquy and monologue examples, such as the one above.

TOM: But the wonderfullest trick of all was the coffin trick. We nailed him into a coffin and he got out of the coffin without removing one nail. . . . There is a trick that would come in handy for me—get me out of this two-by-four situation! . . . You know it don’t take much intelligence to get yourself into a nailed-up coffin, Laura. But who in hell ever got himself out of one without removing one nail?

( The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams)

Tennessee Williams played with many conventions of the form of drama, one of the main ones being the idea of the “fourth wall.” Drama is usually presented as being separate from the audience, and the characters are unable to interact directly with the audience. In Williams’s play The Glass Menagerie , the main character Tom breaks down this fourth wall to directly address the audience throughout the scenes, especially at the beginning and end. In this excerpt, Tom remembers something from his childhood and addresses both the audience and Laura, who is absent from the scene. Williams made an even more collaborative experience of drama than what came before him.

THE PLAYER: The whole thing was a disaster! – he did nothing but cry all the time – right out of character – just stood there and cried […] Audiences know what to expect, and that is all they are prepared to believe in.

( Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard)

Tom Stoppard was another 20th century playwright who wrote examples of drama that pushed at the boundaries of what drama could be. There are many meta moments in his absurdist drama Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead , such as when an actor named only “The Player” talks about his attempt to kill someone onstage for the entertainment of the audience. He laments the fact that audiences already know what to expect—which is to say, that no one will actually be hurt or killed onstage—and that they will not believe anything else. Though Stoppard was not advocating killing someone onstage, he includes this anecdote to make his audiences question their assumptions about drama.

ABIGAIL: I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!

( The Crucible by Arthur Miller)

Arthur Miller wrote many famous dramas, such as his historical tragedy of The Crucible , which focuses on the Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote this drama at the time of the Red Scare in the United States, during which many famous people were being blacklisted for having connections to Communism. Miller wrote the drama of The Crucible to make audiences realize the horrors that can occur when people start to buy into mass hysteria. The above excerpt is the moment in which the young girl Abigail confesses to witchcraft and begins a craze of denouncing other townspeople as witches.

Test Your Knowledge of Drama

1. Which of the following statements is the best drama definition? A. A work of literature meant to be read in private. B. A tragic narrative that involves the death of one or more characters. C. A work of fiction meant to be presented in performance by one or more actors. [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #1″] Answer: C is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

2. Which of the following famous works of literature is an example of drama? A. Romeo and Juliet , a play by William Shakespeare B. “Song of Myself,” a poem by Walt Whitman C. The Grapes of Wrath , a novel by John Steinbeck [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #2″] Answer: A is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

3. In which of the following countries were the first recorded drama examples found? A. Japan B. Greece C. India [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #3″] Answer: B is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

4. Which of the following genres in plays can be considered a drama example? A. Tragedy B. Comedy C. History D. All of the above [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #4″] Answer: D is the correct answer. Any narrative that is presented onstage can be considered a drama.[/spoiler]

Browse Course Material

Course info.

• Prof. Diana Henderson

Departments

As taught in.

• Comparative Literature

Learning Resource Types

Introduction to drama, course description.

You are leaving MIT OpenCourseWare

7 Different Types of Drama in Literature!

Drama , popularly understood as a performing art, is one of the major modes of representation of  fiction . Alternatively, drama is also a genre of visual and written media, used for comparatively serious  narrative   fiction . However, drama in literature is characterized by a narrative with dialogues and performance. Whether enacted in theatres, radio shows or incorporated into written media, drama is all around us. In this article, let’s learn briefly about the  history , significance and different types of drama in literature!

What is Drama?

• History of Drama in Literature

Dramatic Expression

Drama of literature or closet drama.

• Drama Type – Comedy
• Drama Type – Tragedy

Tragi-Comedy

• Drama Type – Melodrama
• Drama Type – Musical

Interesting Facts About Greek Drama and Theater

Parting thoughts.

Etymologically, the word drama comes from the Greek word “ draō ” which means “to do/ to act”. Have you ever noticed two marks representing drama? These masks identified with drama illustrate the classic conventional distinction between  comedy  and tragedy.

Drama, to this day, remains a precious art of collaborative production and reception, performed at a  theatre  for an audience. You might have enjoyed one yourself. However, it wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that this art is slowly fading off. We have neglected the art too much but there’s still  time .  The importance of theatre art  should be inculcated in everyone, whether children or adult.

There are many different forms of drama, including mime, closet drama, improvisations, musicals, opera and others. Some of these forms have found their way into a dramatic literary corpus. For example, a closet drama refers exactly to what was written for reading, not performance. Others are specifically performative drama such as mime. It refers to a theatrical performance of gestures and suggestions of  emotions  and actions without the use of  dialogues .

In simple words, hence, drama in  literature  is a performance of a narrative with dialogues, performed sometimes with  dance  and music according to a script. This script in a written form is widely read and enjoyed.

History of Drama  in Literature

Ancient greeks.

As you can already guess, we can trace drama straight back to Ancient Greece, where Western drama originated. The cultural city of Athens mainly produced three  types of drama – tragedy, comedy and satyr play. The exact origin of drama, or plays is obscure, as is the custom for so many cultural traditions.

However, drama as a  mode  of celebration was institutionalised in Athens in the 5th century BC through competitions to honour the God Dionysus. From the ancient period, only the works of a few dramatists remain to this day.

Some of them are:

• Aristophanes

Ancient Romans

Next comes, yes, you guessed it right, Rome!

The Romans came across Greek drama when they captured several territories of the Ancient Greece in the 3rd century BC. By means of the Roman Empire, the art of drama spread far and wide. However, few works survive of the Roman dramatists.

Medieval Period

• In the medieval period, churches took it upon themselves to popularize drama by encouraging enactments of biblical events.
• These  types  of drama would require two groups to sing in Latin and by the 11th century, this type of drama spread through the whole of Europe and even Russia.
• In the middle ages, plays were generally religious in thematic contexts because they served as important means of disseminating religious codes and education. However, secular and morality plays were also popular.

Elizabethan Period

The 16th and 17th century England was perhaps the most important period for drama. At this time, most plays were written in verses in  iambic pentameter . It is a type of metric line used in  poetry  and verse drama. It specifies the  rhythm  or meter in a particular line. In addition to William  Shakespeare , Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton and Ben Jonson are important playwrights of this period. The themes of such plays were largely drawn from the mythology of Ancient Greece or Roman mythology.

English  Restoration Comedies in the period of the 17th and 18th centuries were also popular, bringing on the  renaissance  of English drama in literature. Stealing from Greeks, Romans and other European counterparts, sexual explicitness, urbane, cosmopolitan wit, current topical literature, and dense, busy storylines marked English Restoration Comedies.

During the second wave of Restoration comedy in the 1690s, William Congreve and John Vanbrugh’s “softer” plays sought to appeal to a more socially diversified audience with a large middle-class element, as well as female viewers.

Modern and Post-Modern Period

Innovative branches of drama led by Norwegian Henrik Ibsen and German Bertolt Brecht marked the 19th and 20th centuries. These plays were marked by realist and modern, experimental themes, social critique. Some important playwrights of this period are George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Miller, Antonin Artaud and others.

Expression of drama, or the language of drama stems from the understanding and context of the text depicted. Different types of drama in literature have different expressions. It can be ritualistic and exaggerated or parallel the motion pictures.  Britannica  mentions the authors of ancient Greek ceremonial theatre who wrote in verses, and it is thought that their performers delivered this in an incantatory manner midway between  speech  and  song . The result of such rhythmic word delivery was to raise the tone of the entire theatre to that of religious adoration.

A poem accompaniment makes the performers’ highly stylized system of symbolic movements of head and eyes, arms and fingers a harmonic totality in  Indian  play. The tragic soliloquy in Shakespeare allowed the hero, alone on stage with the audience, to evaluate his thoughts aloud in the persuasive terms of poetry. 

What is  Drama in Literature ?

Drama is strongly linked to literature, so much so that the two are practically inseparable. For an instance, the play Hamlet has both dramatic and literary value.

Drama can reach an audience in two ways

• by way of hearing
• by way of sight.

Consequently, drama is broadly of two types:

• the drama of action
• the drama of literature.
• Dialogues and scenes are written particularly to appeal to the reader.
• In this, dramatists follow the narrative via written performance and build tension around the  plot .
• For an instance, let’s take Hamlet. We keep on wondering whether Prince Hamlet will ever revenge his father’s death and free himself of his bothersome ghosts and visions of floating daggers by slaying the play’s  antagonist  Claudius.

Types of Drama in Literature

There are 7 types of drama in literature to bring out the narrative. These are:

Let’s look at each of them!

Drama Type –  Comedy

Comedy is a type or genre of drama that is intended to make people laugh. However, humour is not the only quality that signifies a comedy. The main themes of a comedy are-

• The tone is lighthearted.
• Ingenious wordplay or twists of phrases.
• Serious issues are addressed in a lighthearted manner.
• Misunderstandings are amusing.
• A happy ending.
• Characters who are silly and out of the ordinary.
• Usually concludes with a wedding, especially in romantic comedies.

The sub- genres  of comedy include romantic comedies, sentimental comedies and others.  William Shakespeare ’s “Much Ado About Nothing” is one of the most famous instances of comedy. With smart banter and more  than  a few stupid misunderstandings, Beatrice and Benedick go from enemies to lovers. And, as is customary in Shakespearean comedies, it concludes with a wedding!

Another Shakespearean comedy is “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. This romantic comedy addresses one of his favourite themes, “love conquers all,” with a funny twist. Young couples continually fall in and out of love as a result of a sequence of humorous and surprising events. Their equally humorous real-world problems are magically solved by a mischievous sprite named Puck as they tackle the flaws of love. Old enemies will soon become friends, and truly loved ones will meet again to live happily at Shakespeare’s happy ending.

Farce is another type of drama in literature which is, broadly humorous, however, there are significant differences between a comedy and a farce. The main themes of farce are-

• Exaggerated wit
• Jokes that are slapstick
• The plot is illogical.
• Unexpected occurrences
• Humor is frequently coarse and inappropriate.

The play “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett is a case on point. But, The plot revolves around two guys, Vladimir and Estragon. The men wait beneath a  tree  for Godot, a mystery figure. We do discover, though, that Godot continually sends word that he would arrive the next day, but this never happens. In other words, nothing happens with any surety in this drama.

Drama Type  – Tragedy

Therefore, tragedies are one of the most common and popular types of drama. As you can probably guess, tragedies tend to be sad. However, there is more to tragedies than that. The main themes are-

• A fatal fault in the  protagonist
• Situations that easily spiral out of control — and not in a good way
• Human agony, hate, or poverty are frequent topics. These are darker topics than in a melodrama.
• Describes the demise of a once heroic or well-liked persona.
• An unredeemable conclusion in which one or more characters die
• Arrives at a terrible catharsis

Shakespeare offers a plethora of tragedies from which to pick. Few, however, can compare to “Othello” in terms of its vicious villain, tragic demise of its hero, and heartbreaking denouement. Because he doesn’t believe he deserves the life he has, Othello loses everything he has ever loved or desired.

These complex among the types of drama in literature. They are more than just tragedy and comedy blended together. The main themes are-

• A serious plot delivered in a funny, sarcastic, or snarky manner.
• Characters with tragic flaws whose acts do not result in death
• A confusing subject
• Characters with broad personalities that act in stereotypically humorous ways
• There is no joyful or funny conclusion.

Classic plays were primarily concerned with clear-cut comedy, tragedy, or melodramatic genres. Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” contains enough comedic aspects to keep it from being classified as a tragedy – yet no one can argue that Blanche DuBois is anything other than a terribly broken character. It is the epitome of modern tragicomedy.

Drama Type –  Melodrama

Melodramas are an exaggerated kind of drama in literature, in which conventional one-dimensional characters such as heroes, heroines, and villains contend with exciting, passionate, and frequently deadly situations. The main themes of melodrama are-

• Character clichés include heroes, heroines, villains, mentors, and so on.
• Romantic or sombre stories with sweeping arcs
• Plots and events that are larger-than-life (or very small stories told in big ways)
• Character reactions are exaggerated
• Clearly defined literary topics
• Character flaws must be overcome in order to attain a resolution
• Ending that is sometimes cheerful and sometimes sad

When referring to melodrama, take Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”. Nora’s exaggerated emotions place the piece squarely in the category of melodrama. WOW!! The finale is a blend of Nora’s delight and hope and Torvald’s melancholy and despair. Sometimes called “tear-jerkers”, another example of such melodramas is the play “The  Glass  Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams.

Many a time, people don’t understand the difference between opera and musicals. An opera is a type of drama where the  actors  sing the lines or dialogues instead of speaking them. Also, the main themes of an opera are-

• Arias, which are actually musical soliloquies.
• Plot-driving sequences that may or may not be melodious
• A libretto (text) that has been turned to music.
• Tragic, comic, or melodramatic subject matter
• May have a dancing aspect, but mostly depends upon vocal performances
• Set design, costume design, and production

Giacomo Puccini’s “La Boheme” is one of the most famous operas of all time. It portrays the sad narrative of Rodolfo and Mimi, as well as the world of French Bohemia. The drama unfolds over the course of a year, set to one of opera’s most unforgettable compositions.

Drama Type –  Musical

Musicals are different from opera. While lines in opera are sung, dialogues in musicals are infused with music and performances. The main themes of musicals are-

• Firstly Songs break up periods of conventional plot.
• Characters frequently sing in unison to express their emotions.
• Songs as plot-altering devices
• Storylines that be dramatic or hilarious
• A  memorable  and unique musical score
• Frequently a lot of singing and dancing.

Many musicals, such as “Les Miserables” and “Phantom of the Opera” are based on larger literary works. Both of these musical dramas communicate their topics directly via song and use musical sequences to advance the story. They simplify their original material by focusing on the most vital characters and plot components.

• The term “theatre” is derived from the Greek word “theatron,” which means “seeing place.”
• The masks allowed a single actor to play multiple roles in the same play.
• The skene was a structure behind the orchestra. The skene was where actors changed their costumes. To create the background, pictures were sometimes hung from the skene. This is the origin of the term “scene.”
• The chorus would occasionally comment on the characters in the play or warn the hero of impending danger.
• A man named Thespis was the first actor. Actors are sometimes referred to as “Thespians” nowadays.
• Ancient Greece is where the drama masks that have come to symbolise theatre first appeared. The two masks represent the two main genres of Greek theatre, Comedy and Tragedy.
• In ancient Greece, tragedy, a genre that focuses on human suffering, was the most popular theatrical form. Thespis, a playwright and actor, is credited with the first performance of tragedy at the Dionysia.

Drama in literature is an ancient art, that we should preserve. Not only is it enjoyable to read, but also is delightful to perform. However, Theatre is a very subtle  art form , and these actors deserve our respect and reverence. Also, Immerse yourself in reading more and more drama to enjoy this ancient art.

Drama allows children to explore, discuss, and deal with difficult issues, as well as express their emotions in a safe environment. It allows them to investigate their own cultural values as well as those of others, both  past  and present.

For more such informative and exciting articles keep visiting our  blog !

What exactly is drama in literature?

A drama is a form of literature that is created to be performed in front of an audience. This sort of  writing  takes the form of a script, and the tale is told through the lines of the actors who play the characters. People can view dramas on stage, on the radio, or on film. 

What are some  examples  of drama in literature?

Here are three famous examples of drama in literature: 1. A tragedy is depicted in William Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet. Due to their bickering families, two young children in this drama fall in love and feel compelled to keep their feelings hidden from their parents. Their hasty decisions, however, lead to their deaths. 2. Jean Cocteau’s play  Les parents terribles  is an example of a melodrama that has numerous layers of overdramatic scenarios such as infidelity and suicide. 3. The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Weber is a well-known example of a musical play that portrays the story of obsession.

What is the significance of drama in literature?

Dramas serve the purpose of entertaining the audience. While reading a narrative might be powerful, seeing it performed by actors adds a sense of realism to the work. Many individuals prefer spending their spare time watching dramas, specifically in the form of movies or television, in this day and age of binge-watching.

What are the four primary types of drama?

Tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy, and melodrama are the four main types of drama. Although these genres emerged at separate times, each has its own distinct qualities. All of them, however, play important roles in contemporary culture and should be recognised.

Share with your friends

Related Posts:

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

What is Drama? Definition, Examples of Drama as a Literary Term

Home » The Writer’s Dictionary » What is Drama? Definition, Examples of Drama as a Literary Term

Drama definition in literature: A drama is defined as a piece of literature of which the intended purpose is to be performed in front of an audience.

What is Drama in Literature?

Drama meaning: A drama is a type of literature that is written for the purpose of being performed in front of an audience. This type of writing is written in the form of a script, and the story is told through the lines of the characters played by actors.

Example of Drama

The television show Grey’s Anatomy is considered to be a genre. This show is written with the intended purpose of actors performing the lines for their viewing audience.

Types of Drama in Literature

Comedy : A comedy is a type of drama that is written to be entertaining or amusing for the audience.

• The television show Seinfeld is considered a comedy. This sitcom follows the lives of four friends and the humorous situations they encounter together.

Tragedy : A tragedy is a type of drama that can be described as serious in nature and often includes a catastrophic ending.

• William Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet is an example of a tragedy. In this play, two young children fall in love and feel the need to hide this from their parents due to their feuding families. However, their rash thinking leads them to their ultimate deaths.

Farce : A farce is a subcategory of comedy. Theses low comedies include ridiculous and slapstick comedic situations in order to create humor for the audience.

• The movie Dumb and Dumber is an example of a farce. This movie follows the story of two caricatures on a mission to return a briefcase to a beautiful lady. Throughout the film the two encounter several ridiculous and crude situations.

Melodrama : While it originally referred to dramas that included accompanying music, melodramas now refer to plays that include highly emotional situations in order to play on the feelings of the audience.

• The play Les parents terribles by Jean Cocteau is an example of a melodrama that involves several layers of over dramatic situations including cheating and suicide.

Musical Drama : Musical dramas refer to plays in which characters engage in dialogue but also include scenes in which the passion of the character is so great he expresses himself in song.

• Andrew Lloyd Weber’s The Phantom of the Opera is a well-known example of a musical drama that tells the story of obsession.

The Function of Drama

Dramas serve the function of entertainment for the audience. While reading a story is powerful, watching the story be performed by actors adds a level of realism to the work. In the age of binge watching, many people enjoy spending leisure time watching dramas specifically in the forms of movies or television.

Summary: What is a Drama in Literature?

Define drama in literature: In summation, a drama is a work of literature written for the intended purpose of being performed for an audience. Dramas are written in the form of a script and actors perform interpretations of the characters involved in order to tell the story the viewers versus reading a story in novel form.

Final Example:

The hit Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, is an example of a musical drama. In this popular play and movie, viewers are taken through the story of high school love between two teens who are completely opposite outside the love they share for each other.

• Scriptwriting

What is Drama — Definition, Examples & Characteristics

rama, an intricately captivating facet of human expression, skillfully weaves together narratives through powerful performances, invoking a myriad of emotions and profound thoughts.  It forms an extraordinary intersection where the art of the written word harmoniously intertwines with the dynamic artistry of physical depiction, breathing life into stories that resonate on both the grand stages and the silver screen. But what is drama, actually? Where does it come from, and what makes a story dramatic? Let’s find out.

Watch: How Genres Work and How to Subvert Them

Subscribe for more filmmaking videos like this.

What is Drama Defined By?

First, let’s define drama.

Let's first pin down a clear definition of drama to understand what exactly constitutes this powerful form of art.

DRAMA DEFINITION

What is drama.

Drama is a captivating literary genre that is brought to life through performance. With its roots tracing back to the Greek word 'dran,' meaning 'to do' or 'to act,' drama encompasses a wide range of artistic expressions. It delves into the complexities of human emotions, intertwining the lives of characters in a web of conflicts and resolutions. Through compelling narratives and vivid portrayals, drama not only entertains but also stimulates deep contemplation and introspection. 

It offers a unique platform for exploring the human condition and shedding light on the diverse facets of the human experience. Whether on stage or screen, the power of drama lies in its ability to transport audiences into different worlds, allowing them to witness the triumphs, tragedies, and intricacies of life unfold before their eyes.

Types of Drama

History of drama, drama — a rich and varied history.

The history of drama is woven with threads from many civilizations, cultures, and time periods. Its evolution is a fascinating journey that traces the path of human societal progression.

Ancient Origins

Thespis, Athens, and The Origins of Greek Drama  •  Crash Course Theater

Over time, this ancient art form evolved, giving birth to the theatrical traditions that continue to shape and inspire contemporary performances. From the grand amphitheatres of ancient Greece to the modern stages of today, drama has transcended time, leaving an indelible mark on the human experience.

Drama Across Cultures

Throughout the centuries, drama has transcended borders and permeated diverse cultures and continents. Each region offered its own distinctive and captivating interpretation of this timeless art form. 

Whether it's the grandiose tragedies of ancient Greece, the refined Noh theater of Japan, or the vibrant and energetic Broadway productions, the universal language of drama continues to evolve and captivate audiences worldwide, connecting people through the power of storytelling.

Renaissance Leap

During the Renaissance, a remarkable leap occurred in the realm of drama. Playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe emerged onto the scene. They made profound contributions that forever shaped and elevated the genre. Their works captivated audiences with their eloquent language, intricate plots, and profound exploration of human emotions.

History of Ideas  •  The Renaissance

Through their masterful storytelling, they transported audiences to worlds both familiar and fantastical, leaving an indelible mark on the history of theater. The Renaissance became a golden age for drama, thanks to the artistic brilliance and creative ingenuity of these celebrated playwrights.

Evolution and Movements

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, drama underwent an intriguing evolution, propelled by influential artistic movements that sought to capture the essence of societal changes and delve into the depths of human psychology. 

The emergence of Realism , with its emphasis on depicting life as it truly is, provided a stark contrast to the fantastical realm of Surrealism , which explored the subconscious and challenged conventional notions of reality.

These dramatic movements, in their distinct ways, pushed the boundaries of theatrical expression, leaving an indelible mark on the artistic landscape of their time.

WHAT IS DRAMA AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

The power of performance.

The power to bring the written word to life in a captivating and powerful manner lies at the heart of drama. Through physical embodiment, characters become more than mere words on a page. From expression to gesture to costume, performers bring nuance and depth to their characters that can often only be conveyed through performance. 

Through facial expressions, actors can convey a wide range of emotions, from joy to sorrow, anger to love. The subtle movements of the eyebrows, the curl of a lip, or the sparkle in the eyes can speak volumes and create a connection between the audience and the character. 

I, Tonya  •  Drama Examples

Physical gestures can communicate meaning and intention. A simple hand movement, a wave, or a pointing finger can convey a message, emphasize a point, or reveal a character's personality.

From the grand sweeping movements to the delicate subtleties, gestures add another layer of communication to the performance.

Drama Examples  •  Gestures and Performance

The choice of costume can instantly transport the audience to a specific time period or setting. It can reflect a character's status, personality, or even their hidden desires.

The colors, fabrics, and styles of the costumes enhance the visual storytelling and provide cues about the characters and the world they inhabit.

Costume Design — The Hidden Layer of Movie Magic

This transformation from text to living art is what makes drama so unique and powerful; it has the ability to transport an audience to a world of imaginative storytelling. The impact of expression, gesture, and costume on the stage brings the characters and their stories to life, creating a memorable and immersive experience for all.

Related Posts

• What is Comedy? →
• A Brief History of Motion Pictures →
• What is Theme in Literature and Film? →

Various Types of Drama

In exploring the captivating world of drama, it's essential to recognize its diverse forms. The drama genre comes in diverse types, each with its unique storytelling techniques and thematic explorations. 

Hamlet  •  Tragedy Drama Examples

Comedy offers light-hearted plots with humorous outcomes. It aims to entertain and bring joy to the audience. A classic example is Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest , a witty and satirical play that explores mistaken identities and societal conventions.

Many wonder what is the difference in drama vs melodrama and how what distinguishes each. Melodrama exaggerates characters and emotions, creating intense and dramatic situations. It often includes exaggerated gestures and passionate dialogue. 

A famous melodramatic example is Gone with the Wind , a sweeping epic set during the American Civil War, filled with love, betrayal, and sacrifice.

Gone With the Wind  •  Drama Examples

Farce relies on slapstick humor and absurd situations to generate laughter. It often involves mistaken identities, misunderstandings, and chaotic events. One well-known farce is Michael Frayn's Noises Off , a play within a play that hilariously depicts the backstage antics of a dysfunctional theater troupe.

Historical Drama

Hamilton  •  Drama examples

Musical drama.

Musical dramas use singing and dancing to enhance the storytelling experience. They combine music, lyrics, and choreography to convey emotions and advance the plot. One iconic musical drama is Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera , a haunting love story set in the Paris Opera House.

Each type of drama offers a unique narrative style and provides audiences with diverse and captivating theatrical experiences.

What is Drama Evolving Toward?

Evolution of drama.

Throughout history, drama has evolved, skillfully adapting to societal changes, technological advancements, and shifting audience preferences. From ancient Greece to the digital performances of today, drama has transformed, remaining a dynamic medium of storytelling.

In the contemporary world, drama pushes boundaries, exploring complex themes and reflecting diverse realities. It sparks conversations and inspires change. 

Drama evolves, reflecting its environment and audience preferences. Looking ahead, the genre will adapt and innovate, maintaining its vital role as a conduit for storytelling and a catalyst for thought and conversation. 

Through its evolution, drama underscores the need for human connection, empathy, and understanding, reinforcing its enduring relevance and impact.

What is Comedy?

While the intensity and depth of drama allow us to dive into complex emotions and narratives, it's the lighter, more humorous side of storytelling that often provides a much-needed respite. This brings us to our next topic, comedy, an art form that uses humor as its central theme.

Up Next: Comedy Explained →

Showcase your vision with elegant shot lists and storyboards..

Create robust and customizable shot lists. Upload images to make storyboards and slideshows.

Learn More ➜

• Pricing & Plans
• Product Updates
• Featured On
• StudioBinder Partners
• The Ultimate Guide to Call Sheets (with FREE Call Sheet Template)
• How to Break Down a Script (with FREE Script Breakdown Sheet)
• The Only Shot List Template You Need — with Free Download
• Managing Your Film Budget Cashflow & PO Log (Free Template)
• A Better Film Crew List Template Booking Sheet
• Best Storyboard Softwares (with free Storyboard Templates)
• Movie Magic Scheduling
• Gorilla Software
• Storyboard That

A visual medium requires visual methods. Master the art of visual storytelling with our FREE video series on directing and filmmaking techniques.

We’re in a golden age of TV writing and development. More and more people are flocking to the small screen to find daily entertainment. So how can you break put from the pack and get your idea onto the small screen? We’re here to help.

• Making It: From Pre-Production to Screen
• VFX vs. CGI vs. SFX — Decoding the Debate
• What is a Freeze Frame — The Best Examples & Why They Work
• TV Script Format 101 — Examples of How to Format a TV Script
• Best Free Musical Movie Scripts Online (with PDF Downloads)
• What is Tragedy — Definition, Examples & Types Explained
• 0 Pinterest

What is Drama? Modern Drama and its types

• by Guiding Literature
• December 27, 2022 December 27, 2022

Quick links:

Realist Drama Epic Theatre Absurd Drama Avant-Garde Drama

Drama refers to a literary piece that contains written dialogues, and can be performed as plays on the stage or screen. Dramas are also referred to as ‘plays’ and the authors of dramas are considered as ‘dramatists’ or ‘playwrights’. Dramas have been performed since the age of Aristotle till the modern age. Dramas are audience based, as they are performed on stage by people dressed up as the characters. Dramas are preformed not only on the stage but also in radio, Television etc. Great dramatists of the past include William Shakespeare, Sophocles, Anton Chekov, Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw etc.

To make their plays more dramatic, the playwrights include dialogues that create feelings and emotions amidst the audience. The main component of dramas are its dialogues. Dramas originated in ancient Greece. Major Greek dramatists like Sophocles are widely regarded till date. His plays- Oedipus Rex, Antigone etc are still popular today. In the medieval period, dramas were popularized by the churches. In these ages, plays were often religious in its content, as they were a means to spread religious codes. The most important period for drama can be considered as the Elizabethan period, during the reign of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Johnson etc. Another period popular was the Restoration era, when Restoration comedies began to gain popularity among the audiences. Such plays satirized the seventh century society and its ills through the use of humour. Popular dramatists of this period are William Congreve, Aphra Behn etc.

Then comes the modern age of drama. Playwrights like Henrik Ibsen, Bertolt Brecht popularized drama in the 19th-20th centuries. After Victorian age, there was a great decline in drama. However, this great decline was revived by the 20th century Modern Dramatists. Modern Drama is divided into several types-

• Realism or Realist Drama

Realism movement began in the 19th century. It is the most significant type of Modern Drama. It was the movement which replaced the artificiality of the earlier ages. Characters speak naturalistic dialogues, without the use of verse, poetic style, and the acting is meant to represent the movements of ordinary life in a realistic way. Narratives contain ordinary instances and ordinary characters, without the involvement of supernatural beings like God, ghosts etc. Technological advancements were witnessed in the 19th century due to rapid industrialization, and people were starting to believe that science could save them from their existing sorrows, instead of supernatural elements. The common people however, were struggling to gain their identity. They rejected Romantic idealism, and accepted Realism, where their ordinary lives were portrayed in the most naturalistic way, without coloring with imagination. Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen popularized realism in Modern Drama. He portrayed problems of real life in a realistic way.

• Epic theatre

Epic theatre is a theatrical movement which was founded by Bertolt Brecht. It began in the early twentieth century. Epic theatre highlights the audiences’ perspective and reaction to the play through various techniques which allow them to engage in the play from different perspectives. The dramatist wants to make the audiences see the world as it is. They do not make the audience travel to some distinct land of imagination. Bertolt Brecht was a German playwright who is well regarded for his contributions to Epic Theatre. He often criticized the social norms and cultural happenings through his works. Brecht was known for separating his elements from each other. He used comedy to separate the audience from the events of the play. Epic Theatres require the actors to perform the characters in such a way that audiences might not doubt that the actors have actually turned into the characters, and on the same time, realistically portraying the story.

• Absurd Drama

It is a movement which was made up of plays written between 1940-1960. These plays were different than the plays performed earlier. These plays reflected the absurdities of common life. They focused on ideas of existentialism and portrayed what happens when human existence lacks meaning or purpose. The plays revolved in circular motions, they ended where they started. Such plays considered human existence as ‘absurd’ or illogical and meaningless, and portrayed plays in similar way. They reflected the collapse of humanity, society, and cultural values after the World Wars I & II. This style of writing was first popularized by Eugene Ionesco. There was a decline in faith and religion after the Wars, and people viewed life as a meaningless aspect. Such conditions were focused in Absurd Dramas. The playwrights considered themselves as isolated individuals. Their works thus reflected man’s inability to communicate with others and isolation in general.

• Avant-Garde Drama

Avant-Garde Drama is also called Experimental Drama because it experiments and innovents new techniques and methods in drama. Avant-Garde expresses its refusal of the existing traditional methods in Drama. This form of Drama is regarded as an important component of the Modernist movement. The playwrights cross the existing boundaries, and create bold, innovative techniques in their works. The word ‘Avant-Garde’ refers to new, and experimental. Thus, we can estimate that such dramas reject the establishes conventions and innovate new ideas in Drama writing. They were dramatists who were ahead of their times, and were also criticized for their bold, creative ideas that broke the conventional norms.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Drama Criticism › Drama Theory

Drama Theory

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on November 12, 2020 • ( 0 )

Aristotle ‘s Poetics , the first major text of Western drama theory, defined the terms of much subsequent discussion. Unlike such classical Eastern theoretical works on drama as the Sanskrit Natyasastra or Zeami Motokiyo’s writings on Noh, it makes only minor passing observations on the physical realization of the dramatic text, thus establishing an orientation essentially unchanged until the past century. Aristotle considers both the nature of tragedy (an idealized imitation of human action) and its function (the catharsis of such emotions as pity and fear). This argument for the psycho/social benefit of catharsis may have been at least partly in response to Plato ‘s distrust of art as a stimulus to the passions and as an inferior imitation of the world of appearance. The other most influential classical theorist was Horace , whose Art of Poetry contains specific formal directions and the often quoted double aim of poetry, to delight and to instruct. During the medieval period, when the classic theatrical tradition was lost, such writers as Dante Alighieri considered the terms “tragedy” and “comedy” only as descriptive of various poetic genres, tragedies showing dark conclusions and comedies, happy ones, usually the result of good or evil moral choices by the characters.

Early Renaissance theorists were again aware of drama as an art involved with performance, though they followed Aristotle in foregrounding the creation, form, and purpose of the written text. The authority of Aristotle was supplemented by Horace and others, since the general theoretical approach was a regularizing one, seeing the classical tradition as essentially univocal. Yet the Renaissance itself developed many conflicting interpretations of classical thought. Perhaps the most widely held position was that moral utility should be the primary end of poetry, though Ludovico Castelvetro gave preference to pleasure. The traditional genres comedy and tragedy were generally accepted, though Giambattista Guarini and others championed a variety of new mixed genres, such as the pastoral tragicomedy. The concept of verisimilitude, requiring the drama to resemble life, was almost universally accepted but variously interpreted. The champions of mixed genres, anticipating certain Romantic arguments, looked to specific and perhaps idiosyncratic reality, while the more common view was that the reality should be more general or idealized. Closely related to verisimilitude was the concept of decorum, suggesting that dramatic characters should act and speak according to the expectations of their particular class, sex, and social position. Perhaps the best-known Renaissance concerns dealt with the “three unities”— time (depiction of events within a single day or less), place (a single setting or a few closely adjacent ones), and action (avoidance of subplots). These unities were widely attributed to Aristotle, but in fact they were essentially defined by Italian theorists.

These major precepts—verisimilitude, decorum, moral purpose, the unities—in the late fifteenth century spread to Spain, France, and England, where they were developed by such theorists as Francisco Cascales, Vauquelin de la Fresnaye, and Sir Philip Sidney.. In each of these countries a successful popular theater was developing in ignorance or in defiance of most such precepts, providing a pragmatic base for the countermovement of Romantic theory in the nineteenth century. In France, however, both theorists and major dramatists after the 1630 triumph of Pierre Corneille’s Le Cid generally accepted and elaborated the major tenets of Italian Renaissance theory, and the distinction of Corneille, Jean Baptiste Poquelin Molière, and Jean Racine, reinforced by the political and cultural dominance of France during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ensured the European dominance of this theoretical orientation.

The common eighteenth-century vision of the universe as rational and benevolent was naturally reflected in its theory, and drama was almost universally regarded as both participating in and reflecting this moral order. This resulted in an important reorientation of attitude toward the traditional dramatic genres. Renaissance theorists had provided a moral function for the laughter of comedy, as a weapon of ridicule for the correction of social deviation, but the moral function of tragedy was less clear. Eighteenth-century theory returned to an attitude closer to the medieval distinctions, comedy depicting the happiness resulting from good actions and tragedy the sufferings resulting from evil ones. This doctrine of suitable rewards, called “poetic justice” by John Dennis in England, became so widely accepted that even the major plays of Shakespeare were reworked to bring their endings into harmony with it. A new kind of comedy, the sentimental, was developed to conform to this new concern, and soon after there developed a new serious form, the middle-class drama, since the sufferings of the kings and heroes of traditional tragedy were considered too remote to serve as the most effective negative examples for the bourgeois public of this period. The theory and practice of this type of drama were developed by George Lillo in England, G. E. Lessing in Germany, and Denis Diderot in France.

Although Jean-Jacques Rousseau shared Plato’s distrust of the theater as an institution of illusion and falsehood, his influence on this art has been enormous. In general, his championing of nature over culture and emotion over reason provided key elements of subsequent Romantic theory and practice, and more specifically, his celebration of populist theater and of unmediated performance became major concerns in twentieth-century theater. The basic elements of Romantic dramatic theory were evolved in Germany at the end of the eighteenth century, reaching their fullest expression in the writings of Friedrich Schiller and August W. Schlegel. These were in turn taken into Italy by Germaine de Staël and Schlegel, into France by Stael and Stendhal, and into England by Samuel Taylor Coleridge .

Romantic theory frequently defined itself in opposition to classicism, and thus much attention was given to defiance of the traditional unities and to the conscious mixture of genres. Victor Hugo and Coleridge felt that such a mixture not only presented a truer picture of experienced reality but, what is more important, suggested through the clash of contrary elements a deeper and more mysterious reality beyond everyday appearance. The dialectic consciousness so typical of Romantic thought owes much to Immanuel Kant, whose wedge between human consciousness and the absolute was reflected in Schiller’s freedom and necessity, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’ s destiny and will, and an infinite series of subsequent dualities. Romantic theorists also rejected the classical emphasis on the general and the typical, exalting individual poetic insight and expression and the individual work of art organized not according to general rules but according to its own inner dynamic, called “organic unity.”

Although the Romantic theorists rejected the rigid genre distinctions of French neoclassicism, they by no means renounced such concepts as tragedy and comedy. On the contrary, German theorists in particular provided penetrating analyses of tragedy. Despite considerable individual differences, these analyses may be generally divided into two groups according to their attitude toward Romantic dualism. Some theorists, such as Schlegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Friedrich Nietzsche, hypothesized that tragedy could function to bridge the gap between human consciousness and the absolute, or at least to hold these in a creative tension. Others, such as Friedrich Schleiermacher and Arthur Schopenhauer, felt that tragedy’s function was to reveal the unbridgeability of the gap.

Dramatic genre itself was viewed dialectically, so that Hegel and Hugo considered drama as a synthesis, a modern form fusing the earlier objective poetry of the epic with the subjective of the lyric. Such historical orientation is in itself more Romantic than classic, since classicism presumed an aesthetic world of stable values, unaffected by circumstance. This orientation remained central to the realists of the later nineteenth century, though in many other respects they defined themselves in opposition to the Romantics. Analysis of the historical situation of a work fitted in very well with the scientific spirit of early realists such as Hippolyte Taine and Émile Zola and may also be seen in the minor but highly influential comments of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels on historical drama.

Realism turned away from the metaphysical concerns of Romanticism to seek an apparently objective presentation of observed reality. Its familiarity and accessibility were so attractive to nineteenth-century audiences that it became in effect the new classicism, against which a whole series of new, more subjective and abstract Romanticisms would react. The first such reaction was Symbolism, whose participants, rejecting the surface concerns of realism, looked back to the German Romantic tradition and its interest in a hidden deeper reality. Richard Wagner was a key source, in the spirituality of his concerns and in his interest in an artwork synthesizing all means of expression. Symbolism also encouraged, in theorists such as Gordon Craig, the first attempts to establish a theory of theater as an art based on sensual impressions, opposed to drama, a literary art.

The first avant-garde reaction to realism in the twentieth century was futurism, founded by Tommaso Marinetti, a movement that stressed speed, technology, and the rejection of all established forms and works. Despite its anarchic flavor, futurism prepared the way for an important tradition of twentieth-century art, from Dada to contemporary performance art, which stresses the immediate and attempts to deny or subvert normal discursive language and even representation and theatricality itself.

In the early twentieth century, most theorists approached drama in a much less radical way. Despite inevitable overlap and blending, one might consider their work as of three general types—social, metaphysical, and formal. The theorists interested in the political, social, or economic background of the drama or dramatist usually favored realism and included such champions of the didactic drama as George Bernard Shaw. This orientation owed much to Marx and the tradition of the Russian civic critics as well as to the positivists such as Taine, who stressed the importance of a work’s historical situation. The metaphysical or aesthetic theorists, like the Symbolists, saw the drama as a means of contacting a normally hidden deeper reality. The theories of C. G. Jung and Sigmund Freud provided new inspiration for such theory, and the unconscious or subconscious assumed a theoretical position similar to the Romantic Dionysian or Geist.

The conflict between social and metaphysical theory, in various guises, has fueled much debate in dramatic theory of the twentieth century. Early surrealism was clearly metaphysical in orientation, inspiring Artaud, whose rejection of discursive language echoes certain Symbolist concerns and whose quest for the turbulent heart of existence recalls German Romanticism. The early German expressionists also felt that drama could reveal the hidden side of the human psyche, though expressionists also became concerned with politics and society, unquestionably influencing both the theory and the practice of Bertolt Brecht, the century’s best-known representative of social theory. Brecht situated his “epic” theater in opposition to the “dramatic” or “Aristotelian” theater, though in fact his more immediate target was the nineteenth-century bourgeois theater, which Brecht, like Wagner and Marx, saw as a commodity serving the apparatus of the existing social structure. Unlike Wagner, however, Brecht called for a drama whose elements were not blended but disjunctive, presenting reality as unpredictable and thus alterable.

A third approach, formal criticism, dates back to Aristotle, but it received new impetus in the late nineteenth century, when scientific analysis was applied not only to playwriting by naturalists such as Zola but to play analysis by theorists such as Gustav Freytag, who sought to discover the “rules” of dramatic structure by empirical analysis of the great dramas. Structural and social theories of drama have until very recently almost totally dominated dramatic theory in England and America, where Anglo-Saxon pragmatism and empiricism have tended to discourage metaphysical speculation. Perhaps the two most influential theoretical schools in America in the mid-twentieth century, n ew c r it ic ism and the neo-Aristotelian Chicago critics , consciously excluded from the analyses of drama both social circumstances and metaphysics.

Thus it is not surprising that modern American and English critics have devoted particular attention to such formal matters as analysis of traditional dramatic genres, particularly tragedy. Although such European theorists as György Lukács and Walter Benjamin produced major works discussing the disappearance of tragedy in modem times, they were particularly concerned with exploring the social and metaphysical backgrounds of this phenomenon. Something of their sense of modem alienation may be found in Joseph Wood Krutch’s and George Steiner’s pronouncements of the death of this genre, but most of the many English-language articles and books in the mid-twentieth century dealing with tragedy dealt with the genre largely on formal terms. More recently, similar but less extensive attention has been accorded the mixed form of the dark, grotesque, or tragic comedy, thought by many to be a more appropriate vehicle for expressing the modern human condition.

During the 1950s and 1960s new support appeared for each of these critical orientations. Eugène Ionesco and other leaders of a new experimental theater in France provided both drama and theory that was metaphysical in orientation. The political unrest in the latter part of this period, with the rising black consciousness in America, stimulated a new interest in socially and politically engaged theory. Finally, also in the late 1960s, Roland Barthes and Umberto Eco wrote seminal essays reviving an interest in the application of semiotic analysis to drama and theater, a project begun in Prague in the 1930s but little developed after that decade.

During the 1970s semiotic theorists explored the signifying dynamics of dramatic and stage texts, but subsequently Marco de Marinis, André Helbo, and others moved from an interest in the production of signs to a concern with their reception and processing, thus approaching the interests of Rezeptionsaesthetik (see Reception Theory ). At the same time, semiotic analysis itself was challenged by phenomenological theorists and related theorists of performance such as Bert States and Richard Foreman, who suggested that semiotics, with its assumption of an absent signified, ignored or gave inadequate attention to the fact of presence in theater. Poststructuralist theorists such as Herbert Blau or Jean-François Lyotard have also attempted to qualify or dismantle the structuralist/semiotic enterprise by emphasizing the displacement, the disjunctures, and the libidinal flows that work against the structural codification of texts, an enterprise aided by the neo-Freudian theories of Jacques Lacan.

During the 1980s other, more directly ideological methodologies also gained prominence. Although extremely varied in the work of individual theorists, these approaches have been generally grouped under three headings: British cultural materialism ; its close cousin American New Historicism; and the very broad international field of Feminist theory and criticism . The term and the general approach of cultural materialism comes from the later work of Raymond Williams , who has applied a basically Marxist study of social dynamics to a wide range of cultural phenomena, including the drama. The American New Historicists, led by Stephen Greenblatt, have been influenced more by the French poststructuralists and by Michel Foucault, leading them to give particular attention to concerns of power, authority, and subversion at work in the originary conditions of dramatic texts. Feminist theory has been far more diverse than cultural materialism or New Historicism , but in drama three major approaches have been often proposed: liberal, seeking to give women, past and present, opportunity to be judged fairly by the same artistic standards as men; radical, seeking a feminist counteraesthetic, with its own standards; and materialist, exploring the sociocultural dynamic that establishes and directs gender conditions in general. Closely related to the second of these has been the work of certain French feminists, such as Hé l è n e c ix o u s , who has sought a feminist writing that in its playfulness and avoidance of closure has much in common with the concerns of poststructuralism. Clearly, Marxist, psychoanalytic, and poststructuralist concerns, all major forces in contemporary theory, have each contributed importantly to the heteroglossia of contemporary feminist theory.

Bibliography Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and Its Double (1938, trans. M. C. Richards, 1958); Roland Barthes, Essais critiques (1964, Critical Essays, trans. Richard Howard, 1972); Walter Benjamin, Der Ursprungdes deutschen Trauerspiels (1928, ed. Rolf Tiedemann, 1963, The Origin of German Tragic Drama, trans. John Osborne, 1977); Herbert Blau, The Eye of Prey (1987); Bertolt Brecht, Schriften zum Theater (1957, Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic, ed. and trans. John Willett, 1964); Sue-Ellen Case, Feminism and Theatre (1988); Lodovico Castelvetro, Poetica d’Aristotele vulgarizzata esposta (2 vols., 1978-79); Hélène Cixous, “Aller à la mer” (1977, trans. Barbara Kerslake, Modern Drama 27 [1984]); John Dennis, Critical Works (ed. Edward Niles Hooker, 2 vols., 1939-43); Denis Diderot, Diderot’s Writings on the Theatre (ed. F. C. Green, 1978); Umberto Eco, “Semiotics of Theatrical Performance,” The Drama Review 21 (1977); Erika Fischer-Lichte, The Semiotics of Theater (trans. Jeremy Gaines and Doris L. Jones, 1992); Gustav Freytag, Technique of the Drama (1863, ed. Elias J. MacEwan, 1896); Stephen J. Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare (1980); Victor Hugo, Dramas (trans. I. G. Burnham, 10 vols., 1895-96); Eugène Ionesco, Notes and Counter-notes (1962, trans. Donald Watson, 1964); Georg Lukács, “The Sociology of Modern Drama” (1909, abr. trans. Lee Baxandell, Tulane Drama Review 9 [1965]); Jean-François Lyotard, “Le Dent, la paume,” Les Dispotifs pulsionnels (1973); August W. Schlegel, Ober dramatische Kunst und Litteratur (2 vols., 1809-11, A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature, 1817, trans. John Black, rev. A. J. W. Morrison, 1846); George Bernard Shaw, Shaw on Theatre (ed. E. J. West, 1958); Richard Wagner, Prose Works (trans. William Ashton Ellis, 8 vols., 1893-99); Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature (1978). Marvin Carlson, Theories of the Theatre (1984); Barrett Clark, European Theories of the Drama (1965); Bernard F. Dukore, Dramatic Theory and Criticism: Greeks to Grotowski (1974). Source: Groden, Michael, and Martin Kreiswirth. The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

Share this:

Categories: Drama Criticism

Tags: Aristotle's Theory of Drama , Drama Theory , History of Drama , Literary Criticism , Literary Theory , Theatre Studies , Theatre Theory , Theory of Drama

Related Articles

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Poetic Drama in the Yuan Dynasty

• First Online: 27 October 2023

Cite this chapter

• Li Fang 3  

91 Accesses

In Study on the Opera in the Song and Yuan Dynasties (Song Yuan Xi Qu Kao) , Wang Guowei wrote, “Each dynasty has its own literature: lisao in the State of Chu, fu in the Han Dynasty, parallel verses in the Six Dynasties, poetry in the Tang Dynasty, ci in the Song Dynasty and opera in the Yuan Dynasty. All of the them were representative literature in a dynasty and could not be reproduced by later generations”.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Durable hardcover edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Institute of Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Li Fang .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations, rights and permissions.

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 China Social Sciences Press

About this chapter

Fang, L. (2024). Poetic Drama in the Yuan Dynasty. In: Liu, Y. (eds) Concise Reader of Chinese Literature History. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5814-6_25

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5814-6_25

Published : 27 October 2023

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

Print ISBN : 978-981-99-5813-9

Online ISBN : 978-981-99-5814-6

eBook Packages : Literature, Cultural and Media Studies Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Valhalla Golf Club defined over years by Tiger Woods, playoffs, drama in signature events

When the words "Valhalla Golf Club" are mentioned, the first image that likely comes to mind is Tiger Woods pointing at the ball and walking after it as the ball rolled toward the cup on the 16th green in the middle of a playoff with Bob May . That iconic moment — among the many Woods has conjured up during his illustrious career — occurred during the 2000 PGA Championship .

It's far from the only memorable instance at the course.

And far from the only notable tournament the course has held.

Here's a look at previous high-profile events Valhalla has hosted:

1996 PGA Championship

Ten years after Valhalla opened — thanks to the vision of the Gahms, the course's founding family — it finally had its first signature tournament. And what remains the signature win of Mark Brooks ' golfing career.

But it nearly was a storybook ending for the course, and the Bluegrass State: Kenny Perry , a Kentuckian, shot a 4-under-par 68 to end at 11 under for 72 holes. That earned him a spot in a sudden-death playoff with Brooks. On the first playoff hole, however, Perry's tee shot went into the rough.

Brooks, who had birdied the 18th hole to force the playoff with Perry, birdied the 18th again to ruin Perry's dreams — and likely those of many in attendance that August day — of winning a major in his home state.

It was the only major victory for Brooks, who won seven times on the PGA Tour and is a member of the Texas Golf Hall of Fame .

Perry, an Elizabethtown native who played at  Western Kentucky , had 14 wins on the PGA Tour — but a major wasn't among them. He had two other top fives in addition to the 1996 PGA playoff loss; Perry had a share of the 54-hole lead at the 2009 Masters but fell in a sudden-death playoff to Ángel Cabrera .

Since joining the Champions Tour , Perry has won four major championships on the senior circuit.

2000 PGA Championship

Woods entered the 2000 PGA as the undisputed No. 1 player in golf.

May had never won a PGA Tour event.

Their vastly different résumés meant nothing during the final round of what then still was known as "Glory's Last Shot." Woods, who already had the U.S. Open and Open Championship titles to his name that year (winning those two by a combined 23 strokes), had to birdie his final two holes in regulation to force a playoff with May.

The three-hole aggregate playoff — the first year of the format, switching from sudden death — delivered drama in spades.

It started with the aforementioned birdie putt from Woods on the 16th.

The pair each made par on the next hole, the 17th. On the final hole, No. 18, May's birdie putt barely slid by the cup. Woods was able to save par after hitting into a greenside bunker, becoming the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 with three major victories in a calendar year.

Woods went on to capture the 2001 Masters to complete the "Tiger Slam" and become the first player in the professional era of golf (beginning with the formation of the Masters in 1934) to hold all four major championships at once.

2004 Senior PGA Championship

In a rain-delayed Senior PGA Championship that ended on a Monday, Hale Irwin birdied the 18th hole to beat Jay Haas by one stroke. It was Irwin's fourth Senior PGA Championship ; only the legendary Sam Snead (six) won more. It also was Irwin's 40th win on the senior tour, becoming the first player to reach that figure. (His 45 victories on the senior tour remained the standard until last year, when Bernhard Langer bagged No. 46 ).

Irwin, who led after each round of the 2004 Senior PGA, was 58 at the time of his win, making him the oldest victor of the event since 61-year-old Pete Cooper in 1976 .

2008 Ryder Cup

Things couldn't have been much bleaker for the U.S. team entering the 2008 Ryder Cup . For the first time in the history of the biennial event, Team Europe had brought home the cup three consecutive meetings. And the Americans were without the world's top player, Woods, who sat out while recovering from knee surgery .

But thanks to U.S. captain Paul Azinger , the Americans didn't taste defeat a fourth straight time.

Unlike previous men in his position, Azinger had four captain's picks at his disposal instead of two. And he created a pod system for his team, with the 12 players divided into groups of three based on style of play and personality.

Azinger's unconventional approach paid off: The U.S. ended the morning session of the opening day ahead 3-1 and up 5 ½ to 2 ½ when the afternoon matches wrapped up. By the close of Day 2, the U.S. led 9-7.

The red, white and blue ended Europe's run of success in the event on the third and final day, taking a 16 ½ to 11 ½ victory on their home soil. Perry and fellow Kentuckian J.B. Holmes were members of the triumphant squad.

Jim Furyk 's 2 & 1 win over Miguel Ángel Jiménez provided the clinching point for the U.S. team.

2011 Senior PGA Championship

In yet another tournament at Valhalla decided after 72 holes were in the books, all-time great Tom Watson birdied the first playoff hole to edge David Eger . Both players had opportunities to win in regulation, but neither could sink their respective birdie putts on the 18th.

The lead swapped hands throughout the final day, with four players — Eger, Irwin, Watson and Kiyoshi Murota , who had a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds and placed solo third, just one shot out of the playoff — taking turns at the top.

With the victory, Watson set a (since-broken) record as the oldest player (61) to win a major since the senior tour was founded in 1980.

2014 PGA Championship

At the time Rory McIlroy tapped in his putt on the 72nd hole of the 2014 PGA Championship, it appeared the golf world had its most dominant player since Woods in his prime. It was McIlroy's third win in as many starts , which also included the Open Championship and a World Golf Championship . His Valhalla conquest was his second PGA Championship in three years, giving McIlroy four major titles at just 25 years old; the only others who had accomplished that feat were three of the game's biggest names in Woods, Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus .

But since that victory, despite oh-so-many close calls , McIlroy has yet to win another major championship.

And on that day nearly a decade ago, as he raced to beat the darkness , McIlroy had to earn it.

McIlroy held off charges from Phil Mickelson (who shot a final-round 66, two strokes better than McIlroy) and Rickie Fowler (who tied for fifth or better in all four majors that year without a win ). Those three, as well as Henrik Stenson , had at least a share of the lead on the back nine during the final round.

A 10-foot birdie putt on 17 extended McIlroy's lead to two shots with one hole to play, but then controversy ensued: He hit his tee shot on the 18th while the pairing ahead, Fowler and Mickelson, still were in the fairway. Neither Fowler nor Mickelson could match McIlroy at 16 under.

As dusk set in, the Northern Irishman cemented his status as the world's top-ranked golfer.

"I think I showed a lot of guts out there to get the job done," McIlroy said after the win. "Today wasn't easy. The guys came at me pretty quickly. I was waiting for something to click."

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons
• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

1.10: Literature (including fiction, drama, poetry, and prose)

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 205491

• Lori-Beth Larsen
• Central Lakes College

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)

\( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)

\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)

( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)

\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)

\( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\)

\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)

\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\)

\( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)

\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\)

\( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)

\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\)

\( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)

\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorA}[1]{\vec{#1}}      % arrow\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorAt}[1]{\vec{\text{#1}}}      % arrow\)

\( \newcommand{\vectorB}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorC}[1]{\textbf{#1}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorD}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectorDt}[1]{\overrightarrow{\text{#1}}} \)

\( \newcommand{\vectE}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{\mathbf {#1}}}} \)

Essential Questions for Literature

• How is literature like life?
• What is literature supposed to do?
• What influences a writer to create?
• How does literature reveal the values of a given culture or time period?
• How does the study of fiction and nonfiction texts help individuals construct their understanding of reality?
• In what ways are all narratives influenced by bias and perspective?
• Where does the meaning of a text reside? Within the text, within the reader, or in the transaction that occurs between them?
• What can a reader know about an author’s intentions based only on a reading of the text?
• What are enduring questions and conflicts that writers (and their cultures) grappled with hundreds of years ago and are still relevant today?
• How do we gauge the optimism or pessimism of a particular time period or particular group of writers?
• Why are there universal themes in literature–that is, themes that are of interest or concern to all cultures and societies?
• What are the characteristics or elements that cause a piece of literature to endure?
• What is the purpose of: science fiction? satire? historical novels, etc.?
• How do novels, short stories, poetry, etc. relate to the larger questions of philosophy and humanity?
• How we can use literature to explain or clarify our own ideas about the world?
• How does what we know about the world shape the stories we tell?
• How do the stories we tell about the world shape the way we view ourselves?
• How do our personal experiences shape our view of others?
• What does it mean to be an insider or an outsider?
• Are there universal themes in literature that are of interest or concern to all cultures and societies?
• What is creativity and what is its importance for the individual / the culture?
• What are the limits, if any, of freedom of speech?

Defining Literature

Literature, in its broadest sense, is any written work. Etymologically, the term derives from Latin litaritura / litteratura “writing formed with letters,” although some definitions include spoken or sung texts. More restrictively, it is writing that possesses literary merit. Literature can be classified according to whether it is fiction or non-fiction and whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major forms such as the novel, short story or drama, and works are often categorized according to historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations (genre).

Taken to mean only written works, literature was first produced by some of the world’s earliest civilizations—those of Ancient Egypt and Sumeria—as early as the 4th millennium BC; taken to include spoken or sung texts, it originated even earlier, and some of the first written works may have been based on a pre-existing oral tradition. As urban cultures and societies developed, there was a proliferation in the forms of literature. Developments in print technology allowed for literature to be distributed and experienced on an unprecedented scale, which has culminated in the twenty-first century in electronic literature.

Definitions of literature have varied over time. In Western Europe prior to the eighteenth century, literature as a term indicated all books and writing. [1] A more restricted sense of the term emerged during the Romantic period, in which it began to demarcate “imaginative” literature. [2]

Contemporary debates over what constitutes literature can be seen as returning to the older, more inclusive notion of what constitutes literature. Cultural studies, for instance, takes as its subject of analysis both popular and minority genres, in addition to canonical works. [3]

Major Forms

A calligram by Guillaume Apollinaire. These are a type of poem in which the written words are arranged in such a way to produce a visual image.

Poetry is a form of literary art that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, prosaic ostensible meaning (ordinary intended meaning). Poetry has traditionally been distinguished from prose by its being set in verse; [4] prose is cast in sentences, poetry in lines; the syntax of prose is dictated by meaning, whereas that of poetry is held across metre or the visual aspects of the poem. [5]

Prior to the nineteenth century, poetry was commonly understood to be something set in metrical lines; accordingly, in 1658 a definition of poetry is “any kind of subject consisting of Rythm or Verses”. [6] Possibly as a result of Aristotle’s influence (his Poetics ), “poetry” before the nineteenth century was usually less a technical designation for verse than a normative category of fictive or rhetorical art. [7] As a form it may pre-date literacy, with the earliest works being composed within and sustained by an oral tradition; [8] hence it constitutes the earliest example of literature.

Prose is a form of language that possesses ordinary syntax and natural speech rather than rhythmic structure; in which regard, along with its measurement in sentences rather than lines, it differs from poetry. [9] On the historical development of prose, Richard Graff notes that ”

Novel : a long fictional prose narrative.

Novella :The novella exists between the novel and short story; the publisher Melville House classifies it as “too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story.” [10]

Short story : a dilemma in defining the “short story” as a literary form is how to, or whether one should, distinguish it from any short narrative. Apart from its distinct size, various theorists have suggested that the short story has a characteristic subject matter or structure; [11] these discussions often position the form in some relation to the novel. [12]

Drama is literature intended for performance. [13]

Listen to this Discussion of the poetry of Harris Khalique . You might want to take a look at the transcript as you listen.

The first half of a 2008 reading featuring four Latino poets, as part of the American Perspectives series at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Listen to poetry reading of Francisco Aragón and Brenda Cárdenas

Listen to this conversation with Allison Hedge Coke, Linda Hogan and Sherwin Bitsui . You might want to look at the transcript as you listen. In this program, we hear a conversation among three Native American poets: Allison Hedge Coke, Linda Hogan and Sherwin Bitsui. Allison Hedge Coke grew up listening to her Father’s traditional stories as she moved from Texas to North Carolina to Canada and the Great Plains. She is the author of several collections of poetry and the memoir, Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer. She has worked as a mentor with Native Americans and at-risk youth, and is currently a Professor of Poetry and Writing at the University of Nebraska, Kearney. Linda Hogan is a prolific poet, novelist and essayist. Her work is imbued with an indigenous sense of history and place, while it explores environmental, feminist and spiritual themes. A former professor at the University of Colorado, she is currently the Chickasaw Nation’s Writer in Residence. She lives in Oklahoma, where she researches and writes about Chickasaw history, mythology and ways of life. Sherwin Bitsui grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. He speaks Dine, the Navajo language and participates in ceremonial activities. His poetry has a sense of the surreal, combining images of the contemporary urban culture, with Native ritual and myth.

Chris Abani : Stories from Africa

In this deeply personal talk, Nigerian writer Chris Abani says that “what we know about how to be who we are” comes from stories. He searches for the heart of Africa through its poems and narrative, including his own.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/introductiontohumanitiesv2/?p=77#oembed-1

Listen to Isabel Allende’s Ted Talk

As a novelist and memoirist, Isabel Allende writes of passionate lives, including her own. Born into a Chilean family with political ties, she went into exile in the United States in the 1970s—an event that, she believes, created her as a writer. Her voice blends sweeping narrative with touches of magical realism; her stories are romantic, in the very best sense of the word. Her novels include The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna and The Stories of Eva Luna, and her latest, Maya’s Notebook and Ripper. And don’t forget her adventure trilogy for young readers— City of the Beasts, Kingdom of the Golden Dragon and Forest of the Pygmies.

As a memoirist, she has written about her vision of her lost Chile, in My Invented Country, and movingly tells the story of her life to her own daughter, in Paula. Her book Aphrodite: A Memoir of the Senses memorably linked two sections of the bookstore that don’t see much crossover: Erotica and Cookbooks. Just as vital is her community work: The Isabel Allende Foundation works with nonprofits in the San Francisco Bay Area and Chile to empower and protect women and girls—understanding that empowering women is the only true route to social and economic justice.

You can read excerpts of her books online here: https://www.isabelallende.com/en/books

Read her musings. Why does she write? https://www.isabelallende.com/en/musings

You might choose to read one of her novels.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/introductiontohumanitiesv2/?p=77#oembed-2

Listen to Novelist Chimamanda Adichie . She speaks about how our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. She tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/introductiontohumanitiesv2/?p=77#oembed-3

One Hundred Years of Solitu de

Gabriel García Márquez’s novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” brought Latin American literature to the forefront of the global imagination and earned García Márquez the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature. What makes the novel so remarkable? Francisco Díez-Buzo investigates.

Gabriel García Márquez was a writer and journalist who recorded the haphazard political history of Latin American life through his fiction. He was a part of a literary movement called the Latin American “boom ,” which included writers like Peru’s Mario Vargas Llosa, Argentina’s Julio Cortázar, and Mexico’s Carlos Fuentes. Almost all of these writers incorporated aspects of magical realism in their work . Later authors, such as Isabel Allende and Salman Rushdie, would carry on and adapt the genre to the cultural and historical experiences of other countries and continents. García Máruqez hadn’t always planned on being a writer, but a pivotal moment in Colombia’s—and Latin America’s—history changed all that. In 1948, when García Márquez was a law student in Bogotá, Jorge Eliécer Gaítan , a prominent radical populist leader of Colombia’s Liberal Party, was assassinated. This happened while the U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall brought together leaders from across the Americas to create the Organization of American States (OAS) and to build a hemisphere-wide effort against communism. In the days after the assassination, massive riots, now called the bogotazo , occurred. The worst Colombian civil war to date, known as La Violencia , also broke out. Another law student, visiting from Cuba, was deeply affected by Eliécer Gaítan’s death. This student’s name was Fidel Castro. Interestingly, García Márquez and Castro—both socialists—would become close friends later on in life , despite not meeting during these tumultuous events. One Hundred Years of Solitude ’s success almost didn’t happen, but this article from Vanity Fair helps explain how a long-simmering idea became an international sensation. When Gabriel García Márquez won the Nobel Prize in 1982, he gave a lecture that helped illuminate the plights that many Latin Americans faced on a daily basis. Since then, that lecture has also helped explain the political and social critiques deeply embedded in his novels. It was famous for being an indigenous overview of how political violence became entrenched in Latin America during the Cold War.In an interview with the New Left Review , he discussed a lot of the inspirations for his work, as well as his political beliefs.

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/introductiontohumanitiesv2/?p=77#h5p-12

Don Quixote

Mounting his skinny steed, Don Quixote charges an army of giants. It is his duty to vanquish these behemoths in the name of his beloved lady, Dulcinea. There’s only one problem: the giants are merely windmills. What is it about this tale of the clumsy yet valiant knight that makes it so beloved? Ilan Stavans investigates.

Interested in exploring the world of Don Quixote ? Check out this translation of the thrill-seeking classic. To learn more about Don Quixote ’s rich cultural history, click here . In this interview , the educator shares his inspiration behind his book Quixote: The Novel and the World . The travails of Don Quixote ’s protagonist were heavily shaped by real-world events in 17th-century Spain. This article provides detailed research on what, exactly, happened during that time.

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/introductiontohumanitiesv2/?p=77#h5p-13

Midnight’s Children

It begins with a countdown. A woman goes into labor as the clock ticks towards midnight. Across India, people wait for the declaration of independence after nearly 200 years of British rule. At the stroke of midnight, an infant and two new nations are born in perfect synchronicity. These events form the foundation of “Midnight’s Children.” Iseult Gillespie explores Salman Rushdie’s dazzling novel.

At the stroke of midnight, the first gasp of a newborn syncs with the birth of two new nations. These simultaneous events are at the center of Midnight’s Children, a dazzling novel about the state of modern India by the British-Indian author Salman Rushdie . You can listen to an interview with Rushdie discussing the novel here . The chosen baby is Saleem Sinai, who narrates the novel from a pickle factory in 1977. As this article argues, much of the beauty of the narrative lies in Rushdie’s ability to weave the personal into the political in surprising ways. Saleem’s narrative leaps back in time, to trace his family history from 1915 on. The family tree is blossoming with bizarre scenes, including clandestine courtships, babies swapped at birth, and cryptic prophecies. For a detailed interactive timeline of the historical and personal events threaded through the novel, click here . However, there’s one trait that can’t be explained by genes alone – Saleem has magic powers, and they’re somehow related to the time of his birth. For an overview of the use of magical realism and astonishing powers in Mignight’s Children, click here. Saleem recounts a new nation, flourishing and founding after almost a century of British rule. For more information on the dark history of British occupation of India, visit this page. The vast historical frame is one reason why Midnight’s Children is considered one of the most illuminating works of postcolonial literature ever written. This genre typically addresses life in formerly colonized countries, and explores the fallout through themes like revolution, migration, and identity. Postcolonial literature also deals with the search for agency and authenticity in the wake of imposed foreign rule. Midnight’s Children reflects these concerns with its explosive combination of Eastern and Western references. On the one hand, it’s been compared to the sprawling novels of Charles Dickens or George Elliot, which also offer a panoramic vision of society paired with tales of personal development. But Rushdie radically disrupts this formula by adding Indian cultural references, magic and myth. Saleem writes the story by night, and narrates it back to his love interest, Padma. This echoes the frame for 1001 Nights , a collection of Middle Eastern folktales told by Scheherazade every night to her lover – and as Saleem reminds us, 1001 is “the number of night, of magic, of alternative realities.” Saleem spends a lot of the novel attempting to account for the unexpected. But he often gets thoroughly distracted and goes on astonishing tangents, telling dirty jokes or mocking his enemies. With his own powers of telepathy, Saleem forges connections between other children of midnight; including a boy who can step through time and mirrors, and a child who changes their gender when immersed in water. There’s other flashes of magic throughout, from a mother who can see into dreams to witchdoctors, shapeshifters, and many more. For an overview of the dazzling reference points of the novel, visit this page . Sometimes, all this is like reading a rollercoaster: Saleem sometimes narrates separate events all at once, refers to himself in the first and third person in the space of a single sentence, or uses different names for one person. And Padma is always interrupting, urging him to get to the point or exclaiming at his story’s twists and turns. This mind-bending approach has garnered continuing fascination and praise. Not only did Midnight’s Children win the prestigious Man Booker prize in its year of publication, but it was named the best of all the winners in 2008 . For an interview about Rushdie’s outlook and processed, click here. All this gives the narrative a breathless quality, and brings to life an entire society surging through political upheaval without losing sight of the marvels of individual lives. But even as he depicts the cosmological consequences of a single life, Rushdie questions the idea that we can ever condense history into a single narrative.

Tom Elemas : The Inspiring Truth in Fiction

What do we lose by choosing non-fiction over fiction? For Tomas Elemans, there’s an important side effect of reading fiction: empathy — a possible antidote to a desensitized world filled with tragic news and headlines.

What is empathy? How does story-telling create empathy? What stories trigger empathy in you? What is narrative immersion? Are we experiencing an age of narcissism? What might be some examples of narcissism? What connection does Tom Elemans make to individualism?

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/introductiontohumanitiesv2/?p=77#oembed-4

Ann Morgan: My year reading a book from every country in the world

Ann Morgan considered herself well read — until she discovered the “massive blindspot” on her bookshelf. Amid a multitude of English and American authors, there were very few books from beyond the English-speaking world. So she set an ambitious goal: to read one book from every country in the world over the course of a year. Now she’s urging other Anglophiles to read translated works so that publishers will work harder to bring foreign literary gems back to their shores. Explore interactive maps of her reading journey here: go.ted.com/readtheworld

Check out her blog: A year of reading the world where you can find a complete list of the books I read, and what I learned along the way.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/introductiontohumanitiesv2/?p=77#oembed-5

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://minnstate.pressbooks.pub/introductiontohumanitiesv2/?p=77#h5p-15

Recommended

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to copy URL

Danielle Cabral reveals she recorded techno song inspired by ‘RHONJ’ Season 14 drama

• View Author Archive
• Follow on Twitter
• Get author RSS feed

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

Danielle Cabral is adding her voice to the chorus of part-time pop stars in the Bravoverse.

The “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star, 38, exclusively reveals on Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast that she recently recorded a song inspired by the drama she endured during production for Season 14 of the unscripted series.

“It’s a techno song. I can’t even believe I’m saying it! But it was so fun. It was really a good time,” Cabral enthuses, adding that her second season as a “Housewife” helped her procure the lyrics for the as-yet-untitled tune.

“Anybody can really rock to it,” she says, emphasizing that the track is not directed at any of her castmates in particular. “It’s kind of like, ‘Watch me, when you see me, you’re gonna know I’m good’ type of thing.”

Cabral — who wore a floral Alice + Olivia bandeau top ($250) during her visit to our studio — cut the song last week but has yet to hear the final mix.

“I haven’t even heard it. They’re mixing it right now, so I have not even really fully heard it,” she says, though she is confident that the final product will be a summer “anthem.”

Stay one step ahead with all the exclusive tea on your favorite reality TV stars!

Sign up for Virtual Reali-Tea with Danny and Evan, our must-read newsletter!

Thank for signing up!

Please provide a valid email address.

By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .

Want more celebrity and pop culture news?

The Boujie Kidz founder is following in the musical footsteps of her friend and co-star Melissa Gorga, who released her iconic jam “On Display” in 2011.

“I could only [hope] to be as successful as Miss Gorga and her songs!” Cabral says, acknowledging other gems in Gorga’s discography, including “I Just Wanna,” “Rockstar” and “How Many Times.”

The new recording artist adds, “I am learning from the best!”

Cabral’s experience on the current installment of “RHONJ,” which premiered May 5, was full of ups and downs.

While her once-close bond with Jennifer Aydin crumbled on camera, a friendship with former foe Rachel Fuda flourished .

“We just said, ‘OK, let’s start from the ground up again,’ and it’s nice. We have a great friendship, and the things that annoyed me or, like, really turn me off about her last year, it’s endearing this year,” Cabral says of Fuda, 32. “We say, like, we’re fire and ice.”

As for Aydin, 47, Cabral is more than happy to have put their relationship to rest.

“I was like, ‘Wow, this is who you are. This is who I was friends with?’” she remembers asking herself after the women got into an explosive fight during filming.

“And, it’s it’s a real emotional moment for me. And sometimes I can’t hold it in. And in that particular case, I did not.”

“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Share this article:

Advertisement