 Short Stories: June 15, 2022 Issue [#11403] |
This week: Types of Drama Edited by: Lilli 🧿 ☕  
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“It is always pleasant to divulge a secret under dramatic circumstances.”
― Thomas Burnett Swann, Day of the Minotaur |
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 What_is_Drama?
Drama is a unique and distinctive genre of literature.
The Four Types of Drama:
There are four main forms of drama. They are comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, and melodrama.
All these types have the common characteristics of the drama genre; which are, plot, characters, conflict, and dialogue.
Comedy:
Comedy is a type of drama that aims to make the reader laugh. Its tone is light, and it mostly has a happy ending. Such tradition came from the Ancient Greek theatre, where comedy first emerged as a form of drama. We could further divide comedy into subcategories, for example, dramatic irony, farce, sarcasm, black comedy, etc. Each type of comedy has its own audience. Interestingly, such preferences may also depend on the cultural background of people.
Tragedy:
Murders, deaths, insanity, and pain are among the most common ideas in tragedies. Main characters usually have some kind of weakness or defect that causes their downfall.
Tragedy first appeared in the theatre of Ancient Greece. Like comedy, it lived through the Roman Empire, Medieval times, Renaissance and other eras. Aristotle believed that the dominant characteristic of tragedy was the change of fortunes of the main character because of his flaws. The philosopher also believed that such drama had to implant a feeling of fear and pity in the audience.
As drama evolved, more modern writers thought that depicting the downfall of a common person will cause readers to feel greater emotions as it will relate more to a character of their own social status.
Tragicomedy:
Tragicomedy is a special type of drama that combines the features of tragedy and comedy. It means that such stories may be sad but will have a happy ending, or it may be serious with some elements of humor emerging throughout the story.
Unlike comedy and tragedy, tragicomedy emerged a bit later in the times of the Roman Empire. Roman dramatist Plautus was the first to write a tragicomedy and to use the term. In his play, Amphitryon, he used the lightheartedness of comedy but chose gods and kings as the main characters. This was quite revolutionary of him.
Before Plautus, there were strict rules about writing drama. It was either comedy or tragedy. These genres were never mixed. Plautus was the first to note that in our daily lives, we have features of both tragedy and comedy. Therefore, drama also can combine them both.
Melodrama:
Melodrama is the last one of the four types of drama. It is a kind of drama in which we hyperbolize everything. Usually, themes depicted in melodramas are simple and with no predictable plot twists. There are quite a lot of stereotypes in such dramas. However, the main point of a melodrama is not to tell a story but to awaken feelings in the audience. They mostly love stories with beautiful heroines, charming heroes, and scary villains.
Melodrama originated much later than comedy, tragedy, and tragicomedy. It first appeared in France at the end of the 18th century. Later, it reached Britain and became one of the most popular types of drama in the 19th century. Melodrama was aimed at ‘common people’. With this layer of society, in particular, it became immensely popular.
Now that we learned a bit about the types of drama, let's have a quick chat about the elements of drama.
 Theme:
The theme of a story refers to its central idea. It can either be clearly stated through dialogue or action. The theme is the philosophy that forms the base of the story or a moral lesson that the characters learn. A theme, in simple terms, is what the story is about. It is the message or lesson that the writer wants the reader to learn. For example, the story could be about how unforgiveness destroys relationships or how love can bring people together regardless of their race or background.
Plot:
In simple terms, a plot is the chain of events in a story. It is the sequence of events in the story. The plot usually begins with exposing the past or background of the main and other characters, and the point of conflict then proceeds to give the central theme or climax. Generally, a story begins with exposing the past or background of the main and other characters, and the point of conflict, then it proceeds to give the central theme or climax. Then comes the climax and the play ends with a conclusion.
Characters:
The main characters of any story are the protagonist and the antagonist. Characters include people, animals, or figures represented in a literary work. Depending on character development, a character can be either dynamic, static, round, or flat.
Dialogue:
The story is narrated to the reader through the interaction between the characters. The contents of the dialogue have a major role to play in the impact that the story has on the reader. It is through the dialogue between characters that the story can be understood. Dialogue also helps to reveal the personalities of the characters and helps the audience understand the characters more. Monologues and soliloquies are also as important as dialogues in a story.
Setting:
The time and place where a story is set in one of its important parts. The era of time in which the incidents in the story take place is equally important.
Apart from the major elements listed above, the structure of a story, the use of symbolism and contrast are some of the other important elements necessary for any good drama. |
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