literary and dramatic elements
DESCRIPTION
Literary and Dramatic Elements. Definitions and Examples in Romeo and Juliet. What is drama?. A story that is written to be acted for an aidience Elements include exposition, complications (rising action), climax, and resolution. What is tragedy?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
What is drama?O A story that is written to be acted
for an aidienceO Elements include exposition,
complications (rising action), climax, and resolution
What is tragedy?O A play that depicts serious and
important events in which the main character(s) comes to an unhappy end
O The character’s downfall may be caused by a character flaw or by forces that are beyond human control
What is exposition?O The beginning part of a plot that
gives information about the characters and their problems or conflicts
O How the playwright lets us know what is going on in the story
What is scene design?O Sets, lights, costumes, props, all of
which bring a play to life on stageO Furnishings and scenery that
suggest the time and place of the action
What is meter?O The regular patter of stressed and
unstressed syllables in poetryO Meter provides the rhythm of a line
What is iambic pentameter?
O Line of poetry that contains five iambs
O Iambs are units of measure with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
O In Shakespeare, the main characters often speak in poetry and use iambic pentameter, with the “common” people speaking prose
What is blank verse?O Poetry written in unrhymed iambic
pentameterO Most of Shakespeare’s plays use
blank verse, especially when the main characters are speaking
O Contrast to prose
What is a soliloquy?O A long speech in which a character
who is onstage alone expresses his or her thoughts aloud
O The audience overhears the character’s private thoughts
O Contrast to a monologue, which is any extended speech by one person, often expressed to another person
What is an aside?O Words that are spoken by a
character in a play to the audience or to another character but that are not supposed to be heard by the others on the stage
O Often noted through stage directions (italics on text of play)
What is dialogue?O The conversation between
characters in a story or a playO Helps audience learn about the
characters and move the plot forward
What is a couplet?O Two consecutive lines of poetry that
rhymeO Shakespeare often uses couplets to
end important speeches or a scene (signal to audience)
What is dramatic irony?
O When the audience knows something important that a character does not know