Thursday, January 3, 2013

WHAT IS DRAMA AND ELEMENTS OF DRAMA IN LITERATURE

DRAMA AS A LITERARY GENRE


I.                   Introduction

In this unit, you will learn some definitions of drama. You will understand that all actions are not drama. You will be able to distinguish between drama and ordinary activity. You will see that both government and other agencies use drama to educate the people, disseminate information or to mobilize them to accept or reject any concept, action or program. Most of you relax with dramatic presentations either in the theatre or in your houses as you watch home videos, soap operas or films. As you watch these presentations, you will be able to learn one thing or the other while you are being entertained. This explains why drama is regarded as the mother of all arts, as it is used to inform, educate and entertain the people. 


II.                Objective
 At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
· Identify drama as a genre of literature
· Define drama
· Explain when an action could be regarded as drama
· State the basic elements of drama

III.             Main Content
3.1 Drama as a Genre of Literature
 What is Literature?

Literature springs from our inborn love of telling a story, of arranging words in pleasing patterns, of expressing in words some special aspect of our human experience. It is usually set down in printed characters for us to read, though some forms of it are performed on certain social occasions. There are a number of different branches such as drama, poetry, the novel, the short story; all these are works of the imagination arising from man’s capacity for invention. The primary aim of literature is to give pleasure, to entertain those who voluntarily attend to it. There are, of course, many different ways of giving pleasure or entertainment, ranging from the most philosophical and profound. It is important to note that the writer of literature is not tied to fact in quite the same way as the historian, the economist or the scientist, whose studies are absolutely based on what has actually happened, or on what actually does happen, in the world of reality.

Why is Literature Important?
We soon discover, however that the literature which entertains us best does not keep us for long in the other-world of fantasy or unreality. The greatest pleasure and satisfaction to be found in literature occurs where (as it so often does) it brings us back to the realities of human situations, problems, feelings and relationships. The writers of literature, being less tied to fact than the historian or the scientist, have more scope to comment on the facts, to arrange them in unusual ways to speculate not only on what is, but on what ought to be, or what might be. Writers are sometimes, therefore people with visionary or prophetic insights into human life.
Literature is an imaginative art which expresses thoughts and feelings of the artist on events around him. In most cases, it deals with life experiences. The author/artist uses words in a powerful, effective and captivating manner to paint his picture of human experience. Literature is a form of recreation. The three genres of literature are fiction, drama and poetry. You have seen that drama is a genre of literature. A person who writes a novel is called a novelist, the person who writes a play is a playwright while the poet writes poetry. All of us who read literature will find our knowledge of human affairs broadened and deepened, whether in the individual, the social, the racial or the international sphere; we shall understand the possibilities of human life, both for good and evil; we shall understand how we came to live at a particular time and place, with all its pleasures and vexations and problems; and we shall perhaps be able to make right rather than wrong choices. Literature can be in written or oral form. It could also be presented in form of performance.

3.2  What is Drama

Drama as a literary genre is realized in performance, which is why Robert Di Yanni (quoted in Dukore) describes it as “staged art” (867). As a literary form, it is designed for the theatre because characters are assigned roles and they act out their roles as the action is enacted on stage. These characters can be human beings, dead or spiritual beings, animals, or abstract qualities. Drama is an adaptation, recreation and reflection of reality on stage. Generally, the word, dramatist is used for any artist who is involved in any dramatic composition either in writing or in performance.
Drama is different from other genres of literature. It has unique characteristics that have come about in response to its peculiar nature. Really, it is difficult to separate drama from performance because during the stage performance of a play, drama brings life experiences realistically to the audience. It is the most concrete of all genres of literature. When you are reading a novel, you read a story as told by the novelist. The poem’s message in most cases is not direct because it is presented in a compact form or in a condensed language. The playwright does not tell the story instead you get the story as the characters interact and live out their experiences on stage. In drama, the characters/actors talk to themselves and react to issues according to the impulse of the moment. Drama is therefore presented in dialogue.
The dramatic is used for any situation or action which creates a sense of an abnormality or the unexpected. Sometimes we use it to describe an action that is demonstrated or exaggerated. For instance, if you are at a bus stop, a well-dressed young girl passes and cat-walks across the road, her high-healed shoes breaks and she slips, the immediate reaction will be laughter from almost everybody there. For some people, this is drama. Although she was walking in an abnormal way and unexpectedly her shoe breaks, her action could be called dramatic but it is not dramatic action. Again, the action of a teacher who demonstrates, by injecting life into his teaching as he acts out certain situations, is dramatic but it is not drama.
What then is drama? Drama is an imitation of life. Drama is different from other forms of literature because of its unique characteristics. It is read, but basically, it is composed to be performed, so the ultimate aim of dramatic composition is for it to be presented on stage before an audience. This implies that it a medium of communication. It has a message to communicate to the audience. It uses actors to convey this message. This brings us to the issue of mimesis or imitation. We say that drama is mimetic which means that it imitates life. You may have heard people say that drama mirrors life. Yes, it is the only branch of literature which tries to imitate life and presents it realistically to the people. It is this mimetic impulse of drama that makes it appeal to people. Drama thrives on action.
The term drama is used at the following three (3) different levels:
1. Performance
2. Composition
3. Branch of Literature.

(1) Performance
Drama is used for plays that are acted on stage or screen. These plays are different from musical performances because they must tell stories which are acted out by actors and actresses. You remember what we said earlier about imitation or re-enactment and impersonation. These actors and actresses must be playing roles by imitating other characters. It means, therefore, that they must assume other people’s personalities by bearing different names, ages, occupation, nationalities, etc. Finally, they must be conscious of themselves as actors by trying hard to pretend that they are the characters they are representing.

(2) Composition
Drama is used to describe a dramatic composition which employs language and pantomime to present a story or series of events intended to be performed. Sometimes, especially with written compositions, they may not be presented on stage but this does not stop it from being drama. In as much as a play is enjoyed more when it is performed, you can still read a play and be entertained by it.
(3) Branch of Literature
Drama is a term used for that branch of literature that covers dramatic composition. You know already that drama is a literary art. The basic difference between drama and other forms of literature (prose and poetry) is that drama is presented in dialogue from the beginning to the end. Any information by the playwright is given in stage- direction. We have dialogue in prose and poetry but they are interjected in the course of the story.
3.3  Reading Plays
Drama, unlike the other literary genres, is a staged art. Plays are written to be performed by actors before an audience. But the plays we wish to see are not always performed.
As a literary genre, drama has affinities with fiction and poetry. Like fiction, drama possesses a narrative dimension: a play often narrates a story in the form of a plot. Like fiction, drama relies on dialogue and description, which takes from of stage directions, lines describing characters, scenes, or actions with clues to production. Unlike fiction, however, in which a narrator often mediates between us and the story, there is usually no such authorial presence in drama. Instead, we hear the words of the characters directly.[1]

a.      The Experience of Drama
When we read a play something happens to us. We experience the play both intellectually and emotionally. This experience involves our feelings about the play’s characters and their situation, and it includes our curiosity about how its dramatic action will work out in the end. At this preliminary stage of reading a play, therefore, we are concerned with our personal and subjective involvement in the play. Instead of immediately asking ourselves what the plays means, we consider what it does to us, how it affects us, and why.[2]

b.      The Interpretation of Drama
When we interpret a play we explain it to ourselves. We make sense of it. Interpretation directs us to more objective considerations than the subjective experience in which we satisfy our personal needs as readers. When we interpret a play, we concern ourselves less with how it affects us and how it makes us feel than with what it means or suggests. Interpretation, in short, aims at understanding; it relies on our intellectual comprehension and rational understanding rather than on our emotional response.
The act of interpret involves essentially four things: observing, connecting, inferring, and concluding. To understand a play, we first need to observeits details. For example, we notice the articles and décor of its stages setting; we watch the actions of its characters; we listen to dialogue and monologue; we absorb the effect of lighting, stage props, and sound effects. As we do this thing, we begin formulating a sense of the play’s situation, focus, and point. We arrive at this formulation, however tentative it may be, largely by making connections among the many details we observe. On the basis of these connections we make inferences or interpretive hypotheses about their significance. Finally, we come to some kind of provisional conclusionabout the play’s meaning based on our observations, connections, and inferences. [3]

c.       The Evaluation of Drama
An evaluation is essentially a judgment, an opinion about a text formulated as a conclusion. We may agree or disagree with the attitude toward law and order expressed by the sergeant. We may accept or reject the man’s claim that the sergeant would really like to support the revolution, and that to turn the man in would be a betrayal. And we may approve or disapprove of the sergeant’s decision to let the man go. However we evaluate these aspects of the plays, we invariably measure them on a scale of our own values.
Evaluating is partly an unconscious process. We are not always aware, except perhaps in vaguely general way, why we respond to something as we do.  We may know that we like or dislike it without bothering much to think about why. We sometimes accept particular ideas, events, experiences, or works of art and reject other almost instinctively, even automatically. Even though part of our evaluation of a play is unconscious, we can make it more deliberate and more fully conscious. We simply need to ask ourselves how we respond to the values the work supports and why we respond as we do. By asking these questions, we should be able to consider our own values more clearly and to discuss more fairly and sensibly why we agree or disagree with the values displayed in the play. [4]

3.4  Types of Drama
Some plays elicit laughter, others evoke tears. Some are comic, others tragic, still others a mixture of both. The comic view celebrates life, and affirms it; it is typically joyous and festive. The tragic view highlights life’s sorrows; it is typically brooding and solemn. Tragic plays end unhappily, often with the death of the hero; comedies usually end happily, often with a celebration such as a marriage. Both comedy and tragedy contain changes of fortunate, with the fortunes of conic characters from good to bad.
The two major dramatic modes, tragedy and comedy, have been represented traditionally by contrasting masks, one sorrowful, the other joyful. Actors once wore such masks. The mask represent more than different types of plays: they also stand for contrasting ways of looking at the world, aptly summarized in Horace Walpoe’s remark, “the world is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel.” That is, when you think about the contradictions in a situation it may seem funny, but when you feel them, it is sad. 
a.      Tragedy
In the Poetics, Aristotle described tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete in it self, and of a certain magnitude.” This definition suggests that tragedies are solemn plays concerned with grave human actions and their consequences. The action of a tragedy is complete-it possesses a beginning, middle, and an end. Elsewhere in the Poetics, Aristotle notes that the incidents of a tragedy must be causally connected. The events have to be logically related, one growing naturally out of another, each leading to the inevitable catastrophe, usually the downfall of the hero.
Some readers of tragedy have suggested that, according to Aristotle, the catastrophe results from a flaw in the character of the hero. Others have contented that the hero’s tragic flaw result from fate or coincidence, from circumstances beyond the hero’s control.
An essential element of the tragic hero’s experience is a recognition of what has happened to him. Frequently this takes the form of the hero discovering something previously unknown or something he knew but misconstrued. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero’s regognition (or discovery) is often allied with a reversal of his expectations.
We may consider why, amid such suffering and catastrophe, tragedies are not depressing. Aristotle suggested that the pity and fear aroued in the audience are purged or released and the audience experiences a cleansing of those emotions and a sense of relief that the action is over. Perhaps tragedy represents for us the ultimate downfall we will experience in death: we watch in fascination and awe a dramatic reminder of our own inevitable mortality. Or perhaps we are exalted in witnessing the high human aspiration and the noble conception of human character embodies in tragic heroes. [5]
b.      Comedy
Some of the same dramatic elements we find in tragedy occur in comedy as well. Discovery scenes and consequent reversals of fortunate, for example, occur in both. So too do misperceptions and errors of judgment, exhibitions of human weakness and failure. But in comedy the reversals and errors lead not to calamity as they do in tragedy, but to prosperity and happiness. Comic heroes are usually ordinary people. Moreover, comic characters are frequently one-dimensional to the extent that many are stereotypes: the ardent young lovers.
The happy endings of comedies are not always happy for all the characters involved. This marks one of the significant differences between the two major types of comedy: satiric and romantic comedy. Though much of what we have said so far about comedy applies to both types, it applies more extensively to romantic than to satiric comedy, or satire. Satire exposes human folly, criticizes human conduct, and aims to correct it.
Romantic comedy on the other hand, portrays characters gently, even generously; its spirit is more tolerant and its tone more genial. Whatever adversities the heroes and heroines of romantic comedy must overcome, the tone is typically devoid of rancor and bitterness. The humor and romantic comedy is more sympathetic than corrective, and it intends more to entertain than instruct, to delight than ridicule. 

3.5  Elements of Drama
The elements of drama include plot, character, dialogue, staging, and theme. Our discussions of each of these elements individually allow us to highlight the characteristic features of drama in a convenient way. We should remember, however, that analysis of any single element of drama should not blind us to its function in conjunction with other dialogue; character is expressed through dialogue and staging; and so on.
a.      Plot
One of the reasons we read plays to discover what happens, to see how particular consequences result from specific observable actions. We become engaged by a play’s story line, and remain held by its twist and turns, until the playwright resolves things. The details of action, or incidents, in a well-organized play form a unified structure. The unified structure of a play’s incidents is called plot.
It is important to realize that a dramatic plot is not merely a series of haphazard occurrences. It is, rather, a carefully arranged series of casually related incidents. The incidents of the plot, that is, must be connected in such a way that one gives rise to another or directly results from another. And, of course, the playwright shapes and arranges the incidents of the plot to do precisely these things.
The expositionof a play presents background necessary for the development of the plot. The rising action includes the separate incidents that “complicate” the plot and build toward its most dramatic moment. These incidents often involve conflictseither between characters or within them, conflicts that lead to a crisis. The point of crisis toward which the play’s action builds is called its climax. Following this high point of intensity in the play is the falling action, in which there is a relaxation of emotional intensity and a gradual resolutionof the various strands of the plot in the play’s denouement (French word that refers to the untying of a knot).

b.      Character
If we read plays for their plots-to find out what happens-we also read them to discover the fates of their characters. We become interested in dramatic characters for varying, even contradictory, reasons. Characters bring plays to life. First and last we attend to characters: to how they look and what their appearance tells us about them; to what they say and what their manner of saying it expresses; to what they do and how their action reveal who they are and what they stand for.
Characters in drama can be classified as a major and minor, static and dynamic, flat and round. A major character is an important figure at the center of the play’s action and meaning. Supporting the major character are one or more secondary or minor characters, whose function is partly to illuminate the major characters. Minor characters are often static or unchanging: they remain essentially the same throughout the play. Dynamiccharacters, on the other hand, exhibit some kind of change-of attitude, of purpose, of behavior. Flat characters reveal only a single dimension, and their behavior and speech are predictable; round characters are more individualized, reveal more than one aspect of their human nature, and are not predictable in behavior or speech.
The protagonistis the main character in a play. Generally introduced to the audience very early, this is the character that the author expects should more engage our interest and sympathies. The antagonist is the character or force against which the protagonist struggles. The antagonist may be another character, a culture and its laws or traditions, natural elements, or the protagonist divided against himself. 
c.       Dialogue
Our discussion of character and conflict brings us to a critical aspect of dramatic characters-their speech, or dialogue. Although generally we use the word dialogue to refer to all the speech of a play, strictly speaking, dialogue involves two speakers and monologue to the speech of one. An important dramatic convention of dialogue is the use of a soliloquy to express a character’s state of mind. A soliloquy is a speech given by a character as if alone, even though other characters may be on stage. A soliloquy represents a character’s thoughts so the audience can know what he or she is thinking at a given moment. Soliloquies should be distinguished from asides, which are comments made directly to the audience in the presence of other characters, but without those other characters hearing what is said. Unlike a soliloquy, an aside in usually a brief remark.
Dialogue is more than simply the words characters utter. It is also itself action, since character’s words have the power to affect each other as well as to affect the audience. Words in drama do things, effect change, initiate events. Through his words (and songs) the wanted man in The Rising of The Moon convinces the sergeant not to betray him.[6]
 
d.      Staging
By staging we have in mind the spectacle a play presents in performance, its visual detail. This includes such things as the positions of actors onstage (sometimes referred to as blocking), their nonverbal gestures and movements (also called stage business), the scenic background, the props and costumes, lighting, and sound effects. 
e.       Symbolism and Irony
In our discussion of the staging of The Rising of the Moon, and in our observations about its dialogue and conflict, we touched briefly and implicitly on two additional aspects of drama: symbolism and irony. A symbol can be defined simply as any object or action that means more than itself; it represents something beyond its literal self. Objects, action, clothing, gestures, dialogue-all may have symbolic meaning.[7]
Irony is not so much an element of a dramatic text as a pervasive quality in it. Irony may appear in plays in three basic ways: in their language, in their incidents, or in their point of view. In whatever forms it emerges, Irony almost always arises from a contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant, or between what happens and what has been expected to happen.
Simple verbal irony comes from saying the opposite of what is meant. When someone says, “That was a brilliant remark,” and we know that is was anything but brilliant, we feel and understand the speaker’s ironic intention. Another type of irony is irony of circumstance (sometimes called irony of situation), in which a playwright creates a discrepancy between what characters thinks is the case and what actually is the case. The final type of irony found in plays is called dramatic irony. Dramatic irony involves a discrepancy between what characters know and what readers or viewers know.[8]
f.       Theme
From experiencing a play and examining the various elements of a play we derive a sense of its significance and meaning. We use the word theme to designate the main idea or point of a play stated as a generalization. Because formulating the theme of a play involves abstracting from it a generalizable idea, the notion of the theme inevitably moves away from the very details of character and action that give the play its life. This is  not to suggest that it is not rewarding or useful to attempt to identify a central idea or set of ideas from plays, but only that we should be aware of the limitations of our doing so.[9]

3.6  Imitation and Impersonation
Imitation to some extent is a reflection of an action in real life. It is close to reality but not reality. In imitation you assume a role and not pretend. You take on or claim the personality of the person you are imitating. An imitation therefore involves an illusion of the reality and a willing suspension of disbelief. The actor creates an illusion of reality to make his action credible. The audience in order to believe him suspends its doubt (disbelief) and believes that what it is watching is real. This explains why sometimes you are moved to tears as you watch the suffering of a particular character when you are watching a home video or any other dramatic presentation. This is called empathy, according to Aristotle, mimesis (imitation) entails some copying but not verbatim copying. The artist adjusts or adds to it. He therefore contributes to the original as he creates another world through imitation. Consequently, the product becomes not an appearance but a reality or at worst, a reflection of the reality. It is important to note here that the action might not have existed before in reality. The playwright could imagine or conceptualize an action, then write it down or present it.
Imitation is a broader term for copying somebody or something. In impersonation we narrow it down to copying people. Generally, we impersonate or pretend to be somebody in order to deceive people or to entertain them. Usually, in an impersonation, the actor tries to be as convincing as possible. In acting this is called getting into the role. Impersonation could be interchanged with role-playing. You have seen that impersonation is an important ingredient in drama because for the action to be real or life-like, the actors must convince the audience that they are the person or characters they are impersonating.
3.7  Re-Presentation and Re-Enactment
Re-presentation is to give or show something again. In drama, the artist may have been inspired by a particular action and decides to re-produce it or re-represent it on stage. Here, it is not possible to re-present the action exactly as it appeared in its original form. Sometimes the dramatic composition is based on that action. We also use representation when a particular performance is being presented again after its premiere or the original and first performance.
From our discussion so far, you have seen that the universal elements of drama are imitation, re-representation of action, impersonation or reenactment. In any dramatic presentation, the actors must be conscious of themselves as actors, and also conscious of the audience. On the part of the audience, there must be an element of make believe or willing suspension of disbelief. This simply means that, they will pretend that what the actors are doing is real. On the part of the actors, they try as much as possible to convince the audience that they are presenting real life experience. This explains why you see actors who display realistic emotions on stage. For instance, an actor can cry realistically if the need arises. In order to achieve this feat, they try to get into the role they are playing so that the action will be as realistic as possible.
Re-enactment is similar to re-representation. However, in re-enactment, there is a clear indication that a particular action is being re-enacted. Persons or actions will impersonate specific characters in the original action. In traditional societies or oral literature, re-enactment is common and popular. During festivals, depending on the cultural background of the people and the environment, some events like hunting expedition, fishing, physical prowess and special feats at wars are re-enacted. In the enactment of a hunting expedition, some people are chosen to impersonate the animals while some impersonate the hunter who stalks and kills the animal. The jubilation and the dance of triumph end the performance. Some dances like the “Egwu amala” from Delta State and some masquerades are used to re-enact past events or actions. Historical plays are mainly re-enactments of past events.
3.8              Writing about drama
a.      Reasons for Writing about Drama
One reason is to find out what you think about a play that interests you. You might make notes for yourself in your journal. Another reason is to induce yourself to read more carefully a play that you like. You may write about a work of drama because it engages you and you wish to discuss its implied ideas and values. Finally, you may of course be required to write about a drama as a course assignment.[10]
b.      Informal Ways of Writing about Drama
When you write about a play, you may write for yourself, to discover what you think, often take casual forms such as annotation and free writing. These less formal kinds of writing are useful for helping you focus. They are helpful in studying for tests about drama. They can also serve as preliminary forms of writing when you write more formal essays and papers.[11]
IV.             Conclusion
Drama is an imitation of an action. It is a branch of literature which is both literary art and representational art. As a literary art, it deals with fiction or an imaginary story that is presented through characters and dialogue. However, it is a special kind of fiction because it is designed to be acted out rather than narrated. When we read a novel or a short story, we understand and appreciate the story, through the narrator or author but in drama the characters live out the story for us. The playwright does not comment or explain anything. So, drama gives us a direct presentation of life experiences. That is why we say that it is a representational art. Drama, therefore, uses language in the form of gesture or dialogue to present or to re-present an action. Characters are used to present the story. These characters are called actors.
V.                Summary
In this unit, we have tried to explain the meaning of drama. We have also tried to distinguish it from other forms of literature. By now you must have been familiar with the basic elements of drama which make drama unique. You have seen also that the term drama is used at three different levels now. It is a performance, it is a composition to be read or performed and it is a branch of literature.

 VI.             References
·         DiYanni, Robert. (2002). Literature: Reading, Poetry, and Drama. New York: GrawHill.
·         Dukore, B. F. (1974). Dramatic Theory and Criticism: Greek to Grotowsky. New York: Holt Reinhart and Winston.
·         Scholes, R. and C. H. Klaus (1971). Elements of Drama. New York: Oxford University Press.



[1]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1161
[2]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1164
[3]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1174
[4]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1177
[5]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1181
[6]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1189
[7]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1196
[8]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1197
[9]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1198
[10]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1201
[11]Robert DiYanni, Literature:Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, New York: Mc GrawHill, 2002, page 1201
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