Terminology linked to drama

Act and Scene The major structural divisions of a play are called acts, and their sub-divisions scenes. An act or scene changes to indicate either the passage of time, a new action or a change of place. Shakespeare's plays have five acts, whereas most modem plays have two or three.

Alliteration The repetition of the same consonant sound. Alliteration is usually both pleasing and memorable; pleasing because readers enjoy the pattern of sounds, and memorable because repeated sounds impress themselves upon the mind. There is no point in just mentioning that alliteration occurs, unless you can go on to discuss its effect. To help you describe the effect of alliteration you can ask whether or not it produces a distinctive tone, and whether or not it is regularly spaced. The former effect is the more important, because alliteration, whether or not it is regularly spaced, is always capable of contributing to the tone of a poem. For instance, the alliteration of the 'f' sound is regular in one line from Owen's 'Exposure', - 'With sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause, and renew' - and irregular in another - 'Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling for our faces' - yet both create a furtive tone. The flakes may seem delicate but they are sinister in the way they bring a deathly cold to the exposed soldiers. (See also Assonance and Consonance.)

Allusion A reference to another book, event, person or place. The allusion is usually implied or hinted, so the reader is given the pleasure of seeing it and understanding the effect it creates. Sometimes the effect is to make what is being said more significant, more ambiguous or more amusing. In Pope's The Rape of the Lock, Belinda is shown to have bright and sparkling eyes:

Bright as the sun, her eyes the gazer strike, 
And, like the sun, they shine on all alike.

It is a radiant picture but one qualified by the allusion to St Matthew's Gospel, where Jesus says that God sends the sun to shine on everybody. The presence of that allusion suggests that those fascinated by Belinda, and maybe Belinda herself, have a distorted sense of values in that they confuse the human with the divine.

Audience Those who view a play, and, by extension, those for whom any work is written. When you are reading a play, you will have to put yourself in the position of being the audience. The best way to do this is to be aware of all the resources of the theatre - actors, staging, scenery, costume, lighting and music - and imagine how these could be used in the production of a play. Then you will be imaginatively close to the experiences of the audience.

Black Comedy  Comedy that invites laughter at serious or painful aspects of life such as disease, pain, failure and death. Joe Orton's comedies can be described as black, and some moments in Shakespeare's problem plays - Measure for Measure, All's Well that Ends Well and Troilus and Cressida - come near to it.

Blank Verse Poetry that is written in lines of unrhymed iambic pentameters. It is very common in English and can be used for telling a story or thinking about ideas and feel- ings. It is worthwhile noticing how regular and insistent its rhythms are. 
Shakespeare uses blank verse in his plays. There is usually no point in drawing attention to this, unless there are very interesting variations in the rhythm of a line. Such variations are usually the expression of deep emotion. For instance, Hamlet's order to his mother, 'Look here upon this picture, and on this', could be scanned in the usual way, but that would not reflect its emotional quality. To do that justice, the line should be scanned:

Loók heŕe upoń thiś pićtuře, anď ŏn thís…

It is also important to notice when Shakespeare uses verse which is not blank verse. For instance, the witches in Macbeth and the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream speak in trochees rather than iambs. Trochees sound different, thus making the witches and fairies seem strange, non-human creatures. (See also Metre.)

 

Caricature The deliberate distortion or exaggeration of a character's features or manners in order to ridicule or amuse. The reaction of reader or audience is often affectionate amusement. Sometimes the term is used against an author when it is suggested that his or her characters are near to caricature. But this criticism can only be used if the author aimed at creating a fuller character and failed.

Character and Characterisation Character is the name we give to the figures we encounter in narratives; characterisation is the way in which the character has been created.

Comedy and Tragedy     A comedy is a play in which the confusions of characters, often prompted by love and furthered by deception or misunderstanding, eventually work out so that the play closes happily. The action of comedy is usually amusing, and the plot intricate. 
Tragedy is a play in which a character (often called the hero) falls from power, influence or happiness towards disaster and death. Often a hero is wilful and seems to bring destruction upon himself. This wilfulness is called hubris. The action arouses feelings of awe in the audience, who often leave the theatre with a renewed sense of the seriousness and significance of human life. The word catharsis is often used to describe the audience's feelings. It means the purging from the mind of the feelings of pity and fear the play has aroused. 
You should be careful not to impose these, or any other definitions of comedy and tragedy, upon Shakespeare's plays. All definitions should be used as general guides and not as rules. Though comedy and tragedy usually apply to plays, the terms can be used of both poems and novels.

Denouement    A term that may be used of both novels and plays when talking about the way the tangled elements of a plot are untied. Denouements are often linked to discoveries, because it's often in the light of a discovery that a plot can be wound up. Because plots are more important in comic rather than tragic works, their denouements are more complex and, often, more intriguing. The unveiling of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (a discovery) leads to the hoped for denouement - the publicly declared love of Beatrice and Benedick. (See alsoDiscovery, Resolution and Reversal.)

Discovery     The moment, usually towards the close of a plot, when something is disclosed which alters the situation and allows the plot to be resolved. In Jane Eyre, for instance, her discovery that Rochester's wife is dead enables the plot to end with the marriage that both Jane and the reader desire. In Twelfth Night the discovery that makes possible the winding up of the plot is the public realisation that Sebastian and Viola are twins. (See also Resolutionand Reversal.)

Disjunction     The event which by disturbing or rupturing the customary pattern of life initiates the main elements of a plot. The arrival, for instance, of Mr Bingley in the opening chapter of Pride and Prejudice is the disjunction that makes possible the subsequent events of the plot.

Empathy/Sympathy       Empathy is the imaginative act in which we put ourselves in somebody else's place; sympathy is the feelings we have (usually of understanding pity) for someone's plight. Literature need not demand either of these responses from a reader; quite often it's differences and distance rather than similarity and closeness that characterises our reactions to the characters in literary works. (It's hard trying to imagine what it must feel like being Cleopatra or Macbeth.) 
When we are asked to respond, the feeling that is demanded is usually sympathy (we might pity the terrible misunderstanding of Othello) but sometimes characters invite us to see their plight as ours. There are elements of this in Hamlet when he speaks in plurals rather than in singulars: 'Thus conscience does make cowards of us all'. By speaking of 'us' rather than 'me', Hamlet invites us to see his state as ours and so empathise.

Epiphany      James Joyce used this word to indicate those moments of illumination that often come to characters, particularly those in short stories, at the climax of the plot. An epiphany can be something seen or understand or something familiar which, for the first time, is seen for what it is. It's useful when writing about those moments of insight that come to Katherine Mansfield's characters, often at the very end of the story. (See also Discovery).

Expectation    The effect of being led to think that something is going to happen. Short stories, novels and plays all build up expectations in readers and audiences. Expectations are built upon what is known about events and characters, and also on what the characters themselves expect to happen. Whenever you write about expectation, you should stress that it is the author, or playwright, who is responsible for creating it. (See also Surprise andRelief.)

Farce   A branch of comedy in which the characters are reduced to stock figures, and the action is often frantic and even violent. Thus, in farce characters can be beaten or humiliated and the audience reacts with laughter, because it has not been invited to see the characters as having any sort of distinctive personality. Elements of farce creep into some plays. 
For instance, the middle scenes of Dr Faustus can be said to be farce, and the innumerable beatings of servants in Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors introduce farce into a carefully constructed comic plot. (See also Tragedy and Comedy.)

Flat and Round Characters.    Terms introduced by E. M. Forster to indicate characters in novels who have little personal identity (flat), and those who are given much more individuality (round). You should use the terms with care, because characters in novels are rarely simply flat or round. (See also Stock character.)

Foreshadowing         A term used when an author gives a hint or clue to events that will happen later in a text. Foreshadowing can take many forms, but includes symbolism, parallel events & characters and intertextual or subtextual references.

Frame  You have to be careful when using this term because in Theatre Studies it has a quite specific meaning, which is concerned with the perspectives an audience is given when viewing a set of events. In English the term is broader and simpler. It is used of any action that provides a context for a subsequent action. Its most popular use is in drama when there is a play within a play, as in the Induction of The Taming of the Shrew; or in novels where one narrative leads to another, as in the incidents at the start of Heart of Darkness which provide the frame for Marlowe's narrative.

Genre   A word taken from the French which means a literary type or kind. Comedy, tragedy and satire are genres, but nowadays it is also common to speak of poetry and the novel as genres, too.

Image and Imagery   Any figurative or descriptive language that appeals to one of the five senses is called an image. Images could also be metaphors, similes, symbols and personification, as well as examples of non-figurative description. Images are impressive because they make ideas concrete. They also create atmosphere and can be used to establish a pattern within a poem. It is sometimes helpful to show how an image works in some detail. For instance, in Macbeth Macduff tries to put into words the horror of finding that Duncan, King of Scotland, has been murdered. He uses a very complex imagery to do this:

Confusion now hath made his masterpiece! 
Most sacrilegious Murther hath broke ope 
The Lord's anointed Temple, and stole thence 
The life o' th' building!

The death of Duncan is first seen in the image of 'Confusion' as an artist or craftsman, making his 'masterpiece'. Then 'Murther' (murder) is seen as a thief breaking into a religious building. (See also Abstract and concrete, Metaphor and simile, Personification and Symbol.)

Irony     The effect produced when a reader sees that there is a gap between the words that are being said and the real significance of those words. There are different kinds of gaps. The gap between words and truth occurs when something the reader knows to be mistaken is said. A second type of gap, or discrepancy, is between the words and meaning. This occurs when the reader sees that the real significance of what is being said is very different from what the speaker supposes. The gap can lie between intention and result. A speaker can intend something but the reader will see that the result will not be what is expected. This is also called dramatic irony. There is also the irony of one character interpreting the world one way, whilst the reader is led to see that this is false. In all cases of irony, someone is put at a disadvantage because others, usually the author and reader, can see more clearly than he or she can. 
When you write about irony, you should make clear who is placed in a position of advantage and who is at a disadvantage. You should also remember that irony can produce different emotional effects. It can be bitter, comic, serious, tragic, sad, and so on. In your writing you should try to bring over how irony can make the reader or audience change attitudes to a character. For instance, you may be horrified by the callous inhumanity of Lady Macbeth, who believes that, after the murder of Duncan, 'A little water clears us of this deed'. When, however, she walks in her sleep and is seen to be perpetually washing her hands, you may see the terrible irony that 'a little water' can't clear her of guilt. When you see the irony, your horror may turn to pity.

Metaphor and Simile The comparison of one thing in terms of another; in metaphor there is an implicit identity, whereas in simile the comparison is introduced by the words 'like' or 'as'. Metaphors are thus more compressed and economical than similes, though similes are closer to ordinary speech, and there is a distinct pleasure in following through the comparison from the object being presented to that in terms of which it is presented. If you wish to distinguish one from the other, the terms 'tenor' (the object presented) and 'vehicle' (that in terms of which it is presented) can be useful. Thus, in the metaphor for a church from Larkin's 'Church Going' - 'this special shell' - church is the tenor and shell the vehicle, or in Larkin's simile from 'Ambulances' - 'Closed like confessionals' - the tenor is ambulances and the vehicle confessionals.

Monosyllabic and Polysyllabic   Words of one syllable such as 'did', 'good', 'said' and ,would' are monosyllabic. In poetry and verse drama they are effective in making the lines feel emphatic, forceful and strong. Consider the force of the opening of Donne's 'Hymn to God the Father':

Wilt thou forgive my sin where I began 
Which was my sin though it were done before. 
The monosyllables enact the dark, serious strength of the poet's plea. 
Words of more than one syllable are polysyllabic. When a number of polysyllabic words are used in a line the effect is likely to be flowing, lyrical and sometimes even majestic. Notice how the polysyllabic words in Hopkins's 'The Windhover' help to enact the flowing and majestic movements of the falcon in flight:

I caught this morning morning's minion, king- 
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon. 

Pathos    The arousing of tenderness, pity or sorrow in a reader or an audience by the presentation of a sad or moving scene. The pity of reader or audience is often due to the helplessness of the characters. Thus, the distraught Ophelia's speech about the sad decline of Hamlet at the end of Act III, Scene 1 is full of pathos. When writing about pathos, you should strike a balance between showing how the emotions are aroused and recording what you feel about the scene.

Plot    The pattern of events that constitutes the main business of a narrative. Because plot is a literary idea, it's best to define it as the order of events as they are known to the reader. It's often helpful to look at the problem or situation out of which the plot grows and think about the various ways in which plots can be constructed.

Problem Plays   A group of plays written by Shakespeare which, though they have a comic form, deal with dark and serious aspects of life. They are sometimes called the 'dark comedies'. Measure for Measure, for instance, has the comic form of confusion working towards a happy ending, and many comic conventions such as disguise and deception. Yet it deals with a man sentenced to death, and the attempts of a corrupt official to seduce a nun. Other problem plays are All's Well that Ends Well and Troilus and Cressida. Sometimes Hamlet is said to be closer to a problem play than a tragedy.

Protagonist    Originally the hero in a Greek play, but now it is also used to mean the speaker in a narrative poem or dramatic monologue. The protagonist is usually a specially created voice. The poet can thus explore a realm of experience different from his or her own. When writing about the protagonist of a poem, you should make sure that you don't confuse him or her with the author of the poem.

Realism and Naturalism    Sometimes these terms are used interchangeably to refer to narratives that try to evoke the sense that what is being conveyed is a direct transcription of actual events. Historically, the terms have different origins; realism is any fiction that presents everyday, characters in their usual settings, whereas naturalism was a more philosophical kind of fiction that presented characters as solely the products of their biological inheritance and social circumstances. Since there aren't in English many novels that follow naturalistic presuppositions, realism is the more useful term. 
Whenever you use the words 'realism' or 'realistic' you should remember three things : (i) most literature isn't realistic (Shakespeare, for instance) - in fact, it's a difficult term to use of literature written before the nineteenth century; (ii) realistic literature isn't, by virtue of being realistic, better than literature that isn't; (iii) although the aim is to reproduce the surface appearance of everyday life, realistic literature is itself a specially made form of art that depends upon a careful selection and arrangement of details.

Relief    The effect experienced by readers and audiences when the tension created by expectation is released. Sometimes a reader or audience responds to relief by laughter, but on other occasions, as in tragedy, a feeling of seriousness is left when the anticipated event has occurred. (See also Expectation and Surprise.)

Resolution       A term for the ways in which a plot is sorted out, usually at the close of a book. Resolution usually has two aspects - a human one and a formal one. Audiences and readers want to know how the lives of characters work out, so they take an interest in whether or not the plans and hopes of the characters are fulfilled. The formal aspect is not detached from this interest. Characters form groups and are often very similar or interestingly different from each other. Such grouping prompts a desire in the reader for a balance, or at least a discernible pattern, in the working out of their respective lives. A simple case of this is the desire to see the good rewarded and the bad punished. 
The close of Shakespeare's plays are an interesting balance of the human and formal interests; audiences want to see the lovers married off and they enjoy the way in which the pairings are carefully contrasted with each other. The marriages at the close of As You Like Itform a set of interesting contrasts as well as engaging our sympathies to varying degrees. The term can also be used of poetry, to describe the way in which the passage of feelings in a poem or an argument are brought to a satisfying close.

Reversal      A term originally introduced by Aristotle to discuss drama but which can be used when talking about other sorts of narrative. It refers to the event, usually towards the end of a work, when the fortunes of the central figures are changed. In tragedy the change is for the worse, whilst in comedy reversal paves the way for the happy ending.

Rhyme       The identity in two or more words of the final vowel and any consonants that follow it. When the rhyming words are monosyllabic, the rhyme is said to be masculine, as in 'bold' and 'old', and when they are polysyllabic, they are said to be feminine, as in 'ending' and 'bending'. (You will also note that in the feminine rhymes the last syllable is unstressed.) 
Whenever you write about rhyme, you should bring out the effect it creates. Rhyme creates harmony and also the pleasing effect of completing or resolving an idea. When words rhyme, they tend to be more noticeable and hence more important in the poem. When the words rhymed are important, the whole meaning of the poem can be focused. Rhymes, particularly feminine ones, can also be funny. (See also Half-rhyme.)

Setting    The context in which the events in a literary work take place. Settings are often significant because they reflect in a number of ways the characters and events. The nature of characters, the moods of characters, the plight of characters and the significance of what is going on are often evident in the locations and surroundings. The abrasively new buildings of Alec D'Urberville's home indicate his nouveau riche status; the wild and threatening marshes of Great Expectations echo the guilt of young Pip; the lonely moors of Jane Eyre reflect her abandonment, and the hollow in which Sergeant Troy demon- strates his sword play to Bathsheba evokes the sexual potential of their relationship.

Soliloquy    A speech delivered when a character is either alone or isolated on the stage. A soliloquy can be public, in which case the character directly addresses the audience, orprivate, in which case the audience overhears the character talking to himself or herself. In Shakespeare, soliloquies are usually only given to important characters. For instance, Hamlet has a number of private soliloquies, and Iago a number of public ones. Characters very rarely tell lies in soliloquies, so you should pay particular attention to them.

Stock Character  A character in a play or novel who is no more than a representative type. Such characters have no individuality and usually possess only one or two characteristics. They are often comic. (See also Flat and round characters.)

Sub-plot    A minor plot which often echoes the concerns of the major plot. You can use the term of both novels and plays. The relation between major and minor plots deserves attention.

Theme    The subject, concerns, issues and preoccupations of a poem, novel or play. The word is usually spoken of as meaning the significance of events rather than the events themselves.

Trajectory    The direction of a plot. The term is useful when discussing how the initial conditions of a plot can be expected to develop. Quite often the delight we have in literature lies in the way in which the trajectory of the plot is other than what we were led to expect. InThe Winter's Tale, for instance, there is an interesting change from a plot pre- occupied with the difficult relationship between the two Kings to one which centres on the loves of their two children.