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ELEMENTS
OF DRAMA
Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare
DRAMA
A
story written
to be performed
by actors in
front of an
audience.
EXTERNAL CONFLICT
A
character
struggles against
some outside
force
 Character vs.
Character, nature,
society, or fate.
INTERNAL CONFLICT
 Exists
within the
mind of a
character who is
torn between
different courses
of action.
ACT
A
major division
of a play.
 Books
have
chapters
 Plays have Acts
 Romeo
and Juliet
has 5 acts.
ASIDE

A comment made by
a character that is
heard by the
audience only
(stage whisper)
Function of Asides
 Asides
are
frequently used
to:
1) Provide
information to the
audience
2) Reveal the
private thoughts
of characters.
FORESHADOWING
 Clues
that hint at
events that will
occur later in the
plot.
 Builds suspense
 Prepares readers
for what is to
come.
METAPHOR
 Compares
two or
more things not
using like or as.
MOOD
 The
emotions the
reader feels when
reading/watching
a piece of work.
 Excited, scared,
regretful, etc.
SIMILE
 Comparing
two
things using like
or as.
PERSONIFICATION
A
figure of speech
in which an
animal, object,
force of nature, or
idea is given
human qualities
or characteristics.
OXYMORON

A combination of
seemingly
contradictory words.

Ex: “O loving hate! . . .O
heavy lightness! Feather
of lead, bright smoke, cold
fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep…This
love feel I, that feel no love
in this.” R & J
BLANK VERSE

Verse written in
unrhymed lines of
iambic pentameter, a
rhythm pattern with 5
units, or feet, each of
which has an
unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed
syllable.
COMIC RELIEF
-A short, funny
episode that
interrupts a
serious or tragic,
dramatic event.
-Breaks the
tension after an
intense scene.
FARCE
A
type of comedy
that provokes
laughter by placing
characters in
ridiculous
situations to
quickly resolve a
conflict.
FOIL


A character who provides a strong contrast to
another character.
A foil may emphasize another character’s
distinctive traits or make a character look better by
comparison.
INVERSION
 Reversal
of the
usual word order
in a prose
sentence or line
of poetry, for
emphasis or
variety.
SITUATIONAL IRONY
 Exists
when the
actual outcome
of a situation is
the opposite of
what is
expected.
DRAMATIC IRONY
 Exists
when the
reader knows
something that
a character
does not know.
PLAY
A
story that is told
through the use of
dialogue.
(a conversation
between
characters in a
literary work)
Function of Dialogue
 Dialogue
brings
characters to life
by revealing their
personalities and
by showing what
they are thinking
and feeling as
they react to other
characters.
PROLOGUE
 The
introduction
of an act. The
chorus tells what
is going to
happen in the
play.
PROPS
 Theater
slang
for articles or
objects used in
a play or movie.
(properties)
PUN
A
humorous play
on two or more
meanings of the
same word or on
two different
words with the
same sound.
SCENE
A
subdivision
of an act in a
play. Each
scene usually
takes place in
a specific
setting and
time.
Function of the Scene Design

The scene allows the author of the play to
create a sense of Setting (time and place).
SOLILOQUY
A
long speech
delivered by a
character who is
alone onstage.
 A soliloquy
typically reveals
the private
thoughts and
emotions of the
character.
STAGE DIRECTIONS
 In
a play, written
instructions that
explain how
characters should
look, speak,
move, and
behave.
THEME
 The
main idea or
message of a
literary work.
Theme is not the
subject of the
work but instead
is an insight about
life or human
nature.
TRAGEDY
A
play in which
a main
character,
called the tragic
hero, suffers a
downfall.
TRAGIC FLAW
A
weakness
within the
character of a
tragic hero that
causes the hero
to suffer a
downfall.