Shakespearean Drama Conventions & Characteristics.

ShakespeareanDrama

Conventions & Characteristics

GENRE & CONVENTIONSI. Shakespeare’s plays can be divided into three distinct

categories:A. A Tragedy is a work in which a series of actions leads to the downfall

of the main character.

A. The Comedies are generally identifiable as the comedies of Shakespeare in that they are full of fun, irony and dazzling wordplay. They also abound in disguises and mistaken identities with very convoluted plots that are difficult to follow with very contrived endings.1. The highly contrived endings are the clue to what these plays, all very

different, are about.

A. The plays that we normally mean when we refer to the ‘history’ plays are the ten plays that cover English history from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, and the 1399-1485 period in particular. Each play is named after, and focuses on, the reigning monarch of the period.

GENRE & CONVENTIONSI. Shakespeare’s plays can be divided into three

distinct categories:

C. The plays that we normally mean when we refer to the ‘history’ plays are the ten plays that cover English history from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, and the 1399-1485 period in particular. Each play is named after, and focuses on, the reigning monarch of the period.

GENRE & CONVENTIONSII. Shakespeare’s tragedies are often cited as his

greatest plays.A. A Tragedy is a work in which a series of actions leads

to the downfall of the main character.B. This character is referred to as a Tragic Hero.

III. Qualities of a Tragic Hero:A. Possesses importance or high rankB. Exhibits extraordinary talents/abilityC. Displays a tragic flaw-an error in judgement or defect

in character-that leads to downfallD. Faces downfall with courage and dignity

WRITING STYLEI. Shakespeare’s plays are verse dramas, plays in which the dialogue

consists almost entirely of poetry.II. Generally speaking, Shakespeare wrote his verse dramas in blank

verse, or unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.A. Iambic Pentameter is a fixed pattern of rhythm, or meter, in which most

lines contain five unstressed syllables each followed by a stressed syllable.

B. EX.) Let me have men about me that are fat

III. Qualities of a Tragic Hero:A. Possesses importance or high rankB. Exhibits extraordinary talents/abilityC. Displays a tragic flaw-an error in judgement or defect in character-that leads

to downfallD. Faces downfall with courage and dignity

WRITING STYLEIII. Iambic pentameter Continued

A. Iamb1. Unstressed = u2. Stressed = ‘3. (one) Foot = u ‘

B. EX.) Let me have men about me that are fat

WRITING FOR STAGE VS PAGEI. The time constraints of stage plays mean writers

must utilize additional tools to develop their characters. While these devices don’t occur in real life, they do allow for an audience to interact with character in a more intimate way.

A. A Soliloquy is a long speech given by a character while alone on stage to reveal his or her private thoughts or intentions.

WRITING FOR STAGE VS PAGEB. An Aside is a character’s quiet remark to the audience or

another character that no one else on stage is supposed to hear. A stage direction [usually in brackets] indicates an aside.

1. Aside to Audience

Trebonius: Caesar, I will. [Aside] And so near will I beThat your best friends shall

wish I had been further.

–Act Two, Scene 2, Lines 124-125

RHETORIC/EMOTIONAL DEVICESI. Shakespeare’s plays often contain speeches

known for their masterful usage of rhetorical, or persuasive, devices.

II. These devices use language and sound to appeal to the audience’s emotions and make the speech more convincing and memorable. These devices include:

A. The repetition of words, phrases, and soundsB. Parallelism, or repetition of grammatical structuresC. Rhetorical questions, or questions requiring no answer

RHETORIC/EMOTIONAL DEVICESIII. Examples of Rhetorical Devices:

A. The repetition of words, phrases, and sounds1. Repetition:

And do you now put on your best attire?

And do you now cull out a holiday?

-Act One, Scene 1, Lines 50-51

B. Parallelism, or repetition of grammatical structures1. Parallelism:

Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved

Rome more.-Act Three, Scene 2, Lines 22-

23

RHETORIC/EMOTIONAL DEVICESIII. Examples of Rhetorical Devices: (Cont.)

C. Rhetorical questions, or questions requiring no answer

1. Rhetorical Question:

Why friends, you go to do you know not what

Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves?

Alas, you know not!

-Act Three, Scene 2, Lines 22-23

USE OF IRONY: definitionI. Another powerful tool used by the Bard is irony.

Irony exist when there is a contrast between appearance and reality. Irony exposes and underscores a contrast between:

A. what is and what seems to be

B. what is and what ought to be

C. what is and what one wishes to be

D. what is and what one expects to be

II. There are three common types of irony in literature:

USE OF IRONY: verbalI. Verbal irony occurs when people say the

opposite of what they mean. This is perhaps the most common type of irony.

A. The reader knows that a statement is ironic because of familiarity with the situation or a description of voice, facial, or bodily expressions which show the discrepancy.

B. There are two kinds of verbal irony : 1. Understatement occurs when one minimizes the nature

of something. 2. Overstatement occurs when one exaggerates the nature

of something.

USE OF IRONY: verbalC. Irony is often more emphatic that a point-blank

statement of the truth. The opposite is shown as a point of comparison.

D. Verbal irony in its most bitter and destructive form becomes sarcasm .

E. Someone is condemned by a speaker pretending to praise him or her.

USE OF IRONY: situationalI. In situational irony , the situation is different

from what common sense indicates it is, will be, or ought to be.

A. Situational irony occurs when the final outcome is contradictory to what was expected.

B. Usually, the episodes in the plot of a story will lead the audience to expect a particular resolution or ending. If such an expected outcome fails and instead another contrary outcome occurs, the absurdity is termed situational irony.

1. Such a form of irony is the result of a discrepancy in perspective, such that what is known and expected at one moment differs with what is known later on.

USE OF IRONY: dramaticI. In dramatic irony, the audience or reader knows

something that one or more characters do not know. Because of that knowledge, the audience has a bigger sense of the action taking place.

A. The key to dramatic irony is the reader's foreknowledge of coming events.

B. Second readings of stories often increases dramatic irony because of knowledge that was not present in the first reading.

USE OF IRONY: dramaticC. Dramatic Irony:

Caesar, Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me,

And we (like friends) will straightway gotogether.

-Act Two, Scene 2, Lines 126-127

IRONY: CARTOONA. What follows is a visual guide to irony.

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