| 5814545439 | Act | - a major division in the action of the play, comprising one or more scenes
- a break between these often coincides with a point at which the plot jumps ahead in time | | 0 |
| 5814545440 | Analepsis | - a form of anachrony by which some events of the plot are related at a point in the narrative after later story elements have already been recounted, i.e. a flashback | | 1 |
| 5814545441 | Antagonist | - the most prominent of the characters who oppose the protagonist or hero(ine) in a dramatic or narrative work
- often a villain seeking to frustrate a hero(ine); but in those works in which the protagonist is represented as evil, this character will often be a virtuous or sympathetic character, as Macduff in Macbeth | | 2 |
| 5814545442 | Aside | - a short speech or remark spoken by a character in a drama, directed either to the audience or to another character, which by convention is supposed to be inaudible to other characters on stage | | 3 |
| 5814545443 | Audience | - those who attend a play
- an understanding of historical and contextual information can influence our understanding of the playwright's intended audience (for example, Shakespeare's Elizabethan audience) | | 4 |
| 5814545444 | Blocking | - the process of planning where, when, and how actors will move about the stage during a performance
- a term coined by W.S. Gilbert, who used small wooden blocks to represent actors, moving these about on a miniature of a set of a planned work | | 5 |
| 5814545445 | Breaking of the fourth wall | - this convention refers to the imaginary "fourth wall" that is characteristic of the conventional proscenium stage, which often includes a curtain
- the curtain functions a 'fourth wall' which, when opened, allows the audience to view the set and actors
- in the absence of a curtain, there is still an imagined fourth wall between the stage and the audience | | 6 |
| 5814545446 | Catastrophe | - the final resolution or denouement of the plot in a tragedy, usually involving the death of the protagonist | | 7 |
| 5814545447 | Catharsis | - the effect of purgation or purification achieved by tragic drama, according to Aristotle's argument in his Poetics (4th century BC)
- Aristotle wrote that a tragedy should succeed "in arousing pity and fear in such a way as to accomplish a catharsis of such emotions". There has been much dispute about his meaning, but Aristotle seems to be rejecting Plato's hostile view of poetry as an unhealthy emotional stimulant. His metaphor of emotional cleansing has been read as a solution to the puzzle of audience's pleasure or relief in witnessing the disturbing events enacted in tragedies.
- another interpretation is that it is the protagonist's guilt that is purged, rather than the audience's feeling of terror | | 8 |
| 5814545448 | Character | - any of the persons involved in a story, but also the distinguishing moral qualities and personal traits of a character | | 9 |
| 5814545449 | Flat character | - a character summed up in one or two traits | | 10 |
| 5814545450 | Round character | - a character who is complex and multi-faceted | | 11 |
| 5814545451 | Stock character | - a stereotyped character whose nature is familiar to us from prototypes in previous fiction and drama | | 12 |
| 5814545452 | Dynamic character | - a character that is changed by the actions he or she is involved in | | 13 |
| 5814545453 | Static character | - a character that remains unchanged or little changed throughout the course of the story | | 14 |
| 5814545454 | Climax | - the turning point or high point in a plot's action | | 15 |
| 5814545455 | Comedy | - a play written chiefly to amuse its audience
- will typically be closer to the representation of everyday life than a tragedy and will explore common human failings rather than tragedy's disastrous crimes
- its ending will usually be happy for the leading characters
- in Elizabethan drama, it typically ends with a marriage or engagement | | 16 |
| 5814545456 | Comedy of manners | - a kind of comedy representing the complex and sophisticated code of behavior current in fashionable circles of society, where appearances count for more than true moral character
- its plot usually revolves around intrigues of lust and greed
- unlike satire, this type of play tends to reward its cleverly unscrupulous characters rather than punish their immorality
- its humor relies chiefly upon elegant verbal wit and repartee | | 17 |
| 5814545457 | Comic Relief | - the interruption of a serious work, especially a tragedy, by a short, humorous episode that relieves emotional tension | | 18 |
| 5814545458 | Conflict | - a clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story
- this may exist between the main character and some other person or persons (man vs. man), between the main character and some external force—physical nature, society, or "fate" (man vs. nature), or between the main character and some destructive element of his own nature (man vs. him/herself) | | 19 |
| 5814545459 | Crisis | - a decisive point in the plot of a play or story, upon which the outcome of the remaining action depends, and which ultimately precipitates the catastrophe or denouement | | 20 |
| 5814545460 | Curtain line | - the last line of the play | | 21 |
| 5814545461 | Denouement | - the portion of the plot that reveals the final outcome of its conflicts or the solution of its mysteries | | 22 |
| 5814545462 | Deus ex machina | - "god from the machine"
- the resolution of a plot by use of a highly improbable chance, coincidence or artificial device that solves some difficult problem or crisis | | 23 |
| 5814545463 | Double entendre | - a French phrase for "double meaning," adopted in English to denote a pun in which a word or phrase has a second, usually sexual meaning | | 24 |
| 5814545464 | Dramatic irony | - occurs when the audience knows more about a character's situation than the character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to the character's expectations, and this ascribing a sharply different sense to some of the character's own statements | | 25 |
| 5814545465 | Epic theatre | - a revolutionary form of drama developed by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht from the late 1920s
- involved rejecting the Aristotelian models of dramatic unity in favour of a detached narrative (hence epic) presentation in a succession of loosely related episodes interspersed with songs and commentary by a chorus or narrator | | 26 |
| 5814545466 | Epilogue | - a concluding section of any written work during which the characters' subsequent fates are briefly outlined | | 27 |
| 5814545467 | Eponymous character | - the character who gives the name to the play | | 28 |
| 5814545468 | Exposition | - the setting forth of a systematic explanation of or argument about any subject; or the opening part of a play or story, in which we are introduced to the characters and their situation, often by reference to preceding events | | 29 |
| 5814545469 | Falling Action | - the segment of the plot that comes between the climax and the conclusion | | 30 |
| 5814545470 | Farce | - a kind of comedy that inspires hilarity mixed with panic and cruelty in its audience through an increasingly rapid and improbable series of ludicrous confusions, physical disasters, and sexual innuendos among its stock characters | | 31 |
| 5814545471 | Foil | - a character whose qualities or actions serve to emphasize those of the protagonist (or of some other character) by providing a strong contrast with them | | 32 |
| 5814545472 | Freytag's triangle | - this is one of the commonly-used ways to map the action of plays
- this approach was devised by the German playwright Gustav Freytag in the 19th century
- offers a way of understanding the structure of many plays, but should be used as a general frame, not a representation of all plays |  | 33 |
| 5814545473 | Freeze frame | - the action is stopped, the actors freeze and meaning is conveyed through this moment of stasis and silence | | 34 |
| 5814545474 | Hamartia | - the Greek word for error or failure, used by Aristotle in Poetics to designate the false step that leads the protagonist in a tragedy to his or her downfall
- the term should not be confused with "tragic flaw" which is a defect in character
- the action that the character takes | | 35 |
| 5814545475 | Hero/Heroine | - the main character is a narrative or dramatic work
- the term protagonist is preferable since the leading character may not be morally or otherwise superior
- when our expectations of heroic qualities are strikingly disappointed, the central character may be known as an anti-hero or anti-heroine | | 36 |
| 5814545476 | Hubris | - the Greek word for "insolence" or "affront," applied to the arrogance or pride of the protagonist in a tragedy in which he or she defies moral laws or the prohibitions of the gods
- the protagonist's transgression or hamartia leads eventually to his or her downfall, which may be understood as divine retribution
- in proverbial terms, this is thus the pride that comes before a fall | | 37 |
| 5814545477 | In media res | - "in the middle of things"
- the technique of beginning a story in the middle of the action | | 38 |
| 5814545478 | Lighting | - an important atmospheric elements of a stage production
- used to highlight and diminish importance, as well as to establish mood | | 39 |
| 5814545479 | Melodrama | - a popular form of sensational drama that flourished in the 19th-century theatre, surviving in different forms in modern cinema and television
- the term, meaning "song-drama" in Greek, has come to indicate an emotionally exaggerated conflict of pure maidenhood and scheming villainy in a plot full of suspense | | 40 |
| 5814545480 | Monologue | - an extended speech uttered by one speaker, either to others or as if alone
- significant varieties include the dramatic monologue (a kind of poem in which the speaker is imagined to be addressing a silent audience), and the soliloquy | | 41 |
| 5814545481 | Narrator | - the teller of a story | | 42 |
| 5814545482 | Reliable narrator | - trustworthy | | 43 |
| 5814545483 | Unreliable narrator | - untrustworthy | | 44 |
| 5814545484 | Naïve narrator | - is uncomprehending (child, simple-minded adult) who narrates the story without realizing its true implications | | 45 |
| 5814545485 | Intrusive narrator | - keeps interrupting the narrative to address the reader/audience | | 46 |
| 5814545486 | Naturalism | - a more deliberate kind of Realism, usually involving a view of human beings as passive victims of natural forces and social environment
- the term "naturalistic" in drama usually has a broader application, denoting a very detailed illusion of real life on stage, especially in speech, costume, and sets | | 47 |
| 5814545487 | Plot | - the careful arrangement by an author/playwright if incidents in a narrative to achieve a desired effect | | 48 |
| 5814545488 | Prolepsis | - the Greek word for "anticipation,"
- this convention is a "flashforward" by which a future event is related as an interruption to present time of the narration or action | | 49 |
| 5814545489 | Prologue | - an introductory section of a literary work or in introductory speech in a play | | 50 |
| 5814545490 | Protagonist | - the central character in a story or play | | 51 |
| 5814545491 | Realism | - a mode of writing that gives an impression of recording or faithfully representing an actual way of life
- established itself as an important tradition in the theatre in the late 19th and 20th centuries in the work of Henrik Ibsen, George Bernard Shaw, and others | | 52 |
| 5814545492 | Rising action | - the part of a plot that leads through a series of events of increasing interest and power to the climax or turning point
- begins with an inciting moment, an action or event that sets a conflict or opposing forces into motion, and moves through complication(s), an entangling of the affairs of the characters in a conflict, toward the climax, the major crisis that brings about a change in the fortunes of the protagonist | | 53 |
| 5814545493 | Scene | - a subdivision of an act or of a play not divided into acts
- normally represents actions happening in one place at one time, and is marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a black-out, or a brief emptying of the stage | | 54 |
| 5814545494 | Set | - the arrangement of the stage to represent the setting of the action
- can include a backdrop as well as theatrical properties or props, which include furnishings and objects needed by the actors | | 55 |
| 5814545495 | Setting | - the general locale, time in history, or social milieu in which the action of a literary work takes place | | 56 |
| 5814545496 | Soliloquy | - a dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on stage, or while under the impression of being alone
- the soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience, either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address | | 57 |
| 5814545497 | Sound | - another important atmospheric element, this can contribute to the realism or verisimilitude of a play
- music, an element of sound, contributes to mood, character development, theme, etc. | | 58 |
| 5814545498 | Stage direction | - the information provided in addition to the dialogue to help a reader visualize the setting, characters, and action
- usually in italics, are intended for the director, actors, etc. | | 59 |
| 5814545499 | Theatre of the Absurd | - a term coined by Martin Esslin to refer to the work of a number of dramatists (led by Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco) whose works evoke the absurd by abandoning logical form, character, and dialogue together with realistic illusion | | 60 |
| 5814545500 | Tragedy | - a type of drama in which the protagonist, a person or unusual moral or intellectual stature or outstanding abilities, suffers a fall in fortune due to some error of judgment or flaw in his or her nature | | 61 |
| 5814545501 | Tragic flaw | - the defect of character that brings about the protagonist's downfall in a tragedy | | 62 |
| 5814545502 | Tragicomedy | - a play that combines elements of tragedy and comedy, either by providing a happy ending to a potentially tragic story or by some more complex blending of serious and light moods | | 63 |
| 5814545503 | Turning point | - the point in the plot where the protagonist's situation where he/she suffers a fall in fortune due to some error of judgment or flaw in his or her nature | | 64 |
| 5814545504 | Villain | - the principle evil character in the story or play
- usually the antagonist opposed to the protagonist | | 65 |
