Two Kinds of Literary Devices in Drama Modern drama’s essential elements are the
Literary Devices have two aspects. They can be following:
treated as either Literary Elements or Literary 1. Characters Techniques. It will be convenient to define them 2. Plot separately. 3. Theme 4. Dialogue Literary Elements are inherent to all literary 5. Convention: These are the techniques pieces; writers extensively employ these and methods used by the playwright to elements to develop a literary piece. Among create the desired stylistic effect. these inherent elements are plot, setting, 6. Genre: Genre refers to the type of play. narrative structure, characters, mood, theme, Some examples of different genres morals, etc. Writers simply cannot create their include comedy, mystery, tragedy, and desired work without including literary historical play. elements. 7. Audience: This is the group of people who watch the play. Many playwrights Literary Techniques, on the contrary, are and actors consider the audience to be structures usually words or phrases in literary the most important element of drama, as texts that writers employ to achieve not merely all the effort put into writing and artistic ends but also to give readers a greater producing a play is for the enjoyment of understanding and appreciation of their literary the audience. works. Examples are the use of figurative language, imagery, sensory details, or the use of LITERARY ELEMENTS diction. There are six stages in a plot structure: 1. Initial Incident - The event that ’gets Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama the story going.’ 1. Plot - This is what happens to the play; 2. Preliminary Incident - Whatever takes the plot refers to the action; the basic place BEFORE the action of the play storyline of the play. that is directly related to the play. 2. Theme - While the plot refers to action, 3. Rising Action - A series of events the theme refers to the meaning of the following the initial incident and leading play. The theme is the main idea or up to the dramatic climax. lesson to be learned from the play. In 4. Climax - The turning point or high point some cases, the theme of a play is of a story when events can go either obvious; other times it is quite subtle. way. 3. Characters - Characters are the people 5. Falling Action - The series of events (sometimes animals or ideas) portrayed following the climax. by the actors in the play. It is the 6. Denouement - Another term for the characters who move the action, or plot, conclusion; a French term for of the play forward. unraveling. 4. Dramatic Speech - refers to the words written by the playwright and spoken by Other Literary Elements the characters in the play. 1. Exposition - The ‘who’, ‘where’, Dialogue - two or more people ‘when’, and ‘what’ part of the play. talking 2. Story Organization - beginning, Monologue - one person talking middle, end Soliloquy - one character speaking 3. Conflict - The internal or external out his thoughts aloud for the struggle between opposing forces, ideas, audience or interests, that creates dramatic 5. Music / Rhythm - While music is often tension. featured in drama, in this case, Aristotle 1. Internal Conflict refers to the rhythm of the actors’ voices a. Character vs. Self - When a as they speak. character struggles 6. Spectacle - This refers to the visual 2. External Conflict elements of a play: sets, costumes, a. Character vs. Character: when special effects, etc. The spectacle is one character has a problem everything that the audience sees as they with another character in the watch the play. story. Set: Construction on the stage that b. Character vs. Nature: When a shows time/place character is forced by a natural force. Contemporary theatre has changed over years. c. Character vs. Society: When The essential elements popularized by Aristotle. the character has a problem in society such as laws, culture, or social norms The Six Elements of Tragedy 4. Suspense - A feeling of certainty Oedipus the King is a Greek tragedy that 5. Language - In drama, the particular exemplifies the six elements of a tragedy: manner of verbal expression, the diction, • Anagnorisis: The moment when the or style of writing, or the speech or hero makes an important discovery. phrasing that suggests a class or • Catharsis: The audience's feelings of profession, or type of character. pity and fear. 6. Style - the shaping of dramatic material, • Hamartia: The hero's flaw that leads to settings, or costumes in a deliberately his tragic downfall. non-realistic manner. • Hubris: A hero's extreme pride and 7. The Script - The script is the written disrespect for the natural order of the page of a play. It is divided into acts and world. scenes. Scripts for stage and screen have • Nemesis: The unavoidable fate of the strict Elements of Drama hero, usually caused by his own hubris. 8. Acts - Long sections of a play, made up • Peripeteia: The hero's experience of a of multiple scenes, usually designed to reversal of fate or fortune. separate the play into its main parts and to give the audience a ‘break’ from the Literary Elements in Oedipus the King performance. Dramatic Irony: Oedipus the King is a 9. Scenes - Shorter sections of a play, classic example of dramatic irony usually each scene occurs in one because the entire focus of the play is location at a specific time. Multiple on Oedipus unknowingly condemning scenes make up an act. himself by demanding to know the 10. Characterization - Is the playwright’s truth about the murderer of the former technique for revealing the king. The entire action of the play is PERSONALITY of a character. built on the dramatic irony that the murderer that Oedipus seeks is himself. 1. Direct - When the playwright Imagery: As a literary device, imagery TELLS the audience what the consists of descriptive language that personality of a character is. Usually can function as a way for the reader to found in character description under better imagine the world of the piece of “Cast of Characters literature and add symbolism to the Example: work. Imagery draws on the five GIRL: An early teen, on the cusp of senses, namely the details of taste, change; strong and determined with touch, sight, smell, and sound. Imagery overcompensating swagger. can also pertain to details about MAN: In his 30’s, lost in a broken movement or a sense of a body in world, hardened by the road; a motion (kinesthetic imagery) or the father learning to talk to his emotions or sensations of a person, daughter. such as fear or hunger (organic imagery 2. Indirect Characterization - When or subjective imagery). Using imagery the playwright SHOWS the helps the reader develop a more fully audience things that reveal the realized understanding of the imaginary personality of the character • Can be world that the author has created. described by the STEAL method Sophocles' use of light and darkness in S.T.E.A.L. • Speech • Thoughts • Oedipus, the King acts as an aid in Effect on others • Actions • Looks character development. Sight and blindness are also used as allusions to Technical Elements light and darkness, albeit not with the 1. Scenery (set) - theatrical equipment, same meanings. such as curtains, flats, backdrops, or Theme: Sight vs. blindness is a huge platforms used in dramatic production to theme in Oedipus the King. Naturally, communicate the environment. the symbol that appears in the plot to 2. Costumes - clothing and accessories support this theme is the eyes, both worn by actors to portray character and those who have vision and those who period. are blind. This theme and its 3. Props - short for properties; any article, accompanying symbol are introduced except costume or scenery, used as part when Tiresias, a blind prophet, is trying of a dramatic production, any moveable to explain to Oedipus that Oedipus object that appears on stage during a himself is the man who killed King performance. Laius. Oedipus refuses to believe Tiresias or see the evidence right in the epic poetry Biag ni Lam-ang, Senakulo or front of him to confirm it; instead, he Passion Play and Balagtasan. These theater plays tries to blame the murder on everyone have never-ending adaptations. else. Thus, Oedipus is 'blind' to the truth. CONCEPTUALIZING CHARACTER Character is the heart and mind of your story– Intertextuality John Gardner The word ‘intertextuality’ was derived from the Latin word intertexto meaning ‘to mingle while Characters are so vital. They define the art of weaving’. It was first introduced in literary drama and distinguish it from all other literary linguistics by Bulgarian-born French semiotician genres. A one-act play is 9-12 pages with four and philosopher Julia Kristeva in the late 1960s. characters or less. In her manifesto which includes such essays as Your main character is everything in your "The Bounded Text" and "Word, Dialogue, and story. They might be likable or awful, yet we Novel," Kristeva broke from traditional notions generally empathize with them because we feel of the author’s influences and the text’s sources. what they feel too. You may also use pet names. She argued that all signifying systems, from table settings to poems, are constituted by the The viewpoint character may or may not be way they transform earlier signifying systems. A the main character. Nevertheless, we see and literary work, then, is not simply the product of hear the story through them and there may be a single author, but of his/her relationship with more than one viewpoint character. They are the other texts (both written and spoken), and to the narrators. Generally, you rely on them to move structure of language itself. the story along and tell the truth about it. However, you may invent what is called an There are different types of Intertextuality: unreliable narrator. It is usually a character who 1. Appropriation is where a text is we monitor and so on adapted from the original text. It's learn to distrust, however much fun they are. important to note it isn't just copied The most common and effective ways by which instead of reimagining in some way to to present a character in a story are: make it new whether it's for a different 1) through appearance or physical context or a different audience. description; 2. Allusion is where you allude to 2) through speech or dialogue; something so it's referenced to another 3) through action; and text not only can it be a reference to a 4) through the thoughts and feelings of the text but it can also be a person, a place, character. or an event. The audience or reader has It helps to further flesh out character in pre- to make a connection. writing by using a character profile - dossier. 3. Parody is a funny interpretation of a Even if you do not include all the information on text. It is mimicking or copying a text to the character profile in your story, it helps to comment on it, a humorous make the character more real. You may include interpretation of serious pieces of standard biodata like the name, birth date or literature, writing, art, or music. Its main birth sign, height, weight, and more information, purpose is to entertain the reader. like favorite hang-out, least liked school subject, 4. Quotation: A direct reference to another dream car, etc. text with acknowledgment of its composer You can also write down the things the character 5. Adaptation: A film, TV Drama, or stage is most likely to say in given situations, such as play that is based on written work. when someone cuts in front of the line, when Intertextuality also involves the reader, asked for an excuse for tardiness in class, or the situation being referred to, and its when called to claim the grand prize in a raffle. context. CONCEPTUALIZING SETTING In traditional literary theory it is assumed that A basic formula to remember is: setting = scene when we read a work of literature, we are trying (time + place) + mood/atmosphere. For to find a meaning which lies inside that work. example, the combination of a time like We extract the meaning of the text. This process “midnight” and a place like “a Gothic cemetery” of extracting is called interpretation. has a natural resulting atmosphere that is “eerie or scary”. This could be the static backdrop of a Intertextuality in drama has been widely used novel on Dracula. since then. Here in the Philippines, one of the most renowned is drama specifically theater. Unusual or unexpected details, however, may be Some of the types of theater in the country are added. The setting, then, becomes more dynamic and ceases to be a mere introduction or 5. Create a "ticking clock" that puts the decoration in the story. In our example, the characters under pressure to get what cemetery at night could be “invaded” by a group they want right away. of teen-age Halloween revelers who bring their 6. Make sure there is a good reason, an class party to an "event," for your play. It's not enough authentic setting, thus waking up the dead, both for two characters to sit around and talk in a literal and figurative way. The niches could for a while and then leave. There needs be lined with lanterns and the tombs laden with to be some important reason why we're food. watching them now, at this particular moment. Setting can also be treated like a character if it is 7. Write dialogue that illuminates your made “to do things” in the story or to the characters and advances the plot at the character that create tension or conflict. For same time. instance, a stubborn wind in the UP Sunken 8. Make each character speak in a Garden messes up the hair of students and whips distinctive voice. If you have trouble up a storm of loose sheets of Xeroxed hand-outs. with that, try imagining a specific actor you know - even if it's someone who CONCEPTUALIZING PLOT will never play the part - in the role. A one-act play is a play that has only one-act, as 9. Do not have a character tell us distinct from plays that occur over several acts. something she can show us instead. For One act play may consist of one or more scenes. example, it's much more effective to To begin your plot, you need to choose the genre hide under the bed than to say, "I'm of your story followed by these Guide afraid." Questions: 10. Give each character a "moment," Romance: Do the lovers get together something that justifies the character's and live happily, or do they separate and existence in your play and that makes feel miserable? him attractive for an actor to play. Mystery story or quest: Will the character solve the mystery or find what he seeks? Adventure or war story: Does the character survive the hostile environment he’s battling against or overcome the enemy? Rags to riches: Will the character succeed or fail? Redemption story: Will the character save others, or transform himself? Coming of age: Does the character grow up, and if so, how and why? Tragedy: Does the character escape his fate or not, and if not, why?
Ten Tips to Develop your Plot
1. Create a world that's true to real life or fantastical or that mixes the mundane with the magical. But whatever set of rules you create for that world, make sure you follow them. 2. Write a conflict that builds as the play progresses. As you structure the conflict, think in terms of your play having a beginning, a middle and an end. 3. Write characters that want something (which puts them in conflict with other characters) and try to get what they want at every moment. 4. Make sure that each character has something at stake, a consequence if he doesn't get what he wants.