(P) GENRES

- Lyrical / poetry – sonnets, odes, hymns, ballads

- Drama – (plays) comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, satirical play,
melodrama
- Epic
- Narrative – novels, short stories, novellas, fables, fairy tales

Narrative genre focuses on telling a story, on action and events. Word are
organised into sentences organised into paragraphs, chapters… it is
relatively long, has characters and a narrator.

Lyrical/poetry is relatively short. Words are organised into verses/lines,

stanzas… it focuses on feelings/emotions, it explains and expresses
thoughts and emotions. It has a poetic persona.

Dramatic in longer in form, focuses on actions. It is told in dialogues by

characters themselves and performed. It has characters, acts and scenes.

SUZAN GRIFFIN
‘This Is The Story of the Day in the Life of a Woman Trying’

This poem has characteristics of the narrative genre: it is telling a

story, focusing on events, the words are organised into sentences (here
we have very long verses – sentences); it is relatively long – longer than
ordinary poem, it has characters:
Woman, child, her friend, man who telephoned, woman she
shares house with, people in the babysitting agency, etc.
She is a writer, wants to dedicate herself to her work (she’s
trying to be a writer) but lot of ‘everyday tasks’ (dishes, sick child,
telephone, bills, etc) come in the way.

‘The Carpenter’s Wife’

Ballads are narrative poetry; they focus on the events, on

retelling the story and have characters. This ballad has some narrative
characteristics (story, events, and characters) but the poem-

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characteristics prevail. It also has some characteristics of dramatic genre
– it‘s told in dialogues between the characters.
‘The Unquiet Grave’ is also a ballad and has same
characteristics. Talks about emotions but gives descriptions, has
characters, has even a dialogue…

(S) CRITERIA OF CLASSIFICATION

Criteria of classification:
- Linguistic: English, Italian, Russian, etc.
- National: English, Italian, Canadian, American, etc.
These two must not be identified.
- Aesthetic/theoretical: ‘high’ vs. ‘trivial’ or the elite vs. mass literature.
Aesthetic is the science of beautiful. High literature means serious, elite
– which is put in literary canon by universal professionals.
- Sociological: which targets certain groups to which it is appealing –
women’s, youth literature, etc.
- Historical: medieval, Renaissance, modernistic, etc.
- Medium-oriented: oral (in the beginnings stories, poems were
transmitted orally), written (writing comes later) or audio-visual
(modern).
- Mimetic vs. anti-mimetic or realistic vs. fantastic
Mimetic from mimesis – copy or imitation
Mimetic is more realistic and anti-mimetic more fantastic.
- Conventional vs. experimental: conventional respects rules of a certain
time. Experimental does not respect those rules but as time passes it may
become conventional.

MAIN LITERARY GENRES:

- poetic/lyrical texts – poetry
- dramatic texts – drama
- narrative texts – the narrative (1. fiction? – imaginative writing - in this
case fiction includes all of this; 2. only prose)

POETRY

- Poetic/Lyric: (expresses feelings)

- ode, hymn (pray poems, dedicated to gods), sonnet (love poem
– Petrarch, Shakespeare), elegy (lyric poem, poem with sad melancholic
mood; usually expresses lament for someone or something)

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- Dramatic: related to ‘poetic drama’
This is between poetry and drama. Includes many dialogues, lot of
communication)
- Narrative: ballad
Focuses on events, on retelling the events, telling a story.

Most poems are usually a blend of these characteristics.

DRAMA

Tragedy – hero experiences a downfall.

Comedy
Tragicomedy, farce, etc.

Poetry expresses more feelings, more inner thoughts than drama; drama
concentrates on expressing more action, having more dialogues, etc.

NARRATIVE TEXTS

- Novel (the longest, has variety of characters, episodes, etc)

- Novella (or short novel)
- Short story
- Fairy tale
- Fable

Epic has a special place; it can be included in the narrative texts or it is

treated as a separate genre; it is a mixture of poetic and narrative forms.
The epic is a combination of elements:
Poetic elements:
 verse form
 orally performed
 accompanied with music
 has lyrical parts
Narrative elements:
 It is long
 Has series of episodes
 Concerned with action and great deeds of heroes
(it also includes some lyrical passages with the
expression of emotions)

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The epic is the oldest literary form
Classical epic: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (1200 – 800BC)
These epics have mythical past, uncertain authorship, historical
unreliability and different time planes

Non-European epics: Gilgamesh epic (ca.2000 BC), Mahabharata and

Ramayana (ca.200 BC)

Classical epic – national or folk epic

e.g. Beowulf – traditions of Germanic tribes of northern Europe)

Secondary or literary epic:

Has easily identifiable author; is modelled on older epics; treats
artistically or borrows themes and stories
e.g. Virgil: Aeneid; Milton: Paradise Lost; Spenser: Faerie Queene;
Dante: Divine Comedy.

Mixture of fiction and non-fiction:

- Essays
- Sermons and other religious writings
- History books
- Travelogues
- Letters, diaries, memoirs
- Street ballads
- Political pamphlets
- Cyberpunk etc.

(P) SUBJECTIVITY

Subjectivity is the individual treatment of particular theme.

Arthur Quiller-Couch - ‘Daffodils’

He was walking in the nature alone and lonely and saw the daffodils.
Because of the reaction of the daffodils to the wind he sees them as if
they were dancing.
He sees a whole field of daffodils and compares them with the Milky
Way because it seems that they are endless – there is so many of them
that they seem as if they end where the sea begins in the bay. He sad he

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saw the thousand because he saw a lot of them he could say one million
as well, and the wind was blowing so they were dancing.
He draws a parallel between the flowers and waves. In this stanza he
also shows us that the poet himself is the poetic persona and he’s happy,
he enjoys the view.
When in bad mood he recalls the view and the daffodils dancing in
the wind.

Ezra Pound – ‘Liu Che’

In this poem is described the death of a beloved person but the poetic
persona doesn’t say anything about ‘his’ feelings. It is autumn and life is
missing in this poem; there is nobody walking, no more movement, no
more rustling of the silk, just dust and fallen leaves. Leaves had fallen on
the ground ‘and she the rejoicer of the heart is beneath them’ – she’s
dead. He tries to make this less personal but it is not, it is ‘mocking
personal’ – he obviously misses her but he doesn’t say so but everything
expresses the feelings.

‘In a Station of the Metro’

Pound used haiku because of the movement – Imagism – in the early

20th century. It concentrates on the images themselves. Haiku has only 3
lines and number of syllables in lines is 5 – 7 – 5.
In a station of the metro there are many strangers, even the metro
itself is strange – it’s from France. The petals are the strangers – they
hang but they may fall off as well. Black bough is the rail lines which are
usually black, and it is wet because it’s raining.

Walt Whitman – ‘Tears’

On the beach at night – hiding and crying – not showing emotions in

public. The theme is how we behave in public – we don’t show
ourselves.
Important here are the images that the poet creates and that a reader
should create in his mind his mental images.

Perspective is the point of view that the teller takes.

Siegfried Sasoon – ‘Glory of Women’

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 Sasoon wrote from the trenches, he was in the ‘War Poets’. This
poem is about World War II. ‘YOU’ are the women that partook in the
confront. Women started producing ammunition; they were left alone in
the cities while men were in the battle. This poem is anti-war. Who is the
‘I’? – the soldier. Even the German mother is mentioned because nobody
was left untouched by the war.

Stevie Smith – ‘Not Waving But Drowning’

Stevie Smith attempted suicide.

A man is dead and the other are not paying attention. While he was
alive he was crying for help but they misunderstood. His jokes were not
necessarily just jokes but cries for help. There is the dead person’s
perspective and the other’s perspective. Second stanza their perspective –
people observing. 3rd stanza is the way he saw and knew the situation.
Relativity – what appears to be waving to someone can be drowning for
someone else.

Theodore Roethke – ‘My Papa’s Waltz’

The boy is telling the story and addressing his father. This poem can
be interpreted as a positive or as a story of a battered child. There are
many ambiguous facts in this poem.

(S) POETRY

Typical features:
1. shortness
2. subjectivity: selective treatment of the theme – individual
approach; perspective
3. condensed language
4. musicality/melodiousness: rhyme, repetition of words, etc.
5. the stanzaic form

1. even the longest poem is shorter than drama or a novel

2. Subjectivity is related to highly selective treatment of the theme. Poet

treats the theme from individual, specific perspective. The theme is not

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what makes a poem subjective, but the approach – the theme does not
have to be original (death of beloved person – not original theme), but
the original approach of the author makes the poem subjective. The
author tries to deal with the theme on his own original way. E.g. Liu Che
– not original theme but the way that Pound chooses to treat the theme
(there’s no pathetic approach in this poem).
Perspective is the point of view – who is speaking to whom, who is the
speaker and who is the addressee? Here is important the angle which the
poetic ‘I’ takes. (poetic I = poetic voice, poetic persona, lyrical I – this is
the speaker)
The poetic ‘I’ is not the poet himself (usually); it is another invention of
the poet.
There is implicit and explicit I :

Explicit ‘I’ - e.g.

‘I am tired of work; I am tired of building up somebody
Else’s civilisation
Let us take a rest M’ Lissy Jane.
I will go down to the …’
(F. Johnson – ‘Tired’, 1922)
Explicit ‘I’ and explicit addressee – Miss Lissy Jane

Implicit ‘I’ – e.g.

‘The golf links lie so near the mil
That almost every day
The labouring children can look out
And see the men at play’
(S. Cleghorn, 1917)

The ‘I’ here remains impersonal (example also ‘in the station of a
metro’)
Theme: poverty, injustice, dissatisfaction, compassion for the children.
This is socially engaged poetry. ‘I’ is disappointed with how life is but
we don’t know who this person is.

Subjectivity – e.g.
‘At ten AM the young housewife
Moves about in negligee behind..’
(William Carlos Williams ‘ The Young Housewife’ 1917)

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Here we have the explicit ‘I’ (‘I pass solitary in my car’)
The ‘I’ feels compassion, sympathises with the woman, she’s alone, her
everyday duties and obligations. Theme: position of a woman in
marriage – negative one.
We have also the implicit addressee – the poetic voice addresses nobody
special

3. Self-referentiality of poetic language

The language in poetry draws attention to itself by:

- unusual expressions and extraordinary combinations of sounds/words
- strange/unusual ideas

4. lyric from lira (mus. Instrument – Greek) originally referred to music,

because in the beginnings poetry had musical background. In late
development lyric became written form. In the early stages it was
performed orally, companied by music.
We can achieve melodiousness in poetry in few levels:
1. Phonological level – level of sounds, when you achieve
musicality through rhyme, poetic meter, etc.
2. morphological level – e.g. repetition of words
3. syntactic level – arrangements of sentences
4. semantic level – use of exceptionally figurative language

RHYME
Rhyme is part of musicality in poetry.
End rhyme or pure rhyme is the repetition of sounds beginning with the
last stressed vowel:
Bright – night

Internal rhyme is the rhyme that occurs inside lines (crowd – bough)

Slant rhyme, also called: imperfect rhyme, off rhyme, para rhyme, half
rhyme, near rhyme, etc.
crowd – bough type 1 of slant rhyme – repetition of vowels
type 2 – consonance – repetition of consonants, e.g. rider – reader, farer
– fearer

Alliteration is repetition of initial consonant (usually) in 3 or more

successive words: ‘when weeds in wheels’

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Homophonic rhyme – words that are pronounced the same but are
written differently (knight – night)

Historical rhyme – prove and love – you pronounce [luv] as it was

pronounced in 16th century just to achieve the rhyme

Rhyme Scheme

Sequence of end rhymes in a stanza/poem marked by small letters, e.g.

- rhyming couplets: aa, bb, cc

- alternate rhyme: abab, cdcd (typical for the sonnet)
- embracing rhyme: abba, cddc
- chain rhyme: aba, bcb, cdc

Poetic Meter – in the text collection for practical classes

5. STANZAIC FORM

Stanza = poetic paragraph

Couplet – 2 verse lines
Tercet
Quatrain
2 tercets – sestet
2 quatrains – octet or octave
The Italian and the English sonnet (14 verses) – most rigid verse form

Stanza consists of verses – verse lines.

Internal structure of a poem: syntax and verse length:
End-stopped lines are when there’s 1 idea in 1 verse line; 1 syntactic
unit in 1 line.
Enjambment or run-on lines is when syntactical unit spills over the
verse lines, from the 1st to the 2nd and so on.

(P) ARISTOTLE – POETICS – TRAGEDY

Mimesis – imitative process

Tragedy = imitation of action

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Action: Serious (‘matter of life and death’)
Complete (beginning, middle, end)
Has magnitude (person in difficult situation)

Media:
Language (made, artificial-poetic language)
Acting (actors)

Purification of the audience means that they should feel pity and fear.
Language has to be:
Rhythmic and melodious (poetic language)
Different forms – verses, songs (music, choruses, singing)

Constituent elements (make the form): plot, characters, verbal

expression, thought, song composition, visual adornment

Plot is structuring (organisation) of events (of the action imitated)

Aristotle constantly focuses on the plot; plot is imitation of the events
and tragedy is imitation of events – there’s no tragedy without plot.
What is imitated: plot, characters, thought

Constituent elements:
1 the greatest importance has the plot; tragedy imitates life – actions in
life
2 characters – tragedy imitates the persons for the sake of their actions
3 thought – underlying the theme of the tragedy – based on the ability of
the writer
4 verbal expression
5 song composition
6 visual adornment

[8]
Unity of plot of place and time

Unity of plot depends on logical connection of events and how logically

events are tied. It has to be all the elements of plot tightly knit in order to
make sense.

Hierarchy of disciplines
Events

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History – just describes what has happened
Literature – prevents something from happening.

Characters are important because of their actions. In Shakespearean

tragedy Hamlet’s inner state is important. In Oedipus it’s not.

Chapter 12 - Plots
Simple and complex plot

If we have a tightly knit structure it is a good plot if not it is a simple plot

which is not good. Here if it is not simple it is complex – contains events
that are fearful and pathetic; it has to induce fear and pathos (emotional
charge)
The plot is best constructed if even the events that are unexpected come
logically; even accidents have to be very much connected with the
previous actions.
Cause and effect – logical causality of plots

REVERSAL (shift, change): in simple plot there is no peripety and no

recognition (anagnorisis); in complex plot we have both the peripety and
anagnorisis.

Peripety is a sudden reversal. Recognition is finding some peace of

information we did not know before.

Everything begins with chorus (people of city Thebes) begging Oedipus

to save them from the plague. Reversal is when Teiresias tells Oedipus…
The shift is when Oedipus starts realising something is wrong. He
realises the strangeness of this all.

Hamlet begins with the ghost.

Monologue is meant to be heard.

Cythe – govor postrance – short comments that nobody hears, while
other characters are speaking
Soliloquy – 1 character is alone on the stageit seems as if he were
speaking to God of himself.

Hamlet has several plots

Accidents : Polonius’ death and Ophelia’s suicide

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Revenge is at the end

Pg 37 of Poetics:
3 elements:
Pathos (destructive act, acts causing pain)
Peripetia ( peripety, shift)
Anagnorisis (recognition)

Chapter 13 – pg 38
-pity/fear is motivating catharsis through characters of particular type
and particular direction of events evolve.
Artistically made plot.
HAMARTIA – mistake (character is a normal person, not too good, not
wicked, not a god, he’s just what is expected of human being; but he
does make mistakes)

Direction of events is from good to bad

Chapter 15 – characters

Deux ex macinae – in Greek theatre everything supernatural – image of

god coming from machine – no person plays gods.

Pg. 43 – appropriate in actions – behave in a particular way in society

Inappropriate is not credible, has to behave according to the expectations
Consistent – behaves in the same way throughout the whole play
Likeness to human nature – should be a human, even if a hero must not
be a superman.

Hamlet experiences a downfall because of a mistake, because of hi

indecisiveness; he spends too much time lamenting and acting, he’s
melancholic; he thinks and prolongs; he is inconsistent; he’s more good
than bad. In Elizabethan time theatre is about characters not just actions;
it does not revolve around actions. Hamlet had chances but he does not
act – no cause and effect relation.

Pg 42 – underlined : according to this Hamlet would be a disaster of a

play; but this reflects the modern theatre.

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 (S) ANCIENT GREEK THEATRE

5th century BC was the golden age of ancient Greek drama: Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides. Tragedy builds on the epic; the stories from the
epics were used again in the drama. Sophocles did not invent Oedipus;
this story was already known to the Greek society from the epic. Epic
was the oldest, then comes drama, then lyric.

Theatron or Koilon

Greek theatre was an open-air theatre – amphitheatre. In theatron, rows

or seats are Kerkis, stairs Klimakes; there are 2 parts – upper and lower,
separated by aisle – Diazoma. There is a special seat for the priest of
Dionysius; it’s a kind of throne; it’s very decorated. Orchestra is circular
space in the centre (not music orchestra); or ‘dancing place’; in the centre
of orchestra is an altar. A part of dramatic action took place there; a
chorus stood there (a group of singers and dancers that stood in orchestra
– they commented, sang, danced + served as a guide for the audience –
they summed up, dropped hints etc. – they provided entertainment).
Chorus was very important for the development of drama. The Greek
tragedy evolved from the chorus. Beyond the orchestra is the Skene –
scene –stage building that looked like a house; it provided background
for the stage – Logeion Proskenion. First it was made of wood and then it
became permanent stone building. Approval of the play was shown not
only by clapping, but with shouting, hissing, if they didn’t like the play
the audience would throw fruit, stones…
The theatre has religious origin: god Dionysius and his annual
festivals : The Lenaea and The Greater Donysia. It had a religious
function; it was rooted in religion. It was inevitable a sacred place, built
between the temple and market place.
Dionysius is Roman god Bachus. Dionysius was god of wine,
hedonism (sexual orgies), to Greeks he represented positive qualities, but
he also had a dark and positive side. Bachus is a simplified version of
Dionysius; he was a god of wine and sexual orgies; the view of him was
too simple.
Dionysius’ negative side:
The followers of the god revered him till self-destruction;
specially drinking rituals which included lots of wine and other
psychedelic substances. The followers did all this jus to be united with

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the god Dionysius. He symbolised unity of being – all existing forms
would ‘go back to him’. They had sexual orgies as well and the aim
wasn’t pure entertainment but unity with god Dionysius.
Positive side:
He symbolised rebirth, natural renewal, fertility, continuation of
life, regeneration, spring, nature. He had 2 big annual festivals and some
small village fests. In that time the plays in honour of god Dionysius
were played (role of the theatre).
Leanea was a festival of wine press. Wine was considered to be
mystical substance. It was held in January and February.
The Greater Dionysia – the City Dionysia; was a central festivity
in honour of god Dionysius. It was held in March and April. During this
festival contests in skills were held:
- tragedy
- comedy
- dithyramb (hymn dedicated to Dionysius, praise the god)

On the 1st day religious processions were held, on the 2 nd day –

contests in dithyramb, on 3rd day contests in comedy and last 3 days
contests in tragedy. From this we can see the importance of tragedy. It
was regarded as perfect art form. We don’t know her exact origin but it
may have developed from dithyramb.

Origin of tragedy as a dramatic form

Dithyramb / satyr play/ tragedy
Dithyramb is a hymn in honour of god Dionysius. Satyrs are
mythological creatures half-men half goat with great sexual energy; the
were chasing the nymphs. Tragedy is the most recent. It evolved from the
satire and dithyramb tradition. How?
1st theory:
Chorus was the nucleus of tragedy. In the beginning it must have
been just chorus. Then 1 of the singers just separated from the others and
a form of conversation developed – 1st verbal exchanges. Son of 1st single
singer was a kind of narrative of events from life of god Dionysius. With
time other themes came not just god D.
Aeschylus added the 2nd actor; now there were 2 actors and a
chorus.
Sophocles added the 3rd actor + the chorus. Nov the tragedy was
more developed than in the beginning. In the 5 th century BC tragedy and
satyr-play were the dramatic forms and dithyramb poetry.

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 Aristotle’s Poetics is the most important document; it is the
oldest known peace of literary theory in the western world. It was written
50 – 75 years after the Greek tragedy experienced its peek.

Aristotle’s Poetics had 2 parts. The 2nd part was lost. Division of
1st part: introduction (chapter 1-5); main part (ch. 6-22) on tragedy; final
part (ch. 23-26) on epic and tragedy vs. epic.
Introduction: mimesis (imitation) is the fundamental
phenomenon of art – imitation of life.
Final: action in the play has to take place within 24 hours – unity
of time. Epic is longer. Tragedy must have single action; epic can
combine more actions and episodes. Unity of place; action has to take
place in 1 city. Epic hasn’t these restrictions.

Theory of tragedy in Poetics

Descriptive or prescriptive approach?

1. definition of tragedy and 6 constituent elements
2. elements of tragic plot: primacy of plot: primacy of plot over
character
3. effect on audiences: eleos (pity), phoibos (fear or terror),
catharsis

Tragedy imitates action NOT characters.

Cause-effect chain:
Middle action has to logically follow out of the beginning and
affect the ending.

Magnitude stands for the tone/atmosphere of tragedy. Events are

always highly intense, dramatic. The theme is universal; the audience has
to recognise themselves. You can measure the quality of tragedy
depending on the effect on the audience.
Mixed characters is what a tragic hero in a good tragedy must be
like – not perfect but not totally bad.

Oedipus is symbol of humanity left in ignorance.

Hamartia is what is responsible for the downfall of the hero. In
Oedipus it is and error a mistake; he falls not because he’s a bad
character; he is not the cause of his fall. Hamartia is not moral

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deficiency; it’s just a mistake in judgement he makes. He falls because
he makes mistakes.

Primacy of plot
Plot = arrangement of incidents (not the story itself)
Connection with the Greek world picture and religious origins of
the Greek theatre: ‘man is what he does’ (no psychological approach)
and the concept of fate or ‘gods’

Oedipus is tragic because he remains dignified; because of his

response, reaction; he confronts his fate. Not because of his moral, just
what he did is important – primacy of plot.

(S)17.10.2008.

* primacy of plot
* mixed characters
* effect on the audience

Hamartia is different in Greek and Elizabethan tragedy. Greek gods are

not like Christian/monotheistic god; they can be mean and nasty and
monotheistic god is on the other hand loving and forgiving.
Oedipus is a tragic hero because he wanted to find the truth; he showed
his dignity and stoicism. In Aristotelian criteria he was a perfect tragic
hero; he took the full responsibility for his acts, he was also not a villain
but not too good either; he showed rashness and hot temper. Rashness –
why did he marry a woman old enough to be his mother although he
knew about the prophecy and did he get in fight and kill an older man, a
man old enough to be his father? These bad characteristics of his are also
shown in his behaviour towards Creon and Teiresias.
In this tragedy the whole story of his life is not necessary, just this part
where the most important events occur.
The beginning, middle and end are connected with cause-effect chain;
this means that one event leads to another. The beginning is the event
that ‘triggers off’. The plot structure is shown on Freytag’s triangle.
First Oedipus promises to find the murderer of Laius. He consults the
oracle in Delphi.
The climax are the messengers; both of them have a function an that is to
get to the truth.

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Peripeteia/Reversal (of the messenger’s intention)
Anagnorisis/Recognition
Desis/rising action/tying up/complication
Lusis/falling action/unravelling/denouement

Reversal and recognition come at almost the same time – in climax.

Is Hamartia error or flaw?

- Error/mistake with no moral overtones (because of Greek value-
system and Greek theatre): Oedipus as a symbol of mankind left in
ignorance and wrong judgement despite the search for truth, dignity and
nobility.

- Flaw: tragic moral flaw in the character, false moral judgement

(because of Christian value-system and Elizabethan theatre) - Hamlet

What is ironic about Oedipus is the fact that Teiresias is blind but ‘sees’
and Oedipus can see but is ‘blind’; then Oedipus blinds himself because
when he had eyes he did not see the truth.

ELIZABETHAN THEATRE / SHAKESPEAREAN THEATRE

Renaissance in 16th century – attitude to Aristotelian rules

Outside England Aristotle was influential even after the Renaissance, but
in England plays of new type were written. There was a different
understanding of plot, characters and of the effect on audience. It was
Shakespearean theory of drama.

Greek and Elizabethan theatre: common characteristics

They were both concerned with the position of human being in the
world. They emphasized human dignity, worth, responsibility and
stoicism, nobility of mind, even in the worst situations. Tragedy shows
human being reaching the highest point of dignity when in the worst
situation. Tragedy directly or indirectly hints that human lives are
governed by some higher forces (gods). They have similar effect on
audiences – pathos and pity. They focus on sad, tragic, dramatic events:
murder, incest, death, pain, cosmic loneliness. They are never entirely
pitiful nor entirely fearful (terrifying) (entirely pitiful are soap operas and
cheap love stories). There is good dosage of fear and pity but none
should prevail. They are partly outcome of man’s actions and partly

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gods’ decision. Shakespeare gives more free will to his characters but he
also shows a hint of higher authority.

NEW CONCEPT OF DRAMA

Primacy of character – the tragic hero and Hamartia as tragic flaw

It is important what the characters are like; their inner motivation for
what they do not just the actions as in Greek tragedy. There are many
monologs and soliloquy, which are typical of Shakespeare (To be or not
to be). Their function is to reveal the mind of the character/tragic hero.
Even here there are mixed characters; not too god and not villains. They
fall due to the fact that their deeds are judged because of the tragic moral
flaw which is in themselves in their nature. This flaw is a tragically
overstressed ‘quality’; e.g. Hamlet’s indecisiveness, he tends to
exaggerated analysing. Hamlet is an anti-hero; he is the opposite of
Oedipus; does not do anything.

Disregard of unities
Modern theatre doesn’t respect unities. Unity of time (everything has to
happen within 24 hours) – Shakespeare disregards this rule. Unity of
action (everything happens on 1 place – Oedipus is in Thebes on the
court) Shakespeare disregards this unity as well, action happens on
different places – graveyard, travels, court etc.
Unity of plot (1 single plot) – has similar elements but not strictly. There
is the main plot (Hamlet’s story) and sub-plot (Ofelia’s family; Laerte’s
revenge for his father and sister).

Mixture of the tragic and the comic

Shakespeare combines tragic and comic elements. E.g. character of the
fool (king’s jester) in Shakespeare’s plays this character utters what
everybody thinks but nobody is allowed to say openly. There are also
human follies – ridicule of some other characters. Shakespeare’s
comedies were not pure comedies; they had elements of tragedy; some
dark bitter observations. His late comedies are considered to be ‘dark
comedies’. Greeks would never make or accept this mixture.

Different physical setting – the stage

The Globe theatre – Shakespeare was the owner, playwright and actor as
well.

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First plays were the university plays and interludes. In Renaissance
England, the interludes were performed in private mansions and the
university plays were performed in schools, especially in law schools –
‘Inns of Court’. First professional acting companies were the travelling
actors; they would set up temporary stages in fields. In 16th century the
reputation of these groups grew – there were 2 Inns in London..:

The Elizabethan Stage

First were temporary or improvised stages. The inns served as temporary
theatres (in mid-century) e.g. ‘The Saracen’s Head’ and ‘The Boar’s
Head’. First permanent playhouses were e.g. The Globe (1599); The
Rose; The Swan. The entrance to these playhouses was paid; earlier the
entrance in the inns was not paid. The shape: baiting house and inn. The
playhouses were built outside the city because they were frowned at and
disapproved; everything that had to do with acting was disapproved.
In 1613 The Globe was burnt down – the roof got fire. In 1614 it was
reopened. In 1644 it was finally demolished because the puritans
(religious fanatics) ordered all theatres to be closed. In 1660 it was again
reopened and in 1997 the New Globe was opened.
The precise view of the stage is not certain. There is a sketch of the Swan
theatre made by Dutchman Johannes de Wit about 1596. it is similar to
Globe; has circular shape, inner courtyard, stage.
Shape of the Globe
Circular form of the bating house – where the cock fights took place. The
tiring house had 2 floors. The performances depended on weather and
there were no lights so there were no night performances. The stage was
the apron stage it was projected towards the audiences so the
performance took place in the midst of the audience. Classification of the
audiences:
1 – the groundlings – they stood on the ground around the stage ( cheap 1
penny ticket)
2 – those who paid more expensive tickets and sat on the benches on
surrounding galleries (2 floors)
3 – the richest – they had private room on the gallery

This was a democratic stage. Different social classes were allowed to

come; the theatre was not restricted only to aristocracy. Social classes
mingled. The town council thought that the Globe was bad influence;
especially because of the possibility it offered different classes to mingle

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– uncontrolled mixing. They tried to isolate playhouses and place them
outside the city.

The size of the theatre was - it could receive 2000 – 3000 spectators; had
good acoustic so the actors did not have to shout in order to be heard;
there was a close contact between the audiences and the actors; there was
almost no scenery, no furniture, just some stoles and maybe a throne.
There were 2 stage doors for the actors. Between the doors was the
curtained room used only in special acts for sick-bed parts – not too
often. There was the 2nd floor balcony which was used only in particular
scenes (Romeo and Juliet) and which was also used for the musicians.
There was a flag, when it was unfurled it was a signal that the show will
begin shortly. ‘Hell’ was separated by curtains and there was a trapdoor
on the stage leading to ‘hell’. ‘Deux ex machina’ was part of tiring
house. There was entrance and exit for the actors; main entrance was in
front. Apart from the apron stage it was also called ‘ Passe-partout
scenery’:
Since there was little or no furniture on the stage, it demanded lot of
imagination of the audiences. There were many lines in the plays that
told the audience what they should imagine (e.g. Macbeth). There was no
curtain on the stage; the action was moving fast and everything was
taking place in front of the audience. The signal for the change of scene
was: the group of actors came out through the exit door and another
group of actors came in. no change of location could be signalled
because there was no furniture. Passé partout for the Elizabethan theatre
was the tiring house; it never changed – that part had to serve every
action, every scene; the scenes changed but the same physical
background remained. There was no extra effort invested in decoration.
The stage suggests a variety of locations – deck of a ship, forest, street,
court…
Actors had richly decorated costumes and a lot of music was played.
There were no women actors; boys played women. There were 4 to 5
main actors.
Usually there was up to 12 actors. Companies were run by non-acting
managers. With time the actors also got share (part of profit) in the
theatre (e.g. Shakespeare). There were performances for 4 of 5 nights in
row. If a play was a real success it could be rerun. There was competition
between acting groups. Demand for plays was big and there was lot of
work for the actors and playwrights.

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 SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET

Identify structural elements of the plot:

1. Incentive moment
2. rising action
3. climax and recognition; reversal
4. falling action
5. resolution

(2 plots intertwined; 5 acts in Hamlet)

1. The beginning causes the chain of other events (in Oedipus it was
plague). Everything begins with the appearance of ghost. Now Hamlet
has to revenge and this triggers off the chain of other events.
2. cause-effect chain – chain of events from the appearance of the ghost
to climax.
Hamlet fakes madness. This is his strategy to be able to investigate in
peace under cover of madness and to uncover his uncle. This way he’s
buying time so that Claudius thinks that Hamlet is not a worthy
opponent.
Ophelia talks to her father; she is offended by Hamlet’s words when he
acts mad because he was insulting and harsh. She thinks he doesn’t love
her. He also had to show Ophelia that he is mad; he couldn’t tell her the
truth. (Ophelia’s flaw was that she was Polonius’ daughter).
King calls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. They are spies and Hamlet
knows that they are on a mission. He doesn’t trust anyone, especially
Polonius. He trusts only Horatio.
3. 3rd Act
Hamlet decides to organise a play –a mousetrap for his uncle to see if he
is really guilty. He orders the actors to act the scene of his father’s death
– to see Claudius’ reaction. This is the beginning of the crisis and it leads
to the catastrophe. After the play the uncle is affected and he is praying;
Hamlet has a perfect opportunity to kill him but he can’t kill him while
he’s praying because he believes that that way he’ll send his soul to
heaven and not to hell. He misses the chance. He goes to his mother’s
room. Polonius is hiding behind the curtain and Hamlet kills him
(compensation for not killing Claudius). This the moment of peripety –
reversal:

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Now Claudius knows that Hamlet is not mad, that he knows the truth and
that he could be planning to kill him. Now everything is in the open
between Hamlet and Claudius. There are 2 recognitions here:
1st Hamlet is now sure that Claudius is guilty – the moment he sees
Claudius’ reaction to the play
2nd Claudius knows what Hamlet hides – that he is not mad and that he
knows.
This is not a classical recognition.
4. Events that Claudius undertakes against Hamlet – unravelling the plot:

- Ophelia’s suicide
- Laertes and Claudius’ conspiracy against Hamlet

5. this is not classical resolution – justice is not served in classical way.

Hamlet has fulfilled his task, he revenged, he managed to kill Claudius
BUT his mother, Laertes and he himself are dead. It is an ambiguous
resolution; justice is partly served.

(P) OUR TOWN

This play was written in the 30s. Structure has narrative elements.
Genre:
dramatic narrative
Plot Story/plot
Enactment Narration (narrator)
Characters Characters
Scenes/acts Lines/paragraph/chapters
Dialogue Dialogue and/or description
Action Action/events
Costumes/scenery

Wilder:
No scenery/costumes
Little action
Some dialogues
Plot
Enactment
Characters + narrator
Narration and descriptions

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He doesn’t follow the characteristics. He wants the audience to imagine;
he focuses on the imagination of the audience.
Preface:
In the Preface he blames issues of 19th century middle class; says that
theatre became dull business due to habits and tastes of 19th century
middle class – see in the text!

Tragedy aimed at the audience

Satire aimed at government – form of criticism
Comedy – exaggerated characteristic of people – set the model of
behaviour;
All of their purpose was teaching; ‘this can happen to you’. Now the
teaching part was less and Wilder showed rebellion against it.

Then the most popular were the melodrama (today’s soap operas),
sentimental drama and comedy (grotesque comedy). Dramas were sheer
entertainment and the theatre became a place where you went to be seen.
The theatre lost its universality, it became particular. We understand
something because we can identify with everything that is universal.
Ideas and messages have to be universal; anti-illusionist theatre was
universal.

Message of this play: enjoy your life as it is!!!

Main idea: grab a day and enjoy it!

Act 1 : Daily Life

1901
Daily activities in an ‘ordinary’ small town presented on the example of
the Webbs and Gibbs.
1 Stage Manager introduces the play and the setting.
2 Paper boy, milkman, Dr Gibbs
3 Stage Manager talks about paper boy’s life and death
4 The families have breakfast

Act 2 : Love and Marriage

1904
Wedding day and ceremony of Emily W and George G.
1 Stage Manager introducing/describing the setting for the act
2 Milkman and constable

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3 George visits the Webb’s house
4 Stage Manager introduces a flashback
5 Emily and George in 1901/02
6 Ceremony

Act 3 : Death
1913
Funeral of Emily Webb – Gibbs and her reappearance on a day of her
12th birthday – 1902.
1 Stage Manager introduces the setting and the background for the act
2 Grave digger and the man who is leaving town
3 Dead speak
4 Funeral procession
5 Emily joins the dead
6 Emily returns on the day of her 12th birthday

Appreciate small things in life.

No community; no town is perfect and untouchable; can’t be isolated
(because of the locking of the doors)

Anti-illusionist elements:
1 Stage Manager:
Narrator
Commentator
Character (these 3 were the tasks of a chorus in Greek tragedy)
Director

2 Sparse scenery
(difference between number of chairs – live / dead)
Changes of scenery by characters themselves before your very eyes

(S) SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT: THE BEGINNING OF

‘MODERN’ STAGE

Inigo Jones (1573-1652): the court, the masque and the picture-
frame stage
Theatre changes already during Shakespeare’s life. Now everything is
focused on picture-frame stage and variable sets. Inigo Jones was an
English architect and set designer. He made the first changes in the
theatre. He was very active in Jacobean period (King James I). He

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collaborated with Ben Johnson – costume designer. Inigo Jones invented
highly elaborate scene and stage; it was much decorated; with lot of
furniture, flowers, nature-scenes, facades of the houses; the facades were
technological inventions. He introduced perspective paintings –
background paintings which gave the audiences a feeling of depth.
The new play was court masque; those were brief dramatic presentations
based on classical stories from Greek or Roman mythology or stories that
celebrated the royal couple. They were performed in court or palaces of
rich men. The queen even participated in acting and the royal coupe even
wrote some of these plays. They were spectacular entertainment; had
expensive scenery and costumes; there was singing, dancing and music
and as we see it was related to the opera. This is called the illusionist
theatre; it creates illusion of reality in the audiences.

Illusionist theatre, the invisible 4th wall; the absolute drama

‘The willing suspension of disbelief’ means that you could willingly
accept the illusion. In 17th, 18th and 19th century the illusionist theatre
dominated. Audiences went to the theatre which invited them to identify
themselves with the play, to forget themselves. The theatre was the
illusion of reality; it imitated real life as far as possible. The picture-
frame stage, also called the box-stage, was separated from the audiences
(by curtain and ramp on 3 sides) and it seemed like a room with
‘invisible 4th wall’. Elizabethan theatre had no sides, no walls, no ramp
and no curtain; there was closer contact between the audience and the
actors; the stage was open and projected into the audience. Now, in the
modern theatre, the stage was illuminated and the audience was in the
dark; there was no eye-to-eye contact between the audience and the
actors. Curtain was used to mark the beginning and the end and to hide
the changes of scenery so that the illusion of reality would not be
destroyed. This kind of theatre was the ‘absolute drama’; it tries not to
undermine the dramatic illusion at all costs (e.g. use of curtain). The
picture-frame stage is tied to the realist play; it supports the feeling in the
audience that they are witnessing something real. (On the other hand
Greeks and Romans had open stages in the open space).
In the late 19th century the illusion of reality became disapproved by
critics, directors and the actors. A parallel development of plays for this
stage and these conventions and of new authors, playwrights and
directors began. They found this kind of stage childish, restricted and
introduced new form: epic-drama; anti-illusionist – to escape from these
formal restrictions. The epic drama was the counter movement in modern

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development. It culminates in works of Bertolt Brecht – German
playwright who took this new form to the extreme.

Absolute vs. Epic drama

There are 3 levels of dramatic communication:
1. non-fictional communication
2. fictional mediation
3. fictional action

3. Fictional action is the basic level of drama; it is the actual action of the
play; this is what is presented in the theatre – action. It is purely dramatic
level – what makes drama a drama.
There are 2 types of communication:
- verbal action – when the characters communicate (dialogues,
monologues, soliloquy..)
- non-verbal action – gestures, facial expressions, movements…
Every drama has this level of dramatic communication.

2. Fictional mediation does not exist in absolute drama; actually, the

absolute drama has no or little fictional mediation. Everything is
presented directly o stage; it doesn’t have anything to guide the audience;
the audience just witnesses; there is nobody who mediates between
audiences and drama.
Anti-illusionist drama has this element. Beside direct representation we
have fictional mediation as well. There is the narrator figure; he’s a
mediator, historian, character. The epic drama has certain connections
with the novel: narrator (a mediator between reader and rest of the
action; he is the one who explains the action). Protagonist is not a
narrator. Narrator does not appear in traditional drama. He is partly part
of action but mostly outside the action; he explains. Narrator is fictional;
he’s a product of imagination; he mostly addresses to fictional addressees
with which the audiences identify. (e.g. the additional level in Hamlet is
the play within the play). In traditional – absolute drama there’s no 2nd
level of dramatic communication; there’s no use of narrator figures.
Hamlet is an example of absolute drama; it creates illusion, there’s no
narrator, just action presented. The audiences confirm the expectation;
they consciously embrace the illusion.

Epic drama: the use of ‘epic’ devices and mediation, epic theatre –
alienation effect

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Epic uses narrative devices; it’s focused on the narrator figure; just like
in prose fiction here we have a visible, clearly recognisable narrator
figure. He is the additional level of communication – prologue, epilogue,
conclusions; he informs, comments; he can even stop the action at a time
and comment or indicate the future – narrative pause/break.
Epic drama – alienation effect (efekt otuđenja)
Bertolt Brecht had wide range of theatrical devices used by playwright to
destroy the illusion; this is opposite to the picture-frame theatre aims (to
uphold the illusion). These devices were used to discourage the audience
from identifying with characters.
A new type of novel appeared as well – stream of consciousness.
Stage changes here are not hidden; the stage hands can be seen – there is
no curtain, lights are on. The auditorium is even used as acting area;
sometimes the actors would even invite the audiences to interact – sing,
dance even act. E.g. Stage Manager in Our Town has also a task to
emphasize the main theme of the play (simple things are important, grab
the day) not just to destroy the illusion.

LITERARY – THEORETICAL TERMS

- person (in real life) vs. character (in play)

- primary speeches of all the characters) vs. secondary (everything
that is not the primary text; title, subtitle, historical notes, cast of
characters – dramatic personae, stage directions) text
- speech (utterance of a single figure) vs. dialogue
- kinds of ‘speech’:
o monologue (long speech, a character talks to himself;
does not exist in Greek tragedy)
o soliloquy (character alone on the stage talks to himself;
doesn’t exist in Greek tragedy)
o aside (there are 3 forms how a character can speak):
 monological (remark made by 1 character to
himself while he’s engaged with dialogue with
other character)
 dialogical (remark addressed to a specific
hearer; not to be heard by others)
 ad spectatores (to the audience; brief remark to
the audience that can’t be heard by the others)

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 - Speech heading (parts of secondary text), stage direction
(didascaly), closure (or resolution)

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