dramatic action
What is action? Action in and of itself is not DRAMATIC.
What is Dramatic Action? The dramatic action of a story must be FORWARD MOVING.
It is usually something large that disrupts a person's normal routine, throwing them off the course of their normal life.
The character must confront and/or conquer the unexpected problem or suffer generally dire consequences.
DRAMATIC ACTION WRITERS develop complex and compelling stories by focusing on: conflict, tension, suspense, curiosity.
What is Dramatic Action? The dramatic action of a story must be FORWARD MOVING.
It is usually something large that disrupts a person's normal routine, throwing them off the course of their normal life.
The character must confront and/or conquer the unexpected problem or suffer generally dire consequences.
DRAMATIC ACTION WRITERS develop complex and compelling stories by focusing on: conflict, tension, suspense, curiosity.
DRAMATIC ARC
Drama is divided into 5 parts:
- EXPOSITION - provides background information needed to properly understand the story, such as: the problem at the beginning of the story, the characters and setting.
- RISING ACTION - during the rising action, the basic internal conflict is complicated through the introduction of related secondary conflicts, including: various obstacles that frustrate the protagonist's attempt to reach their goals, or adversaries.
- CLIMAX - this is the turning point, something that mark's a change (for the better or worse) in the protagonist's affairs. If the story is a tragedy, things (generally) will go from good to bad for the protagonist.
- FALLING ACTION - during the falling action, the conflict between the protagonist and antagonist unravels, with the protagonist winning or losing against the antagonist.
- DENOUNCEMENT, RESOLUTION OR CATASTROPHE - comprises of the falling action and the actual ending scene of the drama or narrative. Thus serves as the conclusion of the story.
downloadable mini guide to romeo & juliet - w. shakespeare
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Brush up your Shakespeare - Reference sheet
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tragedy
Shakespeare’s plays The plays of William Shakespeare are often grouped according to type. They are grouped according to whether they are:
These types of plays have existed for centuries in literature from many different cultures. Shakespeare’s plays draw on some of the conventions or rules from earlier Greek, French and Italian literature.
The tragedies
Shakespeare’s tragedies do not all follow exactly the same pattern or conventions, but they have many characteristics in common. A Shakespearean tragedy is a play that has a serious theme and a main character or protagonist whose life ends due to their own actions as well as the forces of fate.
The main character is focused or obsessed by one aspect of their life, such as revenge, power or love, to the point that this is all they focus on. This leads to the character becoming isolated from their family or friends or society. The main character’s actions and choices during the course of the play lead them to disaster. There is a sense that the disaster cannot be avoided. The main character or characters usually die near the end of the play. Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra and Macbeth are examples of Shakespearean tragedies.
It’s a tragedy…
In everyday life, the word ‘tragedy’ is used very differently from the way it is used in a Shakespearean play. It is often used to refer to a sad or dreadful event or disaster. We see examples in the news all the time of events that are described as being tragedies.
Consider three recent events that you have read or heard about in the news that have been described as ‘tragedies’.
Sometimes the term ‘tragedy’ is used as a way of exaggerating an event or experiences that is inconvenient or unexpected and is used to describe situations that are not “life and death”. Example: The way she dressed was an absolute tragedy.
Read the following statements about tragedy and in your own words write a few lines (no less than 5) on what the speaker may have meant by them.
Quotations on tragedy
Stalin: A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
Goethe: The conflict on which a tragedy is based must ideally be one where there is no possible resolution.
Tom Stoppard: The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means.
Thomas Hardy: A plot, or tragedy, should arise from the gradual closing in of a situation that comes of ordinary human passions, prejudices and ambitions, by reason of the character taking no trouble to ward off the disastrous events produced by the said passions, prejudices and ambitions.
- comedies
- histories
- tragedies.
These types of plays have existed for centuries in literature from many different cultures. Shakespeare’s plays draw on some of the conventions or rules from earlier Greek, French and Italian literature.
The tragedies
Shakespeare’s tragedies do not all follow exactly the same pattern or conventions, but they have many characteristics in common. A Shakespearean tragedy is a play that has a serious theme and a main character or protagonist whose life ends due to their own actions as well as the forces of fate.
The main character is focused or obsessed by one aspect of their life, such as revenge, power or love, to the point that this is all they focus on. This leads to the character becoming isolated from their family or friends or society. The main character’s actions and choices during the course of the play lead them to disaster. There is a sense that the disaster cannot be avoided. The main character or characters usually die near the end of the play. Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra and Macbeth are examples of Shakespearean tragedies.
It’s a tragedy…
In everyday life, the word ‘tragedy’ is used very differently from the way it is used in a Shakespearean play. It is often used to refer to a sad or dreadful event or disaster. We see examples in the news all the time of events that are described as being tragedies.
Consider three recent events that you have read or heard about in the news that have been described as ‘tragedies’.
Sometimes the term ‘tragedy’ is used as a way of exaggerating an event or experiences that is inconvenient or unexpected and is used to describe situations that are not “life and death”. Example: The way she dressed was an absolute tragedy.
Read the following statements about tragedy and in your own words write a few lines (no less than 5) on what the speaker may have meant by them.
Quotations on tragedy
Stalin: A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
Goethe: The conflict on which a tragedy is based must ideally be one where there is no possible resolution.
Tom Stoppard: The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means.
Thomas Hardy: A plot, or tragedy, should arise from the gradual closing in of a situation that comes of ordinary human passions, prejudices and ambitions, by reason of the character taking no trouble to ward off the disastrous events produced by the said passions, prejudices and ambitions.
Prologue
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Translation to Modern Text
In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' feud. For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love and their parents' anger, which nothing but the children’s deaths could stop. If you listen to us patiently, we’ll make up for everything we’ve left out in this prologue onstage.
Summary
As a prologue to the play, the Chorus enters. In a fourteen-line sonnet, the Chorus describes two noble households (called “houses”) in the city of Verona. The houses hold an “ancient grudge” against each other that remains a source of violent and bloody conflict. The Chorus states that from these two houses, two “star-crossed” lovers will appear. These lovers will mend the quarrel between their families by dying. The story of these two lovers, and of the terrible strife between their families, will be the topic of this play.
Analysis
This opening speech by the Chorus serves as an introduction to Romeo and Juliet. We are provided with information about where the play takes place, and given some background information about its principal characters.
The obvious function of the Prologue as introduction to the Verona of Romeo and Juliet can obscure its deeper, more important function. The Prologue does not merely set the scene of Romeo and Juliet, it tells the audience exactly what is going to happen in the play. The Prologue refers to an ill-fated couple with its use of the word “star-crossed,” which means, literally, against the stars. Stars were thought to control people’s destinies. But the Prologue itself creates this sense of fate by providing the audience with the knowledge that Romeo and Juliet will die even before the play has begun. The audience therefore watches the play with the expectation that it must fulfill the terms set in the Prologue. The structure of the play itself is the fate from which Romeo and Juliet cannot escape.
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Translation to Modern Text
In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' feud. For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love and their parents' anger, which nothing but the children’s deaths could stop. If you listen to us patiently, we’ll make up for everything we’ve left out in this prologue onstage.
Summary
As a prologue to the play, the Chorus enters. In a fourteen-line sonnet, the Chorus describes two noble households (called “houses”) in the city of Verona. The houses hold an “ancient grudge” against each other that remains a source of violent and bloody conflict. The Chorus states that from these two houses, two “star-crossed” lovers will appear. These lovers will mend the quarrel between their families by dying. The story of these two lovers, and of the terrible strife between their families, will be the topic of this play.
Analysis
This opening speech by the Chorus serves as an introduction to Romeo and Juliet. We are provided with information about where the play takes place, and given some background information about its principal characters.
The obvious function of the Prologue as introduction to the Verona of Romeo and Juliet can obscure its deeper, more important function. The Prologue does not merely set the scene of Romeo and Juliet, it tells the audience exactly what is going to happen in the play. The Prologue refers to an ill-fated couple with its use of the word “star-crossed,” which means, literally, against the stars. Stars were thought to control people’s destinies. But the Prologue itself creates this sense of fate by providing the audience with the knowledge that Romeo and Juliet will die even before the play has begun. The audience therefore watches the play with the expectation that it must fulfill the terms set in the Prologue. The structure of the play itself is the fate from which Romeo and Juliet cannot escape.
the life of William shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in 1564. His birthplace was the small market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in England. Historians are unsure of the exact birth date, but there are records that show he was christened on 26 April, 1564. William's father, John, was a glove-maker and also served on the council in the town. The family was considered middle-class and quite well off financially.
Around 1568, William would have attended a small private school, from the age of four, to learn to read and write. He would have left school when he was fifteen. When he was 18 years old, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was the daughter of a local farmer and 8 years older than Shakespeare. Their first child, Susanna, was born in 1583, followed by the twins, Judith and Hamnet, in 1585.
In terms of his career as a writer, historians are unsure of what Shakespeare did until 1592. It was this year that William was described as an up-and-coming playwright. By this time, Shakespeare had already left his family to live in London.
Shakespeare’s first play was believed to have been Comedy of Errors in 1592. The bloody tragedy, Titus Andronicus, followed in 1593.
England and Spain were at war from 1585 until 1604 and audiences were keen to see plays that made them feel proud of their country. During this time, Shakespeare wrote nine plays that had English history as their theme.
From 1590 to 1600, Shakespeare wrote ten comedies. Audiences enjoyed the bawdy humour and liked the happy endings. Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne during this time.
Queen Elizabeth I died on 24 March 1603. King James I became the new monarch. He also became the patron of Shakespeare's theatre company.
In the early 1600s, Shakespeare wrote the tragedies Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Macbeth was written to please the new king who was from Scotland. Romeo and Juliet was also written during this period. In the 1600s, Shakespeare also wrote tragedies that were set in Rome. The first play set in Rome was Julius Caesar, closely followed by Antony and Cleopatra.
The playwriting stopped for two years, between 1592 and 1594, when the London playhouses had to close because of the plague - a disease which killed many thousands of people.
In 1611, after he wrote the play The Tempest, Shakespeare returned to live in Stratford-upon-Avon. He moved into a house he had bought for his family in 1597. He died in 1616, a very rich man.
Around 1568, William would have attended a small private school, from the age of four, to learn to read and write. He would have left school when he was fifteen. When he was 18 years old, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was the daughter of a local farmer and 8 years older than Shakespeare. Their first child, Susanna, was born in 1583, followed by the twins, Judith and Hamnet, in 1585.
In terms of his career as a writer, historians are unsure of what Shakespeare did until 1592. It was this year that William was described as an up-and-coming playwright. By this time, Shakespeare had already left his family to live in London.
Shakespeare’s first play was believed to have been Comedy of Errors in 1592. The bloody tragedy, Titus Andronicus, followed in 1593.
England and Spain were at war from 1585 until 1604 and audiences were keen to see plays that made them feel proud of their country. During this time, Shakespeare wrote nine plays that had English history as their theme.
From 1590 to 1600, Shakespeare wrote ten comedies. Audiences enjoyed the bawdy humour and liked the happy endings. Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne during this time.
Queen Elizabeth I died on 24 March 1603. King James I became the new monarch. He also became the patron of Shakespeare's theatre company.
In the early 1600s, Shakespeare wrote the tragedies Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Macbeth was written to please the new king who was from Scotland. Romeo and Juliet was also written during this period. In the 1600s, Shakespeare also wrote tragedies that were set in Rome. The first play set in Rome was Julius Caesar, closely followed by Antony and Cleopatra.
The playwriting stopped for two years, between 1592 and 1594, when the London playhouses had to close because of the plague - a disease which killed many thousands of people.
In 1611, after he wrote the play The Tempest, Shakespeare returned to live in Stratford-upon-Avon. He moved into a house he had bought for his family in 1597. He died in 1616, a very rich man.
the globe theatre
Use the internet to find answers to the following research questions:
www.acslink.aone.net.au/sandhurst/globe/globe.htm
www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/
www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/oldglobe/oldglobe_index.htm
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/globe/globe.htm
- When and where was the original Globe theatre built?
- Who owned the original Globe theatre?
- How much did it cost to enter and watch a play at the theatre?
- Who attended the theatre in the 1600s? What were the different audience areas in the Globe theatre called?
- Who used these different sections?
- How many people could fit in the Globe theatre to watch a performance?
- What was different about the design of the Globe theatre compared to modern theatres? Why might it have been built in this way
- In what ways was the experience of the theatre goer different in Shakespeare’s time from a visit to the theatre today?
- When did the Globe theatre close? Who closed the theatre and why?
- The Globe was rebuilt and reopened in England in 1990’s. In what ways would a performance in the Globe theatre in the 1600’s differ from a performance in the Globe theatre today?
www.acslink.aone.net.au/sandhurst/globe/globe.htm
www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/
www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/oldglobe/oldglobe_index.htm
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/globe/globe.htm