THEA 11000 Lecture 5: Understanding a Play
26 Jan 2019
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Document Summary
Dramatic genres: relates to emotional response, different genres serve different purposes. Tragedy: serious, ends unhappily, emotions of pity and fear, magnitude or importance. Creation of magnitude: social class of characters. Morality of tragedy: good people who make mistakes (greeks, complex moral universe. Popularity of tragedy: catharsis emotional release, teaching value, strength of character: Why are fewer tragedies written: absence of shared standards, decrease in importance of individual"s fate, rejection of exclusively male viewpoint. Lower stakes: takes an objective viewpoint, complete escape, ridicule human frailty, reinforcement of social norm. Tragicomedy or: comic and tragic are equally mixed, serious action but happy ending, mixed tone. Melodrama: emotions of fear and hate, focus on what happens, fast-paced action & suspense, spectacular climax. Morality of melodrama: clear conflict between good & evil, poetic justice, may deal with serious issues. Modern plays work with and against our expectations. Reading a play: visualizing the action, understanding cultural and historical differences, convention.
