ABOUTREADCHAT ARTICLES ABOUTREADCHAT ARTICLES Genres of Literature. Genre is a French term meaning types or classes of literature. Through these genres, man’s way is reflected in the society. These genres serve as vehicles through which literature is conveyed or expressed, these forms of literature are used to entertain, educate, inform and even used to mobilized the people for a just fight or struggle. These genres are: drama(play), prose (novel) and poetry (poem). We shall be considering one of the aspects of the genres of literature. DRAMA Literature is life, drama being a form of literature is thus life. The term drama comes from a Greek word “drama” meaning action, “to do” or “to act”. Drama is the imitation or representation of reality on state. It is an imaginative expression of ideas inform of action and dialogue. Drama usually comes alive when it is interpreted through performance of actors who have adopted the roles of created characters. A drama cannot be regarded as a play until it is acted on stage. Apart from stage performance, drama can be presented in the form of television soap-opera, play movie, also known as home video. A play is a drama in book form. It is written with or without and scene that is meant to be performed on stage. The distinguishing characteristics of drama as a genre is its reliance on action and dialogue. Whenever you observe two quarrelsome drivers at traffic, you will see these two primary elements of drama that is action and dialogue. A drama is developed basically through dialogue and actions by the characters. Therefore, without dialogue and action there is no drama.
Features of Drama
The features of drama are those things that are very important in a drama, without them a drama is incomplete, a drama cannot be said to be a drama and they are.
The characters; these are the persons through whom the playwright communicates to the audience or reader his idea. Character is the combination of the different qualities which a person has; is he kind or wicked. This is the personality and image of the person. There are major or minor characters in literary work. A major character is the main person or persons in a play and these characters undergo developmental changes or transformation as the plot of the play unfolds while the minor ones are generally static
Characterization; this is the process of creating characters and according them certain positive attributes or vices.
Dramatis personal; this is the display of all the participants in a dram or play
Conflict; this is the rivalry and struggle for assertion of influence or relevance in a dram between the protagonist and the antagonist.
Protagonist; is a character that plays the most prominent role in a play or novel often referred to as the hero/heroine.
Antagonist; is a character that opposes the protagonist rightly or wrongly. He causes the downfall of the major character.
Tragic Flaw; a costly mistake made by the protagonist in any literacy work. It could also men an inbuilt or inherited weakness (flaw, like pride, woman, which brings about his downfall.
Dialogue; it refers to the exchange of words, ideas and opinion in literary work between two or more characters.
Action; this is an important feature of drama, without action a drama is not complete. What stimulates action in a play is conflict and conflict is disagreement between two people or more. When characters hold different opinions, it leads to disagreement. As these characters argues their points drama is created, without conflict there may not be a credible dramatic actions.
Audience; these are the persons or people watching the presentation. They could be in a building (theatre) or open space.
Catharsis; is the emotional cleansing of the audience. It is extreme change in emotion resulting from strong feelings of sorrow, pity, fear for the protagonist often through the shedding of tears as when a great tragedy is being played out on stage.
Denouement; it is the turning point in the course of events in the play. It is also the resolution of conflict where all the mystery or conflict is resolved, into comedy or tragedy as the case maybe to have an appropriate end.
Suspense; it is the state of anxiety and expectation in the reader or audience of a play or novel as to the likely outcome of events. It raises the audience interest and keeps them guessing as to what will happen next.
Soliloquy; it is a device in drama or novel which allows the character to engage in a loud self-talk while enabling the reader or audience to have access to his mind.
Plot; this is the sequential arrangement of events in a creative work. Playwright develops their plot from a beginning through the middle to the end. Plot has points which builds up climax and ends with a resolution.
Types of Drama
Drama is a genre of literature which creates or recreates human experience through acting.There are various types of drama, these are:
Comedy; is a play that makes people laugh and which ends on a happy note. It deals with light issues, avoids death, misfortune and creates a feeling of joy to the readers or audience. The main feature of comedy is humour.
Tragedy; this form of drama or play is usually regarded as the opposite of comedy because, it is a play whose atmosphere is often serious and tensed with an unhappy ending, often involving death of the protagonist. The most important feature of tragedy is sadness and sympathy for the protagonist.
Tragi Comedy; this is sometime called dark comedy, because it is midway between tragedy and comedy. It combines elements of both. It is made up of serious action which appears to bring disaster to the protagonist but surprisingly, ends happily.
Farce; this is a type of comedy which has exaggerated and absurd events, that are aimed to cause fun and laughter. The main feature of farce is to create amusement.
Pantomime; this is a drama that makes use of gesticulation, facial expressions with a music or drumming. There is no dialogue in this type of play. It is also known as dance drama.
Miracle and Morality; this play or drama is based on religion stories.
Masque; this is a play written in verse it involves music and dancing, singing and acting.
Mime; this is a type of drama that there is no dialogue. It makes use of gesticulation and facial expression.
Domestic Tragedy; this is another type of tragedy. It has the same element of tragedy but differ in setting and characterization. In this form of tragedy, the main characters are middle class people and their downfall takes place within the family circle. Unlike the tragedy drama treated earlier where the protagonists are great personalities like the Queen or king but in domestic tragedy they are ordinary people.
History play; this is based on historical events. It is also known as chronicle play e.g of such play is Queen Idia.
Closet Drama; as the name implied, it is not meant to be acted but studied privately.
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