The Stage and the School

Chapter 5: The Structure of Drama

Overview

The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) identified the basic principles of playwriting in his work Poetics. These principles were spectacle, or the visible part of a play; sound, or the audible part of a play; diction, or the language used in a play; character, or the person or people in a play; reasoning, or the way speech is used to present all aspects of a play, including the production of emotions; and plot, or the action and events of a play.

Many of Aristotle's basic principles are found in today's traditional four-part dramatic structure: exposition, plot, characters, and than one theme. The exposition elucidates the literary setting for an audience, often subtly answering the why , where , when , and who of the play. The exposition ultimately sets the mood, or emotional feeling, of the play, though mood may change throughout the play. The plot is what happens during the play. It generally features the development and resolution of a major conflict. The characters are the people in the play. When a character speaks, it is called dialogue. Most plays have traditional characters, such as the protagonist, or main character, and the antagonist, or the protagonist's opposition. The theme is the main idea of the play. It can be directly stated or, as is more common, left up to the audience to discover, interpret, and explore. A moral, on the other hand, is a lesson or principle contained within a play or taught by a play. Many plays have no particular moral, but every play has one or more than one theme.