English-America Literature Topic Drama.pdf

1.1 Ancient Greece and Rome Western drama originated in Ancient Greece, where Greek playwrights were known for writing tragedies, comedies, and satirical plays to compete in festivals ar

HANOI LAW UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF LEGAL FOREIGN LANGUAGES

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

COURSE: English-America Literature

Topic: Drama

Ha noi, 2023

CLASS : N03

GROUP : 07

BIÊN BẢN XÁC ĐỊNH MỨC ĐỘ THAM GIA VÀ KẾT QUẢ THAM GIA LÀM BÀI TẬP NHÓM

Tổng số thành viên của nhóm: 03

Có mặt: 03

Nội dung:

Tên bài tập: Drama

Môn học: English-America Literature

Xác định mức độ tham gia và kết quả tham gia của từng sinh viên trong việc thực hiện bài tập nhóm số: 07 Kết quả như sau:

Đánh giá của SV

SV ký tên

Đánh giá của GV

(số)

Điểm (chữ)

GV ký tên

1 453203 Nguyễn Ngọc

Thu Trang

X

Hà Nội, ngày 11 tháng 09 năm 2023

Kết quả điểm bài viết:

NHÓM TRƯỞNG - Giáo viên chấm thứ nhất:.………

- Giáo viên chấm thứ hai:.……….

Kết quả điểm thuyết trình:……….

- Giáo viên cho thuyết trình:………

Điểm kết luận cuối cùng:………

- Giáo viên đánh giá cuối cùng:…………

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1

I General about drama 1

1 History 1

1.1 Ancient Greece and Rome 1

1.2 Medieval theater 1

1.3 Renaissance 2

2 De昀椀ni琀椀on 2

3 Common elements of drama 2

3.1 Theme 2

3.2 Plot 3

3.3 Character 3

3.4 Dialogue 3

3.5 Staging 3

II Types of Drama: 3

1 Comedy: 3

2 Tragedy: 4

3 Tragi- comedy 5

III Typical author and work 6

1 The author: Arthur Miller 6

2 The work: Death of a salesman 7

2.1 Summary 8

2.2 Characters analysis 9

2.3 Symbols in the play 10

2.4 Themes 11

CONCLUSION 13

INTRODUCTION

What is drama to you? Many people know it as a situation or event that causes heightened emotions For others, the grand, complex stage plays of Shakespeare and other plays of his time come to mind Regardless, these and all other definitions of drama have one thing in common: emotion Drama is an art form that allows people

to communicate and connect with each other In all its forms, from stage, television, cinema to everyday interactions, drama revolves around emotions, tensions, and conflicts - things we experience every day Drama is, quite literally, our lives, complete with all their imperfections, complications, twists and turns

I General about drama

1 History

The history of dramas dates back over 2000 years, originating from the Greek word

“dran” meaning “to do" It is a genre of literature that utilizes performance as its primary medium It is a mirror of society, reflecting the intricacies of human nature, our relationships, and the societal issues we grapple with Let us look at the origin of drama, its rise to popularity and how dramas became what they are today

1.1 Ancient Greece and Rome

Western drama originated in Ancient Greece, where Greek playwrights were known for writing tragedies, comedies, and satirical plays to compete in festivals arranged in honor of the god Dionysus These plays narrated mythologies and the lives and experiences of Greek gods This trend gradually spread to Rome around 240 BC, following the expansion of the Roman empire into Greek territories (270–240 BC)

1.2 Medieval theater

In the early Middle Ages (500 - 1500), dramas reached England, where the clergy produced mystery plays to preach religion and spirituality These were among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe

Mystery plays: plays produced by the churches in England that dramatized biblical narratives

The early Tudor period (1485 to 1603) in England saw the rise of morality plays such

as Everyman (1510) and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678)

Morality plays: An allegorical drama form popular during the 15th and 16th centuries where the characters in the play personify certain virtues or vices

1.3 Renaissance

The dramatic form gained full maturity during the English Renaissance period (1500– 1660), a period that saw the flourishing of drama and the arts

Prominent playwrights during this time include Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont and, of course, William Shakespeare

2 Definition

Drama is a mode of fictional representation through dialogue and performance It is one of the literary genres, which is an imitation of some action Drama is also a type

of a play written for theater, television, radio, and film

In simple words, a drama is a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime or dialogue It contains conflict of characters, particularly the ones who perform in front of the audience on the stage The person who writes drama for stage directions is known as a “dramatist” or “playwright.”

Example: The television show Grey’s Anatomy is a genre.

3 Common elements of drama

Despite the immense diversity of drama as a cultural activity, all plays have certain elements in common

3.1 Theme

The theme of a play refers to its central idea It can either be clearly stated through dialogue or action or can be inferred after watching the entire performance The theme

is the philosophy that forms the base of the story or a moral lesson that the characters learn It is the message that the play gives to the audience

3.2 Plot

The plot is about the order of events and the progression of the play Without a plot, it

is difficult to create a compelling drama To a large extent, the success of a dramatic play depends on how the events of the play unfold Plot is essential to drama because

it takes the audience on a journey A plot can have many shapes It is often represented as a curve in a graph, as the plot builds up to a climax and then returns to some new state of calm and stability

3.3 Character

If Plot = What, then Character = Who The protagonists, the antagonists, and the supporting cast are essential to drama They are the elements of plays, TV shows and films that audiences can connect to They make decisions, influence the plot and inhabit the fictional universe that has been created by the writers, directors and crew

3.4 Dialogue

Dialogues ensure that all the thoughts and feelings of characters are out in the open for the audience to interpret Dialogues make dramas more engaging and immersive than plain text, as it establishes a direct connection between the plot, characters, and audience

3.5 Staging

Another part of ensuring that a drama is presentable is a focus on staging This refers

to a focus on stage directions and setting to properly recreate the visual themes and aspects of the drama

Stage directions: instructions in the script of a drama that indicates the movement, setting, position, voice, and tone of the characters, alongside instructions on lighting and sound effects

II Types of Drama

1 Comedy

Comedy is a genre of drama that has the purpose to amuse and entertain Comedies typically involve misunderstandings that lead to funny situations Most comedies also incorporate romance and happy endings

Comedy can be light-hearted and make people happy, but it can also be a means to expose issues in society by ridiculing them Most comedies include convoluted and even ridiculous situations that the protagonist(s) find themselves in before they get their happy ending It is also very common for comedies to involve romance, love and marriages During the Renaissance in Britain, the most popular comedy author was William Shakespeare He wrote the type of comedy that we now call classic romantic drama or classic romantic comedy

There are three main types of comedy in drama: classical romantic drama, satire, and comedy of manners

Example:

- A Midsummer Night's Dream (1605) by Shakespeare is a classic romantic drama in which two pairs of young lovers get lost in a magical forest where they are tricked by fairies

- Volpone (1606) by Ben Jonson is a satirical comedy that follows a man who tricks people out of their money The play criticizes greed through the means of satire

- Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal (1777) is a comedy of manners that revolves around two brothers One of them is exposed to be a hypocrite who keeps up pretenses in the face of society while the other one gets a happy ending as a reward for being truthful

2 Tragedy

Tragedy is a genre in drama that expresses serious issues A tragic play is usually about an individual or group who goes through trials and tribulations that don’t lead

to a happy resolution Most tragedies end with death and destruction Plays in the category of tragedy often raise important questions about the human condition

Tragedies are not stories of triumphant victories; they are stories that show us how difficult life can be but also remind us of the strength we have Tragedies often have moral messages However, some tragedies are more ambiguous and make us question things without providing a clear answer

There are three main types of tragedy: heroic tragedy, revenge tragedy, and domestic tragedy

Example:

- The Conquest of Granada (1670) by John Dryden is about the tragic hero Almanzor

He fights for his people, the Moors, against the Spanish in the Battle of Granada

- Hamlet by William Shakespeare is the most famous example of a revenge tragedy Hamlet finds out that his uncle and his mother have caused the death of his father Hamlet tries to avenge his father’s death, which leads to many more deaths, including his own

- Death of a Salesman (1949) by Arthur Miller is a domestic tragedy about an

ordinary man, Willy Loman, who can’t survive the pressures of a success-driven society Willy lives a delusional life, which also affects his family

3 Tragi- comedy

Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends the elements of both tragedies and comedies

A tragicomedy could take various forms It could be a twist on the traditional tragedy

by adding comic relief to lighten the mood of a work containing dark and serious subject matter Or it could be a tragedy that just does not have enough death and ends

on a happier note than a classic tragedy

Tragicomedy allows works of literature to explore depths and paradoxes of human nature unavailable to traditional comedies and tragedies People experience moments

of seriousness as well as moments of absurdity, and they both coexist simultaneously

in real life It also explores the morbid fascination of human nature, where people can find humor in the downfall of another person, even though it is only in fiction

Example: The Winter's Tale (1611) by William Shakespeare

This complex plot is structured in a way where the first three acts of the play contain tragic elements However, the last two acts downplay the tension created in the first half by incorporating comic elements like misunderstandings and chaos This blend of struggles, sadness, death, humor, songs, romance, and reunion in the play confirms its label as a tragicomedy.

In addition to the main kind, drama also has other type such as:

- Melodrama is a kind of drama that portrays exaggerated emotions like tension or excitement An example of a melodrama is ‘Still Life, Brief Encounter’ by Noel

Coward

- Musical drama tells a story with dialogues, songs, music, and dance An example of

a musical drama is ‘A Star is Born’, which starred Lady Gaga

III Typical author and work

1 The author: Arthur Miller

Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright, screenwriter, and essayist Winner of several Tony Awards, he was one of the most prominent American playwrights of the 20th century and was known for his ability to write engaging stories that tackled complex themes such as the American Dream, identity, and morality He was also known for his political activism and outspoken criticism of the government and society, which led him to be called before the House Un-American

Activities Committee during the McCarthy era Despite the challenges he faced, Miller remained a vital voice in American literature until his death in 2005

Arthur Miller is the son of a women's clothing company owner in New York City His father lost his business in the Depression and the family was forced to move to a smaller home in Brooklyn After graduating from high school, Miller worked jobs ranging from radio singer to truck driver to clerk in an automobile-parts warehouse Miller began writing plays as a student at the University of Michigan, joining the Federal Theater Project in New York City after he received his degree

Miller has been married three times: to Mary Grace Slattery in 1940, Marilyn Monroe in 1956, and photographer Inge Morath in 1962, with whom he lives in

Connecticut He and Inge have a daughter, Rebecca Among his works are A View

from the Bridge, The Misfits, After the Fall, Incident at Vichy, The Price, The American Clock, Broken Glass, Mr Peters' Connections, and Time bends, his autobiography Miller's writing has earned him a lifetime of honors, including the

Pulitzer Prize, seven Tony Awards, two Drama Critics Circle Awards, an Obie, an Olivier, the John F Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish prize He holds honorary doctorate degrees from Oxford University and Harvard University

Throughout his life and work, Miller has remained socially engaged and has written with conscience, clarity, and compassion As Chris Keller says to his mother

in All My Sons, "Once and for all you must know that there's a universe of people outside, and you're responsible for it." Miller's work is infused with his sense of responsibility to humanity and to his audience "The playwright is nothing without his audience," he writes "He is one of the audiences who happens to know how to speak

2 The work: Death of a salesman

Death of a Salesman, a play in “two acts and a requiem” by Arthur Miller, written in

1948 and produced in 1949 Miller won a Pulitzer Prize for the work, which he

described as “the tragedy of a man who gave his life or sold it” in pursuit of the

American Dream

2.1 Summary

Willy Loman – a traveling salesman has lost his salary at the age of 63 is working only on commission On this trip, he has failed to sell anything

Returning home depressed, under the questioning of his wife – Linda Willy admits that his commission from the trip was so small that they will hardly be able to pay all their bills, and that he is full of self-doubt

Charley – His neighbor offers Willy a job, but Willy refuses out of pride, even though he has been borrowing money from Charley every week to cover household expenses Full of regrets, Willy compares himself to Ben – His brother who left home

at the age of seventeen and made a diamond fortune in Africa and Alaska

 Rising action

Linda discusses Willy's deteriorating mental state with the boys She reveals that

he has tried to commit suicide, both in a car crash and by inhaling gas through a rubber hose on the heater Biff – their big son has been laboring on farms and ranches throughout the west for more than a decade, has recently arrived home to figure out a new direction for his life He agrees to stay home and try to borrow money from his previous employer, Bill Oliver, to start a sporting goods business with Happy, which will please their father Willy is thrilled about this idea, and gives Biff some conflicting, incoherent advice about how to ask for the loan

At the end of act 1, Willy decides to ask his boss for a salaried position in New York The next day, Biff and Happy arranged to meet willy for dinner at a restaurant