World of drama
The kind of play
The physical world of the play
The central theme
Characters defined
Plot
Sources
Style
Outstanding feature of the play
The kind of drama
One has to recognize the importance
of ‘placing’ a play in the generic
sense.
It is important to explain in the
beginning of any analysis that the
play does belong to the type known
as…..(kind of drama, example :
Restoration Comedy etc)
The physical World of the Play
It would be futile to enter immediately
into a discussion of the play without
some brief explanation of the physical
world in which it takes place.
First of all explaining the location. It
has symbolic or historical significance
By placing the play in time and space
we are clarifying the larger world with
which the playwright is concerned
The central Theme
Every play has one dominating idea
which we call the theme
This is the significance of any drama
and that dimension of the artist’s labor
which outlives entertainment value
Characters defined
Part of any first general definition of a
drama should refer to the major
characters in a literal and informative
manner
That is, we should briefly note that the
play has a certain number of
characters.
Plot
We should present a brief synopsis of
the major action of the drama in
question so that the characters’
relationships will become clarified by
reference to the main events of the
play
Sources
A less significant but nevertheless
essential part of any opening
definition of a drama is some sort of
reference to the source of the drama
That is we should at least insert
parenthetically or in apposition the
place where the play story was
probably discovered
style
A definition should at least some
mention , however brief, of the basic
style of the play.
Outstanding feature of the play
If there is some one aspect of the
entire play. In either construction,
meaning, or style, it should be
separately noticed and emphasized
accordingly. In many plays no one
aspect will be so dominant that it
needs to be especially noticed.