Unit XI Drama
Academic Vocabulary
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Play: A story acted out on a stage.
Drama: A story that is written to be acted out for an audience.
Tragedy: The presentation of serious and important actions that end unhappily.
Tragic Hero: The central character or noble figure who has a personal failing that leads
to his or her downfall.
5. Tragic Flaw: Imperfections that lead the otherwise noble character to make choices
that doom him or her to a tragic end.
6. Comedy: A play that ends happily.
7. Stage: Where a play is performed.
8. Set: Specific location on the stage for a play.
9. Lighting: Lights.
10. Costume: Actors’ dress on stage.
11. Props: Portable items on a stage.
12. Dialogue: Conversation between 2 or more characters.
13. Monologue: A long speech said by one character to one or more characters on stage.
14. Soliloquy: A speech by a character who is alone on stage speaking to him/herself or to
the audience.
15. Aside: A character speaks to the audience or another character and is not supposed to
be heard by other characters.
16. Stage Direction: Directions for the movement of characters.
17. Farce: The playwright concentrates on largely ridiculous situations.
18. Types: Specific characters.
19. Stereotype: A fixed prejudicial idea about a group of people that is offensive or
hurtful.
Shakespeare:
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The Wooden O: The Globe theatre.
Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Iambic Meter: Each unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable.
Iambic Pentameter: 5 Iambs.
Couplet: Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.
Act I: Exposition/Basic Situation.
Act II: Rising Action-A series of complications that occur as the main characters take
action to resolve their problems.
8. Act III: Crisis/Turning Point-The moment when a choice(s) are made by the made
characters that determine the direction of the action: upward to a happy ending
(comedy) or downward (tragedy).
9. Act IV: Falling Action-Events that result from the actions at the turning point. These
events usually lock the characters into deeper disaster.
10. Act V: Climax and Resolution-The death of the main characters-Any loose parts of the
plot are tied up.