DRAMA I
Daniel Schulze
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 Aristotele. Poetics (ca. 335 BC)
Poetics
• • • • An investigation of literary genres by type
As system of rules
Originally consisting of two parts, but only part one
concerning tragedy is still existent
One of the most influential theoretical writings on
literature far into the 20th century
Das Drama in Griechenland
• • • Drama developed in Athens (= centre of dramatic
art)
Classical forms: tragedy and comedy; staged within
a fixed institutional framework at the feast of
Dionysus (Dionysus = god of wine, pleasure,
fertility and ecstasy)
Important features:
 Acting
figures
 Commenting choir, giving the audience additional
information etc.
Mimesis
• • • • gr. Imitation (originally: achieving an effect through
some physical gesture)
Principle of imitation in the arts
Basis for Aristotle‘s investigation into literary
genres
Today:
• • Mimesis = Showing, e.g. direct speech
Diegesis = Telling, e.g. indirect speech
Tragedy vs. Comedy
“Since living persons are the objects of representation,
these must necessarily be either good men or inferior
[…] that is to say either better than ourselves worse or
much what we are. (9) […] It is just in this respect that
tragedy differs from comedy. The latter sets out to
represent people as worse than they are to-day, the
former as better (11). […] When tragedy and comedy
came to light, poets were drawn by their natural bent
towards one or the other. Some became writers of
comedies instead of lampoons, the others produced
tragedies instead of epics; the reason being that the
former is in each case a higher kind of art and has
greater value.” (17) (Chapter 2 & 4)
The Three Aristotelian Unities
• • • • Principles for the construction of tragedy, based on the
Poetics (effectively from the Renaissance on)
Time, [Place] and Action of a play should form a unity → no
time lapses, [changes of place], sub-plots
Aristotles‘ „Unity of time“: „…tragedy tends to fall within a
single revolution of the sun or slightly to exceed
that“ (chapter 5, p. 21)
Aristotles‘ „Unity of Action“: „The successful plot must then
have a single and not, as some say, a double
issue.“ (chapter. 23, p. 47)
Augusto Boal
What is mimesis according to Aristotle?
 What is the sovereign art and why?
 What does Aristotle mean by catharsis? Who
is purged of what?
 What is hamartia?
 What is peripeteia?
 What is anagnorisis?
 How does tragedy discipline people?
 William Shakespeare (1546-1616)
Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (ca. 1589–92, printed 1594)
Romeo and Juliet (1595, printed 1597 (pirate copy), then 1599)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (1599, printed 1623)
Antony and Cleopatra (ca. 1607, printed 1623)
Coriolanus (ca. 1608, printed 1623)
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (ca. 1601, printed 1603, pos. Priate
copy)
Othello (ca. 1604, printed 1622)
King Lear (ca. 1605, printed 1608)
Timon of Athens (ca. 1606, first edition 1623)
Macbeth (ca. 1608, printed 1623)
Comedies
The Comedy of Errors (ca. 1591, printed
1621)
Troilus and Cressida (ca. 1601, printed
1610)
Love’s Labour’s Lost (ca. 1593, printed
1598)
All’s Well That Ends Well (1602/03,
printed 1623)
The Taming of the Shrew (ca. 1594,
printed 1623)
Measure for Measure (ca. 1604, printed
1623)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (ca. 1590–
95, printed 1623)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595/96,
printed 1600)
Pericles, Prince of Tyre (ca. 1607,
printed 1609)
The Merchant of Venice (1596)
The Winter’s Tale (1609, printed 1623)
Much Ado about Nothing (ca. 1598/99,
printed 1600)
Cymbeline (1610)
As You Like It (ca. 1599, printed 1623)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600/01)
Twelfth Night or What You Will (ca. 1601,
printed 1623)
The Tempest (1611, printed 1623)
History Plays
King John (ca. 1595/96)
King Henry VIII or All Is True (ca. 1612/13)
Heinrich VI.
King Henry VI, Part 1 (1591)
King Henry VI, Part 2 (1591–92)
King Henry VI, Part 3 (1591–92)
King Richard III (ca. 1593, printed 1597)
King Richard II (between 1590 and 1599, printed 1597)
Heinrich IV.
King Henry IV, Part 1 (ca. 1595/96, printed 1598)
King Henry IV, Part 2 (ca. 1597, printed 1600)
King Henry V (1599, printed 1600)
History Plays
1st Tetralogy (York)
Henry VI (1-3), Richard III.
nd Tetralogy (Lancaster) Richard II., Henry
 2
IV. (1-2), Henry V.
 King John as prologue, Henry VIII. as epilogue
 Attention!
Historically-chronologically 2nd Tetralogy
comes before the 1st Tetralogy
 Macbeth
Why is Macbeth not considered a history
play?
The Playscript
Primary text
speeches of the
characters
 dialogues
 monologue, soliloquy
 asides
 prologue
 epilogue
 Secondary text
title
 subtitle
 historical notes
 dramatis personae
 stage directions
 speech prefix
 Dramatis Personae
Some Technical Terms
         Dialogue: the speech of several characters in a play
Monologue: a single character’s speech (often to the
audience)
Soliloquy: a single character’s speech while alone on stage
Aside: a remark that is not heard by other characters (often
to the audience)
Absolute drama: no narratorial mediation (e.g. Macbeth)
Epic Drama: narratorial mediation (cf. also alienation effect)
Comic relief: a comic episode in a tragedy
Tragic relief: a tragic episode in a comedy
Dramatic Irony: a discrepancy in information between
audience and character
Homework
Do we find an instance of comic relief in
Macbeth?
 If so, what function does it serve?
