Anti-Hero
The imperfect protagonist of a drama who tries to confront the established norm, but ultimately fails
Aret�
Generally known as excellence of any kind or perfection; can be specifically put in terms of bravery, achievement, or happiness. The Greeks believed that we were all born for a potential for a certain type of excellence, and that our purpose was to cultiv
Aside
A part of an actor's lines supposedly not heard by others on the stage and intended only for the audience.
Act
One of the principal divisions of a theatrical work. (Plays are commonly divided into 1 act, 3 act, or 5 act performances)
Blocking
The precise movements and positions of actors or performers on a stage as dictated by the director.
Comedy
A type of drama in which the characters experience reversals of fortune, usually for the better. In comedy, things work out happily in the end. Comic drama may be romantic--characterized by a tone of tolerance and geniality--or satiric. Satiric works offe
Comedy of Menace
A play that combines the hilarity of a humorous tone with the disturbance of a menacing tone. It is funny on the surface, but tragic when examined.
Comic Relief
A humorous interlude in a serious literary work or drama, especially a tragedy, intended to relieve the dramatic tension or heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast.
Crisis
Major turning point in a
sequence of events; a condition that leads
to a decisive change; aka climax
Dialogue
Conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie
Complication
Part of the dramatic piece in which an act of urging or rousing to action occurs. Starts part for the major action in the drama.
Dramatic Irony
When the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the character in the play.
Dynamic Structure
The set structure of playwrights which are usually broken into parts, or "acts." They usually follow the order of exposition, complication, resolution.
Epilogue
A short scene which follows the climax and/or resolution of the play. Usually the epilogue provides narration or exposition via monologue/dialogue to explain what ultimately happens to the characters. Sometimes the epilogue is used to provide thoughtful c
Exposition
The beginning part of the play that fills in information so you know what has already happened so you can make sense of the rest of the story.
Foil
A character who contrasts in a parallel fashion the main character in a play or story.
Fourth Wall
The imaginary wall at the front of the stage that separates the audience and the actors; different levels can determine how much disconnect occurs.
Gesture
The physical movement of a character during a play.
Hamartia
The Greek term for the tragic flaw, a mistake in judgement committed by a tragic hero.
Anagnorsis
The Greek term for the critical moment of recognition or discovery of the identity of some character or the nature of his/her own made by a main character.
In Media Res
A story that begins either at the midpoint or at the conclusion, instead of the beginning.
Monologue
A speech by a single character without another character's response.
Pathos
The Greek term for the appeal to the audience's emotions.
Prop
An item placed on a stage or set to create a scene or scenario in which actors perform.
Resolution
The sorting out or unraveling of a plot at the end of a play, novel, or story. The outcome of the conflict.
Reversal
The point in the plot where the events take an unexpected turn for the protagonist, whose fortune dramatically changes.
Scene
A division of an act/change in subplot, location, or jump in time; often takes place when a character enters and leaves. (Noted with lowercase roman numerals)
Set
Artificial setting for a scene in a play, including furniture, scenery, and other items to create an illusion of another time and place.
Soliloquy
A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself while alone on stage; reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.
Stage Directions
The brief, but numerous (commonly parenthesized) instructions within the text of a play. These are often placed within dialogue, before or after a line, and are used to emphasize writer's ideas.
Staging
The process of selecting, designing, adapting to, or modifying the performance space for a play or film.
Stichomythia
A rapid fire dialogue alternating between two characters, often used in altercation or dispute
Subplot
A secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for the main plot.
Theater of the Absurd
Drama in which normal conventions and dramatic structures are ignored or modified in order to present life as as irrational or meaningless and a senseless world.
Tragedy
A form of drama based on human suffering that invokes in its audience an accompanying catharsis or pleasure in the viewing.
Tragic Flaw
A flaw in the main character or protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow.
Tragic Hero
A great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat.
Tragicomedy
A tragedy with a comic twist.
Unities (Aristotelian Rules)
1. Unity of action - a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. 2. Unity of time - plot takes place in a single day. 3. Unity of place - must be able to be presented realistically on a stage.
Peripeteia
The Greek term for the tragic irony
Catharsis
The Greek term for the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.
Mimesis
The Greek term for art as an "imitation of an action" (mirror for life)
Castrophe
The Greek term for the reversal of fortune
Fear and Pity
According to Aristotle in Poetics, what the audience must feel for the protagonist of a tragedy
Act
Largest principal division of a theatrical work; noted with a capitalized roman numeral (I, II, III, IV, V)
Audience
The assembled spectators and listeners of a drama
Character Double
Another character that serves as a counterpart, often to the protagonist, either physically or emotionally
Chorus
Group of characters in a drama who comment on the action without participating in it
Deux ex Machina
A plot device used when a seemingly unsolvable problem is abruptly solved ("act of god")
Dramatic Incitement
The event or decision that begins a drama's problem/raising action
Dramatis Personae
The list of characters in a drama
Hubris
Greek term for pride
Metatheatre
A force within the play that challenges theatre's claim to be simply realistic (a play within a play, a ceremony within a play, role-playing within a play, etc.)
Opsis
The Greek term for spectacle, now understood as the actual performance on stage
Poetics
The work in which Aristotle sets and discusses the standards for the genre of drama
Symmetric Structure
Structural style in which plays are written in five acts
Tragic Irony
The situational in which the tragic flaw of of the protagonist is exposed (modern term)