Types of Drama

TYPES OF DRAMA There are four types of drama, they are comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy and melodrama. These genres originated in different times, but each of them has its own characteristics. However, all of them have their place in modern culture and should be appreciated. Read the article and freshen up your knowledge of drama! WHAT IS DRAMA? Drama is a unique and distinctive genre of literature. Drama definition is a narrative presented by actors/actor on a stage through dialogue/monologue and live action. Usually, dramas are stories that are acted. Through the combination of performance, music, dance, props, etc; the audience is able to feel like a part of the action. This is what makes drama a unique genre of literature. Of course, you can also read drama; however, you will get the full impression of what the author intended to show only when you visit a theater. TYPES OF DRAMA: There are four main forms of drama. They are comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy and melodrama. All these types have the common characteristics of drama genre; they are, plot, characters, conflict, music and dailogue. 1. COMEDY Comedy is a type of drama that aims to make the audience laugh. Its tone is light and it mostly has a happy ending. Such tradition came from the Ancient Greek theatre, where comedy first emerged as a form of drama. Comedy could be further divided into subcategories, for example, dramatic irony, farce, sarcasm, black comedy, etc. Each type of comedy has its own audience. Interestingly, such preferences may also depend on the cultural background of people. 2. TRAGEDY Murders, deaths, insanity, and pain are among the most common ideas in tragedies. Main characters usually have some kind of weakness or defect that causes their downfall. Tragedy first appeared in the theatre of Ancient Greece. Like comedy, it lived through Roman Empire, Medieval times, Renaissance and other eras. Aristotle believed that the main characteristic of tragedy was the change of fortunes of the main character because of his flaws. The philosopher also believed that such drama has to implant a feeling of fear and pity in the audience. As drama evolved, more modern script writers thought that depicting the downfall of a common person will cause the viewer to feel greater emotions as it will relate more to a character of their own social status. A tragedy (TRA-jud-dee) is a genre of drama focusing on stories of human suffering. The drama typically consists of a human flaw or weakness in one of the work’s central characters, which then triggers a devastating event or series of events for those in that character’s orbit. Tragedies are most commonly associated with stage plays, but any fictional work—and many nonfiction works too—can include tragic elements. Audiences respond to tragedies for two main reasons: the comfort one can draw from commiserating with another’s suffering and the pleasure one can find, however perverse it may sound, watching another’s struggles. The genre has a long history in the theatrical world, with its roots in the classic tragedies of antiquity. The word tragedy comes from the Greek tragodia, meaning “a formal play or poem with a sad ending.” The Elements of a Tragedy A play can include any number of elements that identify it as a tragedy, the most common being a tragic hero, a tragic flaw, and catharsis. Tragic Hero A tragic hero is a central character whose choices or weaknesses lead to their downfall. They initially possess some admirable or valiant quality, such as bravery, compassion, or decency. But, their bad judgement or moral failings, however momentary, result in a failure that has disastrous consequences. Tragic heroes include Oedipus in Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, whose hubris causes him to fulfill the unthinkable prophecy of murdering his father, marrying his mother, and gouging out his own eyes; and Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, who falls short of his own high standards as a husband and father and kills himself so his family will have the financial support provided by the insurance money. Tragic Flaw A tragic flaw is a character trait that triggers the tragic hero’s defeat. The flaw might be a decision or mistake the character makes or a limitation they possess. For instance, the title character in Macbeth has the tragic flaw of unbridled ambition, which drives him to join forces with his power-hungry wife and try to murder the king. In Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire, it’s Blanche DuBois’s emotional fragility—mixed with hearty doses of mental illness and alcoholism—that is her tragic flaw. It shatters under the bullying of her brother-in-law, bringing about her undoing and her ultimate commitment to a mental institution. Catharsis Catharsis is a purging or purification of emotions. In Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, the audience undergoes a sort of catharsis, but so do the characters. Even if the characters don’t survive or experience any type of redemption in the end, the process of catharsis can, emotionally or spiritually speaking, cleanse them of their pain. Take Othello in Shakespeare’s play of the same name. His suicide at the play’s end, after he realizes that Iago’s deception has led Othello to kill his wife Desdemona, is a catharsis of sorts. The suicide doesn’t absolve Othello of culpability, but it does absolve him of his pain. The Function of a Tragedy Writers use tragedy to examine how behavior, choices, states of mind, and factors beyond one’s control can damage the psyche and cause suffering, both in and beyond oneself. Suffering is one of the few universal human experiences we all share, and understanding it helps us better understand one another. This naturally leads to empathy, and it can also comfort an audience and make them feel less alone. Clearly, most people don’t like to watch other human beings suffer in real life, but in the context of a fictional tragedy, bearing witness to suffering can be a transformative experience. It can illustrate the depths of another’s pain; serve as a cautionary tale of what happens when one makes certain choices or engages certain triggers; and show the natural consequences of cause and effect. 3. TRAGI-COMEDY: Tragicomedy is a special kind of drama that combines the features of tragedy and comedy. It means that such play may be sad but will have a happy ending, or it may be serious with some elements of humor emerging throughout the whole play. Unlike comedy and tragedy, tragicomedy emerged a bit later, in the times of Roman Empire. Roman dramatist Plautus was the first to write a tragicomedy and to use the term. In his play Amphitryon, he used the lightheartedness of comedy but chose gods and kings as the main characters. This was quite revolutionary of him. Before Plautus, there were strict rules about writing drama, it was either comedy or tragedy. These genres were never mixed together. Plautus was the first to note that in our daily lives we have features of both tragedy and comedy. Therefore, drama also can combine them both. Tragicomedy is a literary device used in fictional works. It contains both tragedy and comedy. Mostly, the characters in tragicomedy are exaggerated, and sometimes there might be a happy ending after a series of unfortunate events. It is incorporated with jokes throughout the story, just to lighten the tone. Tragicomedy is a literary device used in fictional works. It contains both tragedy and comedy. Mostly, the characters in tragicomedy are exaggerated, and sometimes there might be a happy ending after a series of unfortunate events. It is incorporated with jokes throughout the story, just to lighten the tone. Examples of Tragicomedy in Literature Example #1: The Merchant of Venice (By William Shakespeare) The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare is considered one of the most popular traditional tragicomedy examples. Though it has a comedic structure, there are tragic characters, such as Shylock (who is a central character), and tragic events, such as Antonio’s “loss” of life (because he is not really dead). Although the play ends on a happy note with the union of the lovers in the story, and Antonio is saved from a tragic incident, readers are left with a taste of Shylock’s sufferings. Hence, the feeling and mood of the play at the end is neither happy nor gloomy. Though, this play definitely has a comic structure, it also has a strong tragic story. Therefore, it can be classified as a tragicomedy. Example #2: The Cherry Orchard (By Anton Chekhov) Anton Chekhov’s play, The Cherry Orchard, turned out to be his final play that has a combination of comedy and tragedy. It is the story of an elite family that is on the verge of losing its inherited estate. As this play is based on an inevitable social change, which came with the dawn of the 20th century, it presents the end of an aristocratic era, blended with tragic and comic elements. The comic elements can be seen in the behavior, humorous aspects, and lack of responsibility of the characters. Function of Tragicomedy The main purpose of tragicomedy is to describe the dual nature of reality, where both modes can coexist, perhaps simultaneously. Therefore, the interweaving of both aspects gives both a comic and tragic view of life. Tragicomedy is mainly used in dramas and theater. Since tragic plays focus exclusively on protagonists, while comic plays are devoid of focus and concern, therefore plays that fell between these two categories were developed. These types of plays present both modes of life through absurdity and seriousness. 4. MELODRAMA Melodrama is the last one of the four types of drama. It is a kind of drama in which everything is hyperbolized. Usually, themes depicted in melodramas are simple and without any unpredictable plot twists. There are quite a lot of stereotypes in such dramas. However, the main point of a melodrama is not to tell a story but to awaken feelings in the audience. They are mostly love stories with beautiful heroines, charming heroes and scary villains. Melodrama originated much later than comedy, tragedy, and tragicomedy. It first appeared in France at the end of the 18th century. Later, it reached Britain and became one of the most popular types of drama in the 19th century. Particularly, the 19th century was the period when theatre was the most popular kind of entertainment and was visited by vast number of people. This is due to the fact that in those times, theatres became available for common people. As melodrama was aimed at this layer of society in particular, it became immensely popular. The influence of melodrama on society was so great that it lived to our days and even penetrated other areas of literature and entertainment. Example for Melodrama: Wuthering Heights (By Emily Bronte): Film director William Wyler adapted Emily Bronte’s classic and popular novel Wuthering Heights into a film. The novel is a sweeping romantic melodrama in which love and class division are destined to become a tragedy. The film stars Heathcliff as an orphan, who is taken into a wealthy family where he falls in love with Cathy, his foster sister. Though Cathy also feels the same for him, she nevertheless marries a wealthy neighbor, leaving Heathcliff with no choice. Returning as a wealthy man after some years, the sparks begin to fly again for Cathy, and a vengeful Heathcliff marries Geraldine Fitzgerald, sister of Cathy’s husband, in order to arouse her jealousy. By the end, Catherine dies, and Heathcliff follows her as he could not brook this loss any more. Function of Melodrama Melodrama is an exaggerated form of drama, where authors enhance the storylines in order to tug the heartstrings of the audience. Typically, these types of dramas focus on sensational plots that revolve around tragedy, unrequited love, loss, or heightened emotion; featuring long-suffering protagonists, especially females, attempting in vain to overcome impossible odds. Its purpose is to play on the feelings and emotions of the audience. We see the use of melodramatic plots more often in films, theater, television, radio, cartoons, and comics.