1. Activator: Acrostic
INSTRUCTIONS: Write the name “Shakespeare” on your plate. Next, write information you learned during your Web Quest using the letters in Shakespeare. You have 5 minutes to complete this task.

2. Emphasis on Shakespearean Drama
Introduction to Drama
Emphasis on Shakespearean Drama

3. Part One
Elements of drama

4. Drama
The word drama comes from the Greek verb dran, which means “to do.”
The earliest known plays. . .
Were written around the fifth century B.C.
Produced for festivals to honor Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility.

5. Dramatic Structure
Like the plot of a story, the plot of a play involves characters who face a problem or conflict.
Climax:
point of highest tension; action determines how the conflict will be resolved
Rising action:
tension builds
Falling action:
tension subsides
Exposition: characters, setting and conflict are introduced
Resolution
conflict is resolved;
play ends

6. Elements of Drama Playwright-the author of a play
Actors-the people who perform
Acts-the units of action
Scenes-parts of the acts

7. Characters’ Speech
The characters’ speech may take any of the following forms.
Dialogue- conversations of characters on stage
Monologue- long speech given by one character to the others
Soliloquy- speech by a character alone onstage to himself, herself, or to the audience
Asides- remarks made to the audience or to one character: the other characters onstage do not hear an aside

8. Stage Directions Found in brackets [ ]
Describe scenery and how characters speak
C, Center Stage
L, Stage Left
R, Stage Right
U, Upstage or Rear
D, Downstage or Front

9. Part Two
Types of Plays

10. Two Types of Plays
Tragedies
Comedies

11. Tragedy
A tragedy is a play that ends unhappily. It shows the downfall of the main character.
Most classic Greek tragedies deal with serious, universal themes such as . . .
Tragedies put human limitations against the larger forces of destiny.
right and wrong
justice and injustice
life and death

12. Tragic Hero
The protagonist of most classical tragedies is a tragic hero.
The tragic hero is noble and in many ways likable.
However, he has a tragic flaw, which is a personality flaw or a mistake he makes.
pride
rebelliousness
jealousy

13. Comedy
A comedy is a play that ends happily. The plot usually centers on a romantic conflict.
boy meets girl
boy loses girl
boy wins girl

14. Comedy
Comic complications always occur before the conflict is resolved.
In most cases, the play ends with a wedding.

15. Part Three
Devices in Drama

16. Dramatic Irony
Dramatic Irony: the audience or the reader knows something that a character does not.
Playwrights use dramatic irony when they allow the audience to know more than the characters do about a specific situation or incident.

17. Foil
A foil is a character who provides a contrast to another character, usually the protagonist.
The function of a foil is to highlight the protagonist’s qualities and personality.
Therefore, a foil is a method of characterization for a playwright.

18. Language of Shakespeare’s Plays
Part Four
Language of Shakespeare’s Plays

19. Shakespeare’s Language
Meter is a rhythm of accented and unaccented syllables which are organized into patterns, called feet.
Using the same meter throughout a play helped actors memorize their lines.
Shakespeare used iambic pentameter as his meter.

20. Iambic Pentameter
Iambic foot = a pair of syllables containing short/long or unstressed/stressed syllables.
Pentameter = five
So Iambic pentameter is a line that contains five iambs (10 syllables in unstressed stressed pattern)
Makes a sound like a heartbeat:
deDUM deDUM deDUM deDUM deDUM

21. Iambic Pentameter Examples
When I do count the clock that tells the time
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells