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play

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work of storytelling in which actors represent the characters

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dialogue

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exchanges of speech

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pantomime (dumb show)

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mimed dramatic performance whose purpose is to prepare the audience for the main action of the play to follow

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drama

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form of literary composition designed for performance in the theater

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dramatist

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playwright

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closet drama

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play or dramatic poem designed to be read aloud rather than performed

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convention

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any established feature or technique in literature that is commonly understood by both authors and readers

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soliloquy

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a speech by a character alone onstage in which he or she utters his or her thoughts aloud

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theme

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generally recurring subject or idea conspicuously evident in a literary work

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plot

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particular arrangement of actions, events and situations that unfold in a narrative

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protagonist

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central character in a literary work

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exposition

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opening portion of a narrative or drama

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foreshadowing

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technique of arranging events and information in such a way that later events are prepared for, or shadowed, beforehand

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dramatic question

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primary unresolved issue in a drama as it unfolds

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double plot (subplot)

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second story or plotline that is complete and interesting in its own right

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climax

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moment of greatest intensity in a story, which almost inevitably occurs toward the end of the work

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resolution (conclusion or dénouement)

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final part of a narrative, the concluding action or actions that follow the climax

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suspense

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enjoyable anxiety created in the reader by the author's handling of the plot

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stage business

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nonverbal action that engages the attention of the audience

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rising action

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part of the play or narrative, including the exposition, in which events start moving toward a climax

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crisis

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point in a drama when the crucial action, decision or realization must be made, marking the turning point of the protagonist's fortunes

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falling action

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events in a narrative that follow the climax and bring the story to its conclusion

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unities

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three formal qualities recommended by Italian Renaissance literary to critics to unify a plot in order to give it a cohesive and complete integrity

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symbol

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person, place or thing in a narrative that suggests meanings beyond its literal sense

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conflict

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central struggle between two or more forces in a story

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tragic flaw

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fatal weakness or moral flaw in the protagonist that brings him or her to a bad end

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comedy

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literary work aimed at amusing an audience

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satiric comedy

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genre using derisive humor to ridicule human weakness and folly or attack political injustices and incompetence

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high comedy

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comic genre evoking so-called intellectual or thoughtful laughter from an audience that remains emotionally detached from the play's depictions of the folly, pretense and incongruity of human behavior

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epigram

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very short poem, often comic, usually ending with some sharp turn of wit or meaning

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comedy of manners

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realistic form of comic drama that deals with social relations and sexual intrigues of sophisticated, intelligent, upper-class men and women, whose verbal fencing and witty repartee produce the principal comic effects

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Restoration period

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In England, the period following the restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660; reintroduced a strong secular and urbane element back into English literature

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low comedy

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comic style arousing laughter through jokes, slapstick humor, sight gags and boisterous clowning

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burlesque

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incongruous imitation of either the style or subject matter of a serious genre, humorous due to disparity of the treatment of the subject

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commedia dell'arte

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form of comic drama developed by guilds of professional Italian actors in the mid-sixteenth century

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slapstick comedy

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kind of farce, featuring pratfalls, pie throwing, fisticuffs and other violent actions

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romantic comedy

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form of comic drama in which the plot focuses on one or more pairs of young lovers who overcome difficulties to achieve a happy ending

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satyr play

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type of Greek comic play that was performed after the tragedies at the City Dionysia; structure was similar to a tragedy

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orchestra

answer

circular level performance space at the base of a horseshoe-shaped amphitheater where twelve, then later fifteen, young, masked, male chorus members sang and danced the odes interspersed between the dramatic episodes

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skene

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temporary wooden stage building in which actors changed masks and costumes when changing roles

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episode

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incident in a large narrative that has unity in itself

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éxodos

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last scene

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mask

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full facial masks made of leather, linen or light wood, with headdress; allowed male actors to embody the conventionalized characters of the tragic and comic stage

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cothurni

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high thick-soled boots worn by Greek and Roman tragic actors in late classical times to make them appear taller than ordinary men

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hamartia

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offense committed in ignorance of some material fact (without deliberate criminal intent) and therefore free of blameworthiness

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hubris

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overweening pride, outrageous behavior or the insolence that leads to ruin

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purgation (katharsis)

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purification; refers to the feeling of emotional release or calm the spectator feels at the end of a tragedy

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recognition

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the moment when ignorance gives way to knowledge, illusion to disillusion

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reversal (peripeteia)

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reversal of fortune

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realism

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attempt to reproduce faithfully the surface appearance of life, especially that of ordinary people in everyday situations

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picture-frame stage

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held the action within a proscenium arch; only one seat (royal patron or sponsor) enjoyed complete perspectivist illusion

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proscenium arch

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architectural picture frame or gateway that separated the auditorium from the raised stage and the world of the play

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box set

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three walls joined in two corners and a ceiling that tilted as if in perspective

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naturalism

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type of fiction or drama in which the characters are presented as products or victims of environment and heredity

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Symbolist movement

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international literary movement that originated with nineteenth-century French poets; avoided direct statement and exposition in an attempt to achieve a resemblance of music

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expressionism

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dramatic style developed between 1910 and 1924 in Germany; used episodic plots, distorted lines and exaggerated shapes to draw an audience into a dreamlike subjective realm

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arena theater (theater in the round)

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modern, nontraditional performance space in which the audience surrounds the stage on four sides

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flexible theater

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modern, nontraditional performance space in which actor-audience relationships can be flexibly configured, with movable seating platforms

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antihero

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protagonist who is lacking in one or more of the conventional qualities attributed to a hero

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comic relief

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appearance of a comic situation, character or clownish humor in the midst of a serious action

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theater of the absurd

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post World War II European genre depicting the grotesquely comic plight of human beings thrown by accident into an irrational and meaningless world

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feminist theater

answer

plays which explore the lives, problems and occasional triumphs of contemporary women

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new naturalism

answer

term describing some American plays of the 1970s and 1980s frankly showing the internal and external forces that shape the lives of unhappy, alienated, dehumanized and often impoverished characters

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tragicomedy

answer

play that stirs not only pity and fear but also laughter

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párados

answer

song for the entrance of the chorus

Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing – Drama – Flashcards

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