Literature in English

Unit 8: Different forms of drama

Activity 1

Tell your desk mate the types of plays you know.

Activity 2

Discuss in your groups why you would say the genocide was a tragedy.

As we have seen, some tragedies end in the death or frustration of the main character. In some, the main protagonists fall from a high position to a low position in society. These characters mainly fall due to a number of reasons. It may be,

1. because of faults within their own personalities;

2. because of fate;

3. because the gods have decreed they fall;

4. Sometimes, a combination of all the above. Most playwrights of tragedies depict religious aspects of gods and supernatural powers and beings that control the fate of human beings.

     There is a central character called the protagonist who is the point of focus. He or she is either the hero or the villain. The disaster directly affects this character either due to personal fault or unavoidable circumstances.

     Tragedies get their format and content from various aspects for instance some stories in the Greek Mythology.

      William Shakespeare, the English playwright and Sophocles the Greek playwright, are credited for writing the greatest plays in tragedy.

     Below is the synopsis of Oedipus the king, a classical Greek tragedy set in Thebes by Sophocles.

Activity 3

Imagine there was a great drought in Rwanda and many people died. In groups of four, write a short play that would pass as a tragedy.

Activity 4

In groups of five, read the following extracts from the play Oedipus the King. Discuss with the members of your group what you think is tragic about it.

Common stylistic devices used in tragedy

1. Imagery is used when describing situations and the emotional disposition of the various characters.

Activity 5

In groups of four, discuss the meaning of this image: ‘And that corrupted man is me.’

2. Foreshadowing is used when giving a premonition of an oncoming occurrence or an impending tragedy.

Activity 6

In your group, discuss how this statement could be seen as the foreshadowing of what would happen to Oedipus: ‘The story went that the child would kill his father.’

3. Flashback is employed for character and plot development or when recounting on a past event.

Activity 7

In groups of four, discuss how flashback was used in the above extract.

4. Suspense creates tension most especially in the end after the tragedy has taken place and no resolution is made; rather, the effects are not, if at all, explained.

Activity 8

In the extract you read, Servant keeps Oedipus in suspense for a while. Individually, provide evidence from the extract that shows that he is in suspense.

5. Tragedies mostly do not follow the logical sequence of happenings rather, ends in anticlimax.

Characters in a tragedy

Tragedies unlike most plays, have very few characters. The major character called the protagonist. The protagonist usually suffers greatly out of flaws in their own characters. Sometimes, they suffer out of forces greater than they can control.

    The following terms are generally used in describing characters in a tragedy.

 1. Protagonist: Is the character depicted to have good admirable traits. He or she is usually the hero or heroine. A hero in a tragedy is usually a tragic hero. The tragic hero is great. However, this hero is not perfect. His or her own downfall is partly his or her fault. The hero’s misfortune is not wholly deserved. Hence, the reader will symphathise with him or her.

2. Villain: This could be an individual or a group of people against the victim who is the general recipient of the tragedy. Villains exhibit villainy – wicked or criminal behaviour. A villain is the oppossite of a hero.

3. Antagonist: is the character brought out as mean and majorly tramples on the good character in the play.

Practice Exercise 1

a. On your own, identify the protagonist in the extract you just read.

b. Why do you think Oedipus suffers so greatly?

c. Research and write brief notes on the following terms used in describing characters:

         i) Flat characters

        ii) Round characters