Chapter 4

Genre A French word meaning “category” or “type” Oldest and best-know genres are:

▪ Tragedy▪ Comedy

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Traditional Tragedy Tragic Heroes and Heroines

▪ A person of stature—king, queen, general▪ Stand as symbols of an entire culture or society▪ Trapped in a fateful web of tragic circumstances

Tragic Fate Acceptance of Responsibility Tragic Verse The Effects of Tragedy

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Modern Tragedy No queens or kings as central figures Written in prose rather than poetry Probe the same depths and ask the same

questions

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Characteristics of Comedy Suspension of Natural Laws Contrast Between Individuals and the Social

Order The Comic Premise

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Forms of Comedy Farce

▪ Thrives on exaggeration▪ Has no intellectual pretensions▪ Aims are entertainment and laughter▪ Has excessive plot complications▪ Humor results from ridiculous situations as well as

pratfalls and horseplay

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Forms of Comedy continued Burlesque

▪ Relies on knockabout physical humor, gross exaggeration, and occasional vulgarity

▪ Historically, it was a ludicrous imitation of other forms of drama

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Forms of Comedy continued Satire

▪ Uses wit, especially sophisticated language; irony; and exaggeration to expose or attack evil and foolishness

Domestic Comedy▪ Usually deals with family situations▪ Found in TV situation comedies

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Forms of Comedy continued Comedy of Manners

▪ Concerned with pointing up the foibles and peculiarities of the upper class

▪ Uses verbal wit

Comedy of Ideas▪ Uses comic techniques to debate intellectual

propositions such as the nature of war, cowardice, and romance

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Heroic Drama Serious drama that has heroic or noble

characters and certain other traits of classic tragedy

Has a happy ending Assumes a basically optimistic worldview

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Melodrama Means “song drama” or “music drama” Originally comes from the Greek Made popular by the French “Music” refers to the background music that

accompanied these plays

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Melodrama continued Relies on surface effects that create

suspense, fear, nostalgia, etc. Heroes and heroines are clearly delineated

from villains Has easily recognizable stock characters Virtue is always victorious Has a suspenseful plot

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Domestic Drama Deals with people from everyday life instead

of kings, queens, and nobility Common themes are:

▪ Problems of society▪ Struggles within a family▪ Dashed hopes▪ Renewed determination

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Tragicomedy▪ Point of view is mixed▪ Prevailing attitude is a synthesis, or fusion, of the

serious and the comic

Shakespearean Tragicomedy Modern Tragicomedy

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