TYBA

The plot (which Aristotle termed the mythos) in a dramatic or narrative work is constituted by its events and actions, as these are rendered and ordered toward achieving particular artistic and emotional effects. This description is deceptively simple, because the actions (including verbal discourse as well as physical actions) are performed by particular characters in a work, and are the means by which they exhibit their moral and dispositional qualities. Plot and character are therefore interdependent critical concepts—as Henry James has said, “What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?” (See character and characterization.) Notice also that a plot is distinguishable from the story—that is, a bare synopsis of the temporal order of what happens. When we summarize the story in a literary work, we say that first this happens, then that, then that. . . . It is only when we specify how this is related to that, by causes and m...

Theme Theme can be defined as the central idea/s, subject or topic of a work of art. Theme runs as a thread through a work of art and holds it together. "Theme is more usefully applied to a general concept or doctrine, whether implicit or asserted, which an imaginative work is designed to involve and make persuasive to the reader. John Milton states as the explicit theme of Paradise Lost to “assert Eternal Providence, / And justify the ways of God to men”; see didactic literature and fiction and truth. Some critics have claimed that all nontrivial works of literature, including lyric poems, involve an implicit theme which is embodied and dramatized in the evolving meanings and imagery. And archetypal critics trace such recurrent themes as that of the scapegoat, or the journey underground, through myths and social rituals, as well as literature. For a discussion of the overlapping applications of the critical terms “subject,” “theme,” and “thesis”. ." - M. H. Abrams...

Drama 1. Origin of Drama The word drama comes from the Greek verb “dran” which means ‘to act’ or to perform. Many scholars trace the origin of drama to wordless actions like ritual dances and mimes performed by dancers, masked players or priests during traditional festivals or ceremonies. One account traces the origin to ritual. In the traditional society or in the primordial times, sometimes, the seasons did not come as expected. When this happened, men felt that they had offended the gods, so they devised means of appeasing these gods. That act of appeasing the gods is what we refer to as ritual. This ritual, as expected, involved a ceremony in which the priest played an important role at a designated location, mostly shrines. The priest would normally wear a special dress for the occasion. That role, the dress (costume), and the utterance or incantations are regarded as dramatic elements. Drama could therefore emerge from this. So, if it is presented...