Drama and Dramatic Arts Drama is a type of literature usually written to be performed.

People often make a distinction between drama, which concerns the written text, or script, for the performance, and theater, which concerns the performance of this script. Many of the most honored and influential works of literature around the world have been dramas. They begin with the classical Greek tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides and continue with the plays of such major dramatists as William Shakespeare in England, Molire in France, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Germany, Henrik Ibsen in Norway, and August Strindberg in Sweden. The honor bestowed on drama is particularly true of the Western tradition, which is the subject of this article. For more information on other theater traditions II. CHARACTERISTICS OF DRAMA Most types of literature, including novels, short stories, and poems, are written to be read, usually in silence by a solitary reader. Although works of drama, called plays, are also often read in this manner, they are created primarily to be presented in public by a group of performers, each of whom pretends to be one of the characters in the story the play is telling. Older plays, such as those written by the Greeks or Shakespeare, consist almost entirely of the words spoken by these characters (the dialogue). More recent plays usually contain nonspoken material (the stage directions) that tells the actors when to enter or leave the performance space, gives suggestions about how to speak their dialogue (their lines), and describes their costumes or their physical surroundings on stage (the setting). The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who laid the foundations for the critical study of drama, divided the elements of drama into plot, character, thought, language, and spectacle. Aristotle considered plotthe basic story and how it is toldthe most important of these, and this is indeed typically the case. However, almost all dramas use all of these elements to some extent, telling a story by means of the interactions of characters, who express their thoughts through language within a particular visual setting. The balance of these elements, however, varies from play to play. During some periods and in some traditions many or most plays emphasize some element other than plot. Numerous plays emphasize a particular character or a relationship between characters, as does Shakespeares Hamlet (1601?). Such plays are especially popular because audiences have always been interested in seeing their favorite actors interpret such demanding roles. Western theater also has a long tradition of plays emphasizing thought. Such plays are sometimes said to treat a particular theme and have been called philosophical plays or thesis plays. Some of the greatest modern dramatists have

emphasized thought or theme, among them George Bernard Shaw of Britain and Ibsen, who addressed social issues of their day, and Bertolt Brecht of Germany, many of whose plays criticized capitalism and instructed audiences in his leftist political views. Language is almost always an important element in drama, and it is occasionally the dominant element. This is the case in the poetic dramas of English romantic authors of the early 19th century and in much of what is called high comedy or comedy of manners, which dates back to the 17th century in England. The latter tradition emphasizes nuances of social class and behavior and typically makes prominent use of witty dialogue, puns, and other verbal acrobatics. The types of drama that have emphasized spectacle include opera, modern musical comedy, 19th-century melodrama, and court spectacles known as masques that originated in England during the 16th century. Spectacle can include lavish costumes, elaborate sets or stage machinery, and other elements that serve to enrich an audiences visual experience of a play. III. KINDS OF DRAMA The most widespread and familiar subdivisions of drama are comedy and tragedy, a division established by the Greeks. Even today the smiling and weeping masks worn by Greek actors in comedy and tragedy symbolize the two branches of drama. Traditionally, a tragedy is dominated by a serious tone, concerns kings and princes, deals with profound issues, and usually concludes with the death of the leading character. A comedy typically deals with common people, is dominated by a light tone that encourages laughter (or at least amusement or entertainment), and ends happily, often with the uniting of a pair of young lovers. During the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century) other forms of drama appeared, and dramatists modified the two traditional forms. Shakespeare divided his plays into comedies, tragedies, and histories, the latter presenting national history in dramatic form. He also departed from classic practice by putting important comic scenes into his tragedies. In Italy, certain critics and dramatists began mixing elements and aspects of the two traditional kinds of theater to create a third kind, called tragicomedy. The mixture of moods would become much more common in the 19th and 20th centuries. After the Renaissance the terms comedy and tragedy remained central, but writers subdivided each type and developed new combined forms as well. Tragedy remained the genre used most often to explore the profound philosophic questions of good and evil and humankinds place in the universe, while comedy emphasized people in their social aspects and personal relationships. This split made comedy the more appropriate form for social commentary and criticism as well as for

simple amusement. Comedy emphasizing wit and style among the upper classes became known as high comedy or comedy of manners, as opposed to low comedy or farce. Low comedy traditionally gains its effects from physical humor that can even turn violent at times and from crude verbal jokes, rather than from verbal wit or nuances of social behavior. Farce as a popular, nonliterary form can be traced back to classical Greece. The equivalent form of tragedy with a wide popular appeal, called melodrama, emerged as a recognized type of theater in the 19th century (though some modern critics characterize certain plays by Euripides as melodramas). Like farce, melodrama is associated with physical action. In the 18th century, as interest grew in the exploration of the emotions, sentimental comedy developed. It stressed feelings rather than laughter and encouraged audience sympathy with the characters and their trials. Other new forms included tragedies that dealt with middle-class characters and serious plays about middle-class life, often called simply dramas. In the 20th century such middle-class drama replaced tragedy as the major serious form of theatrical writing. IV. PURPOSES OF DRAMA Drama has served a wide variety of functions at different times and in different places. Roman writer Horace, in one of the most famous statements about the purpose of literature in general and drama in particular, said it was designed 'to delight and to instruct.' Sometimes the purpose of drama has been considered to be primarily the first of these, sometimes the second, but generally at least some degree of both has been present. From classical times until the Renaissance drama was closely associated with major religious and civic observances and served to support both. As a result, plays emphasized instruction. The Renaissance saw examples of theater that were almost purely instructional at schools and universities, along with examples that were almost pure entertainment in the popular theaters at fairs and marketplaces, and a great variety of combinations of the two. Subsequent popular drama stressed entertainment, from presentations in farce and folk theaters of the 18th century to the offerings of major commercial theaters today. Much of the more serious, literary drama from the 18th century on has sought to encourage its audiences to become better informed and more thoughtful about a range of political, social, and moral issues. It is important to remember that drama is also an art form, and can offer in addition to relaxing entertainment the often more demanding experience of aesthetic pleasure. In the early 20th-century the art theater movement stressed this purpose in particular, by presenting dramas whose primary goal was neither conventional entertainment nor instruction but an aesthetic or artistic experience. Audiences attend plays from a mixture of motivations, including curiosity, pleasure-seeking, and a desire for knowledge or aesthetic experience. But all of

these experiences are intensified by the public nature of drama. Because drama is a literary form designed for public presentation, writing about drama has often explored how drama relates to society. Some theorists have argued that, as an art reflecting social concerns for a group audience, drama is particularly suited to stimulate social change. Other theorists have argued that the group orientation of drama means that to succeed drama can never seriously challenge the audiences general assumptions. Even though critics disagree about drama's revolutionary potential, most would agree that a central purpose of drama has always been to provide a means for a society to reflect upon itself and its beliefs. Melodrama In musicology, work in which a spoken text is integrated with music. The form, which began in the ancient Greek theater, became popular in the 18th century; a notable example is The Begger's Opera by the English dramatist John Gay. Sections of melodrama have also been incorporated in works by such composers as Ludwig van Beethoven, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, and Arnold Schoenberg. By extension, the term melodrama has come to be applied to any play with romantic plot in which the author manipulates events to act on the emotions of the audience without regard for character development or logic. Prime examples are such works as The Stranger (1789; trans. 1798) by the German dramatist August von Kotzebue, and the popular melodramas of the later 19th and early 20th century, also known as potboilers or tearjerkersworks such as Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon (1859) or the 1853 dramatization of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Twentieth-century melodrama includes motion picture serials and most recently television soap operas. Dramatic irony In literature, a plot device in which the audience's or reader's knowledge of events or individuals surpasses that of the characters. The words and actions of the characters therefore take on a different meaning for the audience or reader than they have for the play's characters. This may happen when, for example, a character reacts in an inappropriate or foolish way or when a character lacks selfawareness and thus acts under false assumptions. The device abounds in works of tragedy. In the Oedipus cycle, for example, the audience knows that Oedipus's acts are tragic mistakes long before he recognizes his own errors. Later writers who mastered dramatic irony include William Shakespeare (as in Othello's trust of the treacherous Iago), Voltaire, Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Thomas Hardy, and Henry James. Dramatic irony

can also be seen in such works as O. Henry's short story The Gift of the Magi. In Anton Chekhov's story Lady with the Dog, an accomplished Don Juan engages in a routine flirtation only to find himself seduced into a passionate lifelong commitment to a woman who is no different from all the other number of women with whom he has flirted.

Dramatic monologue
A dramatic monologue is a piece of spoken verse that offers great insight into the feelings of the speaker. Not to be confused with a soliloquy in a play (which the character speaking speaks to themselves), dramatic monologues suggest an auditor or auditors. They were favoured by many poets in the Victorian period, in which a character in fiction or in history delivers a speech explaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives. The monologue is usually directed toward a silent audience, with the speaker's words influenced by a critical situation. Examples of a dramatic monologue exist in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, when a duke speaks to an emissary of his way, In a general way, the dramatic tradition as a whole may have influenced the style of the monologue. Indeed, the style of the dramatic monologue, which attempts to evoke an entire story through representing part of it, may be called an endeavor to turn into poetry many of the distinctive features of drama. Features of the Dramatic Monologue M. H. Abrams notes the following three features of the dramatic monologue: 1- A single person, who is patently not the poet, utters the speech that makes up the whole of the poem, in a specific situation at a critical moment []. 2- This person addresses and interacts with one or more other people; but we know of the auditors' presence, and what they say and do, only from clues in the discourse of the single speaker. 3- The main principle controlling the poet's choice and formulation of what the lyric speaker says is to reveal to the reader, in a way that enhances its interest, the speaker's temperament and character.

Dramatic Devices
Terms Definitions Contrast Alternating humor and pathos, song and dialogue, tense and tranquil scenes.

Irony

Lines having one meaning for the audience and another for the character to whom they are spoken. Suspense The feeling of not knowing for sure what will happen, but anticipating it. Surprise Unexpected twist or turn. Soliloquy Character speaking to the world in general with no other characters in the scene. Aside Character speaking confidentially to the audience (often humorously) as if other characters cannot hear what is said. Disguise Pause Poetic Justice props to change the appearance of the character to fool other characters in the play. An incident introduced just before the climax to mislead the audience. Letting the villain be punished and the hero reap reward.

A Glossary of Terms for Literary Analysis Act: a major unit of action in a drama or play. Each act can be further divided into smaller sections called scenes. Allegory: a story in which people, things and actions represent an idea about life; allegories often have a strong moral or lesson. Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words (tongue twisters) Allusion: a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to wellknown characters or events. Analogy: a comparison of two or more like objects that suggests if they are alike in certain respects, they will probably be alike in other ways as well. Anecdote: a brief account of an interesting incident or event that usually is intended to entertain or to make a point. Aside: an actors speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to be heard by other actors on stage. An aside is used to let the audience know what a character is about to do or what he or she is thinking. Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds within a line of poetry. Audience: the particular group of readers or viewers that the writer is addressing. A writer considers his or her audience when deciding on a subject, a purpose for writing and the tone and style in which to write. Author: the writer of a book, article or other text. Authors purpose: an authors purpose is his or her reason for creating a particular work. The purpose can be to entertain, explain or inform, express an opinion, or to persuade. Autobiography: a form of nonfiction in which a person tells the story of his or her life.

Ballad: is a poem that tells a story and is meant to be sung or recited. Biography: the story of a persons life that is written by someone else. Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter Caesura: a pause or a sudden break in a line of poetry Cause and effect: two events are related as cause and effect when one event brings about or causes the other. The event that happens first is the cause; the one that follows is the effect. Character: a person who is responsible for the thoughts and actions within a story, poem, or other literature. Characters are extremely important because they are the medium through which a reader interacts with a piece of literature. Every character has his or her own personality, which a creative author uses to assist in forming the plot of a story or creating a mood. Terms Associated with Characterization: 1. Antagonist: a character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works against the main character, or protagonist, in some way. The antagonist doesnt necessarily have to be a person. It could be death, the devil, an illness, or any challenge that prevents the main character from living happily ever after." 2. Caricature: a picture or imitation of a persons habits, physical appearance or mannerisms exaggerated in a comic or absurd way. 3. Foil: a character who serves as a contrast or a conflict to another character 4. hero/heroine: a character whose actions are inspiring or noble; often the main character in a story. 5. Main characters: the characters who are central to the plot of a story; main characters are usually dynamic and round. 6. Minor characters: a less important character who interacts with the main characters, helping to move the plot along and providing background for the story. Minor characters are usually static and flat. 7. novel, play, story, or poem. He or she may also be referred to as the "hero" of a work. Characterization: all of the techniques that writers use to create characters. Terms Associated with Characterization: 1. Character trait: a characters personality; a trait is not a physical description of a character. 2. Direct characterization: the author directly states a characters traits or makes direct comments about a characters nature. 3. Dynamic character: a character who changes throughout the course of the story. 4. Flat character: a character about whom little information is provided. 5. Indirect characterization: the author does not directly state a characters traits; instead the reader draws conclusions and discovers a characters traits based upon clues provided by the author.

6. Round character: is a character who is fully described by the author (several character traits, background information, etc.) 7. Static character: a character who does not change or who changes very little in the course of a story. Chronological order: the order in which events happen in time. Clarifying: the readers process of pausing occasionally while reading to quickly review what he or she understands. By clarifying as they read, good readers are able to draw conclusions about what is suggested but not stated directly. Clich: a type of figurative language containing an overused expression or a saying that is no longer considered original. Comedy: a dramatic work that is light and often humorous in tone and usually ends happily with a peaceful resolution of the main conflict. Comparison: the process of identifying similarities. Concrete poetry: a type of poetry that uses its physical or visual form to present its message. Conflict: the tension or problem in the story; a struggle between opposing forces. Terms Associated With Conflict: 1. Central conflict: the dominant or most important conflict in the story. 2. External conflict: the problem or struggle that exists between the main character and an outside force. (ex: person vs. person, person vs. society, person vs. nature, person vs. the supernatural, person vs. technology, etc.) 3. Internal conflict: the problem or struggle that takes place in the main characters mind (person vs. self). Connecting: a readers process of relating the content of a literary work to his or her own knowledge and experience. Connotation: the idea and feeling associated with a word as opposed to its dictionary definition or denotation. consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within a line of poetry. Alliteration is a specific type of consonance. Context clues: hints or suggestions that may surround unfamiliar words or phrases and clarify their meaning. Contrast: the process of pointing out differences between things. Couplet: a rhymed pair of lines in a poem. One of William Shakespeares trademarks was to end a sonnet with a couplet, as in the poem Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long as lives this, and this gives life to thee. Denotation: is the opposite of connotation in that it is the exact or dictionary meaning of a word. Dialect: a form of language that is spoken in a particular place or by a particular group of people. Dialogue: The conversation between characters in a drama or narrative. A dialogue occurs in most works of literature.

Drama: a drama or play is a form of literature meant to be performed by actors before an audience. In a drama, the characters dialogue and actions tell the story. The written form of a play is known as a script. Drawing conclusions: combining several pieces of information to make an inference is called drawing a conclusion. Dramatic monologue: a literary device that is used when a character reveals his or her innermost thoughts and feelings, those that are hidden throughout the course of the story line, through a poem or a speech. This speech, where only one character speaks, is recited while other characters are present onstage. This monologue often comes during a climactic moment in a work and often reveals hidden truths about a character, their history and their relationships. Elegy: a type of literature defined as a song or poem that expresses sorrow or lamentation, usually for one who has died. Enjambment: in poetry, the running over of a line or thought into the next of verse Epigram: a short poem or verse that seeks to ridicule a thought or event, usually with witticism or sarcasm. Epic: a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero whose actions reflect the ideals and values of a nation or group. Epiphany: a sudden moment of understanding that causes a character to change or to act in a certain way. Epitaph: a short poem or verse written in memory of someone Essay: a short work of nonfiction that deals with a single subject. Various Types of Essays 1. Descriptive essay is one that describes a particular subject. 2. Expository essay is one whose purpose is to explain and give information about a subject. 3. Formal essay is highly organized and thoroughly researched. 4. Humorous essay is one whose purpose is to amuse or entertain the reader. 5. Informal essay is lighter in tone and usually reflects the writers feelings and personality. 6. Narrative essay is an essay that tells a story. 7. Persuasive essay attempts to convince a reader to adopt a particular option or course of action. Evaluating: the process of judging the value of something or someone. A work of literature can be evaluated in terms of such criteria as entertainment, believability, originality, and emotional power. Extended metaphor: a figure of speech that compares two essentially unlike things in great length. Fable: a brief tale that teaches a lesson about human nature. Fables often feature animals as characters.

Fact and opinion: a fact is a statement that can be proved. An opinion, in contrast, is a statement that reflects the writers or speakers belief, but which cannot be supported by proof or evidence. Fantasy: a work of literature that contains at least one fantastic or unreal element. Fiction: prose writing that tells an imaginary story. Fiction includes both short stories and novels. figurative language or figure of speech: expressions that are not literally true. see simile, metaphor, hyperbole, understatement, irony, oxymoron, clich, metonymy Flashback: an interruption of the chronological sequence (as in a film or literary work) of an event of earlier occurrence. A flashback is a narrative technique that allows a writer to present past events during current events, in order to provide background for the current narration. Folklore: traditions, customs and stories that are passed down within a culture. Folklore contains various types of literature such as legends, folktales, myths, and fables. Folktale: a simple story that has been passed from generation to generation by word of mouth. Folktales are told primarily to entertain rather than to explain or teach a lesson. Foot: a unit of meter within a line of poetry Foreshadowing: when the writer provides clues or hints that suggest or predict future event in a story. Free verse: poetry without regular patterns of rhyme and rhythm. Often used to capture the sounds and rhythms of ordinary speech. Generalization: a broad statement about an entire group. Genre: a type or category of literature. The four main literary genres include: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama. \ Haiku: a traditional form of Japanese poetry, usually dealing with nature. A haiku has three lines and describes a single moment, feeling or thing. The first and third lines contain five syllables and the second line contains seven syllables. Heroic couplet or closed couplet: a couplet consisting of two successive rhyming lines that contain a complete thought. Historical fiction: fiction that explores a past time period and may contain references to actual people and events of the past. Horror fiction: fiction that contains mysterious and often supernatural events to create a sense of terror. Humor: the quality that provokes laughter or amusement. Writers create humor through exaggeration, sarcasm, amusing descriptions, irony, and witty dialogue. Hyperbole: a figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effect.

Idiom: a phrase or expression that means something different from what the words actually say (for example, using the phrase over his head instead of He doesnt understand). Imagery: the use of words and phrases that appeal to the five senses. Writers use sensory details to help readers imagine how things look, feel, smell, sound, and taste. Inference: is a logical guess based on evidence based on evidence in the text. Interview: a meeting in which one person asks another about personal matters, professional matters or both. irony: a contrast between what is expected and what actually exists or happens. Irony spices up a literary work by adding unexpected twists and allowing the reader to become more involved with the characters and plot. There are many types of irony, including: 1. Verbal irony: occurs when the speaker means something totally different than what he or she is saying and often times the opposite of what a character is saying is true. 2. Dramatic irony: occurs when facts are not known to the characters in a work of literature but are known by the audience. 3. Cosmic irony: suggests that some unknown force brings about dire and dreadful events. 4. Irony of situation: the difference between what is expected to happen and the way events actually work out. Legend: a story handed down from the past about a specific person, usually someone of heroic accomplishments. Limerick: a short humorous poem composed of five lines that usually has the rhyme scheme aabba, created by two rhyming couplets followed by a fifth line that rhymes with the first couplet. A limerick typically has a sing-song rhythm. Literal meaning: the actual meaning of a word or phrase. Lyric: poetry: a song-like poem written mainly to express the feelings or emotions of a single speaker. Main idea: the most important point that a writer wishes to express. Memoir: a specific type of autobiography; like autobiography, a memoir is about the authors personal experiences. However, a memoir does not necessarily cover the authors entire life. Metaphor (met-AH-for): a type of figurative language in which a comparison is made between two things that are essentially unalike but may have one quality in common. Unlike a simile, a metaphor does not contain an explicit word of comparison, such as like or as. Meter: the regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables. Although all poems have rhythm, not all poems have regular meter. Each unit of meter is known as a foot. The conventional symbols used to identify accented and unaccented syllables are: / to indicate an accented syllable; and an X or a small symbol shaped like a U to indicate an unaccented symbol. The metrical

foot is the basic unit of meter. The most common metrical feet and their patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables are as follows: iamb: X / trochee: / X anapest: X X / dactyl: / X X spondee: / / pyrrhic: X X The meter of a poem is determined by the predominant metrical foot, and by the number of feet per line that predominates in the poem. The following terms indicate the number of feet per line: monometer: one foot per line dimeter: two feet per line trimeter: three feet per line tetrameter: four feet per line pentameter: five feet per line hexameter: six feet per line heptameter: seven feet per line octameter: eight feet per line A poem written in predominantly iambic meter, with five feet per line, would be called "iambic pentameter." One written in primarily trochaic meter, with four feet per line, would be "trochaic tetrameter." One written in anapestic meter, with three feet per line, would be "anapestic trimeter." Metonymy: the metaphorical substitution of one word or phrase for another related word or phrase. Example: The pen is mightier than the sword. The word pen is used in place of words and the word sword is used to represent the idea of fighting or war. Mood: a mood or atmosphere is the feeling that a literary work conveys to readers. Mood is created through the use of plot, character, the authors descriptions, etc. Moral: a lesson that a story teaches. A moral is often stated directly at the end of a fable. Motif: a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature. A motif may also be two contrasting elements in a work, such as good and evil. A motif is important because it allows one to see main points and themes that the author is trying to express, in order that one might be able to interpret the work more accurately. Motivation: the reason why a character acts, feels or thinks in a certain way. Myth: a traditional story that attempts to explain how the world was created or why the world is the way that it is. Myths are stories that are passed on from generation to generation and are of unknown authorship.

Narrative: any writing that tells a story. Most novels and short stories are placed into the categories of first-person and third-person narratives, which are based on who is telling the story and from what perspective. Terms that relate to "narrative 1. Narrative poetry: poetry that tells a story. A narrative poem can come in many forms and styles, both complex and simple, short or long, as long as it tells a story. Like fiction, narrative poetry contains characters, settings and plots. 2. Narrator: one who tells a story; the speaker or the voice of an oral or written work. The narrator is not usually the same person as the author. The narrator is the direct window into a piece of work. Who the author chooses to narrate establishes the point of view in the story. 3. Unreliable narrator: one who gives his or her own understanding of a story, instead of the explanation and interpretation the author wishes the audience to obtain. This type of action tends to alter the audiences opinion of the conclusion. Nonfiction: is prose writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real people, places, objects or events. Some examples of nonfiction include autobiographies, newspaper articles, biographies, essays, etc. Novel: a work of fiction that is longer and more complex than a short story. In a novel, setting, plot and characters are usually developed in great detail. Ode: a lyric poem of some length, usually of serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal structure. Onomatopoeia: the use of words whose sound suggest their meaning (ex. buzz, bang, hiss). Oral history: stories of peoples lives related by word of mouth. These histories usually include both factual material and personal reactions. Oxymoron: a form of figurative language combining contradictory words or ideas (ex. jumbo shrimp, bittersweet). Paradox: a statement that seems to contradict itself but is, nevertheless, true. Parallelism: the use of similar grammatical constructions to express ideas that are related or equal in importance. For example: The sun rises. The sun sets. Paraphrasing: the restatement of a text by readers in their own words or in another form. Parody: a literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an authors work for comic effect or ridicule. Personification: a figure of speech where animals, ideas or inanimate objects are given human characteristics. Persuasion: persuasive writing is meant to sway readers feelings, beliefs, or actions. Persuasion normally appeals to both the mind and the emotions of readers. Plot: the sequence of related events that make up a story. Terms Associated with Plot 1. Exposition: introduces the characters and the conflicts they face.

2. Inciting incident: occurs after the exposition and introduces the central conflict within the story. 3. Rising action: following the introduction of the central conflict; complications arise as the characters struggle with the conflict. 4. Climax: the turning point, point of maximum interest, and highest tension in the plot of a story, play, or film. The climax usually occurs towards the end of story after the reader has understood the conflict and become emotionally involved with the characters. At the climax, the conflict is resolved, and the outcome of the plot becomes clear. 5. Falling action: the end of the central conflict in a story, when the action starts to wind down. 6. Resolution or denouement: occurs after the climax and is where conflicts are resolved and loose ends are tied up. 7. Subplot: an additional minor plot that involves a secondary conflict in the story; the subplot may or may not affect the main plot. Poetry: a type of literature in which ideas and feelings are expressed in compact, imaginative, and often musical language. Poets arrange words in ways designed to touch readers senses, emotions, and minds. Most poems are written in lines that may contain patterns of rhyme and rhythm. These lines may in turn be grouped in stanzas. Point of view: perspective from which a story is told. Understanding the point of view used in a work is critical to understanding literature; it serves as the instrument to relay the events of a story, and in some instances the feelings and motives of the character(s). Terms Associated with Point of View: 1. First person point of view: the person telling the story is one of the characters in the story. It is the I point of view. It is the most limited among the types because the narrator can only state what he or she sees, feels, and hears. He or she cannot go into the minds of the other characters. 2. Second person point of view: refers to the use of you in explanations or arguments. It is not frequently used, but is appropriate in certain circumstances. Most second person points of view occur within instructions that are meant to be followed. 3. Third person limited or third person objective: the person telling the story is not one of the characters in the story. He or she is an outside observer. The reader can only know what one character learns through interaction with other characters or through overheard conversations. The narrator cannot supply the thoughts or feelings of other characters in the story. 4. Third person omniscient: the narrator is not a character in the story, but the events in the story are seen through the eyes of more than one of the characters. The narrator is considered to be all knowing and cannot only see and hear everything that is happening to all characters in the story, but can also enter their

minds and tell the reader what each is thinking and feeling. This is the least limited point of view because the narrator has knowledge of all the characters. Predicting: the process of gathering information and combining it with the readers own knowledge to guess what might occur in the story. Primary source: a first hand account of an event; primary sources include: diaries, journals, letters, speeches, news stories, photographs, and pieces of art. Propaganda: text that uses false or misleading information to present a slanted point of view. Prose: the ordinary form of spoken and written language; that is, language that lacks the special features of poetry. Examples of prose include: essays, stories, articles, speeches, etc. Questioning: the process of raising questions while reading in an effort to understand characters and events. Realistic fiction: imaginative writing set in the real, modern world. The characters act like real people who use ordinary human abilities to cope with problems and conflicts typical of modern life. Refrain: repetition in literature of one or more lines at regular intervals; sometimes called the chorus. Repetition: a technique in which a sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated for effect or emphasis. Rhyme: repetition of an identical or similarly accented sound or sounds in a work. Rhyme gives poems flow and rhythm, helping the lyricist tell a story and convey a mood. Some Terms Associated with Rhyme: 1. End or terminal rhymes: words that rhyme at the end of a verse-line. 2. Eye rhymes: are words that when written appear to rhyme, but when spoken do not (ex: dog/fog, cough/enough/bough, etc). 3. Internal rhyme: rhyme found within a line of poetry (alliteration, assonance, and consonance). 4. Slant rhyme is also known as near rhyme, half rhyme, off rhyme, imperfect rhyme, oblique rhyme, or pararhyme. A distinctive system or pattern of metrical structure and verse composition in which two words have only their final consonant sounds and no preceding vowel or consonant sounds in common. Instead of perfect or identical sounds or rhyme, it is the repetition of near or similar sounds or the pairing of accented and unaccented sounds that if both were accented would be perfect rhymes (stopped and wept, parable and shell). Alliteration, assonance, and consonance are accepted as slant rhyme due to their usage of sound combinations (spilled and spoiled, chitter and chatter). Rhyme scheme: the pattern of end rhyme used in a poem, generally indicated by matching lowercase letters to show which lines rhyme. The letter "a" notes the first line, and all other lines rhyming with the first line. The first line that does not rhyme with the first, or "a" line, and all others that rhyme with this line, is noted by

the letter "b", and so on. The rhyme scheme may follow a fixed pattern (as in a sonnet) or may be arranged freely according to the poet's requirements. rhythm: refers to the pattern of flow of sounds created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. The accented or stressed syllables are marked with: stressed or accented syllables: / unstressed or unaccented syllables: X or U Sarcasm: the use of praise to mock someone or something; the use of mockery or verbal irony Satire: a literary technique in which ideas or customs are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society. Scanning: the process of searching through writing for a particular fact or piece of information. Scene: a section in a play presenting events that occur in one place at one time. Science fiction: prose writing in which a writer explores unexpected possibilities of the past or the future by using scientific data and theories as well as his or her imagination. Secondary source: a secondary source presents information compiled from or based on other sources. Sensory details: words and phrases that help readers see, hear, taste, feel, or smell what an author is describing. Sequence: the order in which events occur or in which ideas are presented. Setting: the time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a story occurs. Settings include the background, atmosphere or environment in which characters live and move, and usually include physical characteristics of the surroundings. Settings enables the reader to better envision how a story unfolds by relating necessary physical details of a piece of literature. Short story: brief work of fiction that generally focuses on one or two main characters who face a single problem or conflict. simile: a simile is a type of figurative language that makes a comparison between two otherwise unlike objects or ideas by connecting them with the words "like" or "as." Soliloquy: a speech delivered by a character who is alone on the stage. Sonnet: a sonnet is a distinctive poetic style that uses a system or pattern of metrical structure and verse composition usually consisting of fourteen lines, arranged in a set rhyme scheme or pattern. There are two main styles of sonnet, the Italian sonnet and the English sonnet. 1. The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet is usually written in iambic pentameter. It consists first of an octave, or eight lines, which asks a question or states a problem or proposition and follows the rhyme scheme a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a. The sestet, or last six lines, offers an answer, or a resolution to the proposed problem, and follows the rhyme scheme c-d-e-c-d-e.

2. In the English or Shakespearean sonnet the octave and sestet were replaced by three quatrains, each having its own independent rhyme scheme typically rhyming every other line, and ending with a rhyme couplet. Instead of the Italianic break between the octave and the sestet, the break comes between the twelfth and thirteenth lines. The ending couplet is often the main thought change of the poem, and has an epigrammatic ending. It follows the rhyme scheme a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, ef-e-f, g-g. sound devices: see alliteration, onomatopoeia, repetition, rhyme and rhythm. Speaker: the voice that talks to the reader in a poem, as the narrator does in a work of fiction. The speaker in the poem is not necessarily the poet. Speech: a talk given in public. Stage directions: the instructions to the actors, director and stage crew in the script of a play. Stanza: a grouping of two or more lines within a poem. A stanza is comparable to a paragraph in prose. Some common stanza forms include: two line stanza: couplet three line stanza: triplet or tercet four line stanza: quatrain five line stanza: cinquain or quintet six line stanza: sestet or sextet seven line stanza: septet eight line stanza: octave fourteen line stanza: sonnet Stereotype: a broad generalization or an oversimplified view that disregards individual differences. Story mapping: a visual organizer that helps a reader understand a work of literature by tracking setting, characters, events and conflicts. Style: how a writer says something; many elements contribute to style, including word choice, sentence length, tone and figurative language Summarizing: the process of briefly recounting the main ideas of a piece of writing in a persons own words, while omitting unimportant details. Suspense: a feeling of growing tension and excitement. Writers create suspense by raising questions in readers minds about what might happen. symbolism: using something specific to stand for something else, especially an idea. A symbol is a person, place, object or action that for something beyond itself. For example, a dove may represent peace. The dove can be seen and peace cannot. Synecdoche: a literary technique in which the whole is represented by naming one of its parts (genus named for species), or vice versa (species named for genus). Example: You've got to come take a look at my new set of wheels. The vehicle here is represented by its parts, or wheels. Tall tale: a humorously exaggerated story about impossible events.

Theme: a common thread or repeated idea that is incorporated throughout a literary work. A theme is a thought or idea the author presents to the reader about life or human nature. Generally, a theme has to be extracted as the reader explores the passages of a work. The author utilizes the characters, plot, and other literary devices to assist the reader in this endeavor. The author often intertwines the theme throughout the work, and the full impact is slowly realized as the reader processes the text. The ability to recognize a theme is important because it allows the reader to understand part of the authors purpose in writing the book. Tone: the writers attitude or feeling about his or her subject. Tragedy: a dramatic work that presents the downfall of a dignified character or characters who are involved in historically or socially significant events. The events in a tragic plot are set in motion by a decision that is often an error in judgment. Succeeding events inevitably lead to a disastrous conclusion, usually death. Understatement: a statement that is restrained in ironic contrast to what might have been said; the opposite of hyperbole. Understatement is usually used for a humorous effect. Urban legend: a contemporary story that is told in many rumored versions that have little basis in fact. Voice: an author or narrators distinctive style or manner of expression. Voice can reveal much about the author or narrators personality. William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. Hundreds of editions of his plays have been published, including translations in all major languages. Scholars have written thousands of books and articles about his plots, characters, themes, and language. He is the most widely quoted author in history, and his plays have probably been performed more times than those of any other dramatist. There is no simple explanation for Shakespeares unrivaled popularity, but he remains our greatest entertainer and perhaps our most profound thinker. He had a remarkable knowledge of human behavior, which he was able to communicate through his portrayal of a wide variety of characters. He was able to enter fully into the point of view of each of his characters and to create vivid dramatic situations in which to explore human motivations and behavior. His mastery of poetic language and of the techniques of drama enabled him to combine these multiple viewpoints, human motives, and actions to produce a uniquely compelling theatrical experience. Although the exact date of Shakespeares birth is unknown, his baptism on April 26, 1564, was recorded in the parish register of Holy Trinity Church in

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, a prosperous town in the English Midlands. Based on this record and on the fact that children in Shakespeares time were usually baptized two or three days after birth, April 23 has traditionally been accepted as his date of birth. The third of eight children, William Shakespeare was the eldest son of John Shakespeare, a locally prominent glovemaker and wool merchant, and Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do landowner in the nearby village of Wilmcote. The young Shakespeare probably attended the Stratford grammar school, the Kings New School, which educated the sons of Stratford citizens. The schools rigorous curriculum was based largely on the study of Latin and the major classical writers. Shakespeares writings show that he was well acquainted with the Latin poet Ovid as well as other Latin works, including comedies by Terence and Plautus, two much-admired Roman playwrights. Shakespeare seems to have arrived in London about 1588, and by 1592 he had attained sufficient success as an actor and a playwright to attract the venom of an anxious rival. In his Groats Worth of Wit, English dramatist Robert Greene sneers at an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tigers heart wrapped in a players hide supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you; and, being an absolute Johannes factotum [jack of all trades], is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country. The pun on Shakespeares name and the parody in the quotation of a line from Henry VI leave no doubt of Greenes target. Shortly after this remark, Shakespeares first publications appeared. Shakespeares poetry rather than his plays reached print first: Venus and Adonis in 1593 and The Rape of Lucrece in 1594. These two fashionably erotic narrative poems were probably written to earn money as the theaters were closed from the summer of 1592 to the spring of 1594 because of plague, and Shakespeares normal source of income was thus denied him. Even so, the two poems, along with the Sonnets, established Shakespeares reputation as a gifted and popular poet. Shakespeare dedicated the two poems to Henry Wriothesley, 3rd earl of Southampton. Scholars disagree on whether the dedications are evidence of a close relationship between Shakespeare and Southampton. Literary dedications were designed to gain financial support from wealthy men interested in fostering the arts, and it is probable that Southampton rewarded Shakespeare for his two poems. Both poems became best-sellersThe Rape of Lucrece appearing in eight editions by 1632, Venus and Adonis in a remarkable 16 editions by 1636and both were widely quoted and often imitated. The Sonnets were not published until 1609, but as early as 1598, a contemporary, Francis Meres, praised Shakespeare as a mellifluous and honey-

tongued poet equal to the Roman Ovid, praising in particular his sugared sonnets that were circulating among his private friends. The 154 sonnets describe the devotion of a character, often identified as the poet himself, to a young man whose beauty and virtue he praises and to a mysterious and faithless dark lady with whom the poet is infatuated. The sonnets are prized for their exploration of love in all its aspects. Sonnet 18, which begins Shall I compare thee to a summers day, ranks among the most famous love poems of all time. See also Shakespeares Sonnets. Shakespeares reputation today is, however, based primarily on the 38 plays that he wrote, modified, or collaborated on. Records of Shakespeares plays begin to appear in 1594, when the theaters reopened with the passing of the plague that had closed them for 21 months. In December of 1594 his play The Comedy of Errors was performed in London during the Christmas revels at Grays Inn, one of the London law schools. In March of the following year he received payment for two plays that had been performed during the Christmas holidays at the court of Queen Elizabeth I by his theatrical company, known as the Lord Chamberlains Men. The receipt for payment, which he signed along with two fellow actors, reveals that he had by this time achieved a prominent place in the company. He was already probably a so-called sharer, a position entitling him to a percentage of the companys profits rather than merely a salary as an actor and a playwright. In time the profits of this company and its two theaters, the Globe Theatre, which opened in 1599, and the Blackfriars, which the company took over in 1608, enabled Shakespeare to become a wealthy man. It is worth noting that Shakespeares share in the acting company made him wealthy, not any commissions or royalties from writing his plays. Playwriting was generally poorly paid work, which involved providing scripts for the successful theater business. His plays would have belonged to the acting company, and when they did reach print they then belonged to the publisher. No system of royalties existed at that time. Indeed, with the exception of the two narrative poems he published in 1593 and 1594, Shakespeare never seems to have bothered about publication. The plays that reached print did so without his involvement. The only form of publication he sought was their performance in the theater. The theater served Shakespeares financial needs well. In 1597 he bought New Place, a substantial three-story house in Stratford. With the opening of the splendid Globe Theatre in 1599, Shakespeares fortunes increased and in 1602 he bought additional property: 43 hectares (107 acres) of arable land and 8 hectares (20 acres) of pasture north of the town of Stratford and, later that year, a cottage facing the garden at New Place. In 1605 he bought more property in a neighboring village. His financial activities can be traced, and his final investment is the purchase of a house in the Blackfriars district of London in 1613.

Shakespeare wrote nearly all of his plays from 1590 to 1611, when he retired to New Place. A series of history plays and joyful comedies appeared throughout the 1590s, ending with As You Like It and Twelfth Night. At the same time as he was writing comedy, he also wrote nine history plays, treating the reigns of Englands medieval kings and exploring realities of power still relevant today. The great tragediesincluding Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbethwere written during the first decade of the 1600s. All focus on a basically decent individual who brings about his own downfall through a tragic flaw. Scholars have theorized about the reasons behind this change in Shakespeares vision, and the switch from a focus on social aspects of human activity to the rending experience of the individual. But no one knows whether events in his own life or changes in Englands circumstances triggered the shift, or whether it was just an aesthetic decision. Shakespeares only son, Hamnet, had died in 1596 at the age of 11, his father died in 1601, and Englands popular monarch, Elizabeth I, died in 1603, so it is not unreasonable to think that the change in Shakespeares genre and tone reflects some change in his own view of life prompted by these events. In his last years working as a playwright, however, Shakespeare wrote a number of plays that are often called romances or tragicomedies, plays in which the tragic facts of human existence are fully acknowledged but where reassuring patterns of reconciliation and harmony can be seen finally to shape the action. Shakespeares plays were performed at the courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I more frequently than those of any other dramatist of that time. Shakespeare risked losing royal favor only once, in 1599, when his company performed the play of the deposing and killing of King Richard II at the request of a group of conspirators against Elizabeth. In the subsequent inquiry, Shakespeares company was absolved of any knowing participation in the conspiracy. Although Shakespeares plays enjoyed great popularity with the public, most people did not consider them literature. Plays were merely popular entertainments, not unlike the movies today. After about 1608 Shakespeare began to write fewer plays. For most of his working life he wrote at least two plays a year; by 1608 he had slowed usually to one a year, even though the acting company continued to enjoy great success. In 1608 the Kings Men, as his company was called after King James took the throne, began to perform at Blackfriars, an indoor theater that charged higher prices and drew a more sophisticated audience than the outdoor Globe. An indoor theater presented possibilities in staging and scenery that the Globe did not permit, and these can be recognized in the late plays. In 1613, fire destroyed the Globe Theatre during a performance of Henry VIII. Although the Globe was quickly rebuilt, Shakespeares association with it and probably with the companyhad ended. Around the time of the fire,

Shakespeare retired to Stratford, where he had established his family and become a prominent citizen. Shakespeares daughter Susanna had married John Hall, a doctor with a thriving practice in Stratford, in 1607. His younger daughter, Judith, married a Stratford winemaker, Thomas Quiney, in 1616. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616the month and day traditionally assigned to his birthand was buried in Stratfords Holy Trinity Church. He had made his will the previous month, in perfect health and memory. The cause of his death is not known, though a report from the Holy Trinitys vicar in the 1660s claims that he died of a fever contracted after a night of drinking with Ben Jonson and Michael Drayton, friends and fellow writers. Shakespeare left the bulk of his estate to his daughter Susanna and the sum of 300 pounds to his daughter Judith. The only specific provision for his wife was their second-best bed with the furniture [linens], although customary practice allowed a widow one-third of the estate. Shakespeare also left money for the poor of Stratford, and remembered the three surviving original members of his acting company, Richard Burbage, John Heminges, and Henry Condell, with small grants to buy memorial rings. Shakespeares wife, Anne, died on August 6, 1623. She lived long enough to see a monument to her husband erected in Holy Trinity Church, but she died just before the publication of the First Folio of Shakespeares plays, the more lasting monument to his memory. Soon after her death, Susanna and John Hall moved into New Place, where they lived until their deaths, his in 1635 and hers in 1649. Their daughter, Elizabeth Hall, died childless in 1670. Judith Quiney had three sons, but none lived long enough to produce heirs, and she died in 1662. Thus, by 1670, the line of Shakespeares descendants had reached its end.

King Lear
Context The most influential writer in all of English literature, William Shakespeare was born in 1564 to a successful middle-class glove-maker in Stratford-uponAvon, England. Shakespeare attended grammar school, but his formal education proceeded no further. In 1582 he married an older woman, Anne Hathaway, and had three children with her. Around 1590 he left his family behind and traveled to London to work as an actor and playwright. Public and critical success quickly followed, and Shakespeare eventually became the most popular playwright in England and part-owner of the Globe Theater. His career bridged the reigns of Elizabeth I (ruled 15581603) and James I (ruled 16031625), and he was a favorite of both monarchs. Indeed, James granted Shakespeares company the greatest possible compliment by bestowing upon its members the title of Kings

Men. Wealthy and renowned, Shakespeare retired to Stratford and died in 1616 at the age of fifty-two. At the time of Shakespeares death, literary luminaries such as Ben Jonson hailed his works as timeless. Shakespeares works were collected and printed in various editions in the century following his death, and by the early eighteenth century his reputation as the greatest poet ever to write in English was well established. The unprecedented admiration garnered by his works led to a fierce curiosity about Shakespeares life, but the dearth of biographical information has left many details of Shakespeares personal history shrouded in mystery. Some people have concluded from this fact and from Shakespeares modest education that Shakespeares plays were actually written by someone elseFrancis Bacon and the Earl of Oxford are the two most popular candidatesbut support for this claim is overwhelmingly circumstantial, and the theory is not taken seriously by many scholars. In the absence of credible evidence to the contrary, Shakespeare must be viewed as the author of the thirty-seven plays and 154 sonnets that bear his name. The legacy of this body of work is immense. A number of Shakespeares plays seem to have transcended even the category of brilliance, becoming so influential as to affect profoundly the course of Western literature and culture ever after. Shakespeare authored King Lear around 1605, between Othello and Macbeth, and it is usually ranked with Hamlet as one of Shakespeares greatest plays. The setting of King Lear is as far removed from Shakespeares time as the setting of any of his other plays, dramatizing events from the eighth century b.c. But the parallel stories of Lears and Gloucesters sufferings at the hands of their own children reflect anxieties that would have been close to home for Shakespeares audience. One possible event that may have influenced this play is a lawsuit that occurred not long before King Lear was written, in which the eldest of three sisters tried to have her elderly father, Sir Brian Annesley, declared insane so that she could take control of his property. Annesleys youngest daughter, Cordell, successfully defended her father against her sister. Another event that Shakespeare and his audience would have been familiar with is the case of William Allen, a mayor of London who was treated very poorly by his three daughters after dividing his wealth among them. Not least among relevant developments was the then recent transfer of power from Elizabeth I to James I, which occurred in 1603. Elizabeth had produced no male heir, and the anxiety about who her successor would be was fueled by fears that a dynastic struggle along the lines of the fifteenth-century Wars of the Roses might ensue. Elizabethan England was an extremely hierarchical society, demanding that absolute deference be paid and respect be shown not only to the wealthy and powerful but also to parents and the elderly. King Lear demonstrates how

vulnerable parents and noblemen are to the depredations of unscrupulous children and thus how fragile the fabric of Elizabethan society actually was. Analysis of Major Characters King Lear Lears basic flaw at the beginning of the play is that he values appearances above reality. He wants to be treated as a king and to enjoy the title, but he doesnt want to fulfill a kings obligations of governing for the good of his subjects. Similarly, his test of his daughters demonstrates that he values a flattering public display of love over real love. He doesnt ask which of you doth love us most, but rather, which of you shall we say doth love us most? (1.1.49). Most readers conclude that Lear is simply blind to the truth, but Cordelia is already his favorite daughter at the beginning of the play, so presumably he knows that she loves him the most. Nevertheless, Lear values Goneril and Regans fawning over Cordelias sincere sense of filial duty. An important question to ask is whether Lear develops as a characterwhether he learns from his mistakes and becomes a better and more insightful human being. In some ways the answer is no: he doesnt completely recover his sanity and emerge as a better king. But his values do change over the course of the play. As he realizes his weakness and insignificance in comparison to the awesome forces of the natural world, he becomes a humble and caring individual. He comes to cherish Cordelia above everything else and to place his own love for Cordelia above every other consideration, to the point that he would rather live in prison with her than rule as a king again. Cordelia Cordelias chief characteristics are devotion, kindness, beauty, and honesty honesty to a fault, perhaps. She is contrasted throughout the play with Goneril and Regan, who are neither honest nor loving, and who manipulate their father for their own ends. By refusing to take part in Lears love test at the beginning of the play, Cordelia establishes herself as a repository of virtue, and the obvious authenticity of her love for Lear makes clear the extent of the kings error in banishing her. For most of the middle section of the play, she is offstage, but as we observe the depredations of Goneril and Regan and watch Lears descent into madness, Cordelia is never far from the audiences thoughts, and her beauty is venerably described in religious terms. Indeed, rumors of her return to Britain begin to surface almost immediately, and once she lands at Dover, the action of the play begins to move toward her, as all the characters converge on the coast. Cordelias reunion with Lear marks the apparent restoration of order in the kingdom and the triumph of love and forgiveness over hatred and spite. This fleeting moment of familial happiness makes the devastating finale of King Lear that much more cruel, as Cordelia, the personification of kindness and virtue, becomes a literal sacrifice to the heartlessness of an apparently unjust world. Edmund

Of all of the plays villains, Edmund is the most complex and sympathetic. He is a consummate schemer, a Machiavellian character eager to seize any opportunity and willing to do anything to achieve his goals. However, his ambition is interesting insofar as it reflects not only a thirst for land and power but also a desire for the recognition denied to him by his status as a bastard. His serial treachery is not merely self-interested; it is a conscious rebellion against the social order that has denied him the same status as Gloucesters legitimate son, Edgar. Now, gods, stand up for bastards, Edmund commands, but in fact he depends not on divine aid but on his own initiative (1.2.22). He is the ultimate self-made man, and he is such a cold and capable villain that it is entertaining to watch him work, much as the audience can appreciate the clever wickedness of Iago in Othello. Only at the close of the play does Edmund show a flicker of weakness. Mortally wounded, he sees that both Goneril and Regan have died for him, and whispers, Yet Edmund was beloved (5.3.238). After this ambiguous statement, he seems to repent of his villainy and admits to having ordered Cordelias death. His peculiar change of heart, rare among Shakespearean villains, is enough to make the audience wonder, amid the carnage, whether Edmunds villainy sprang not from some innate cruelty but simply from a thwarted, misdirected desire for the familial love that he witnessed around him. Goneril and Regan There is little good to be said for Lears older daughters, who are largely indistinguishable in their villainy and spite. Goneril and Regan are cleveror at least clever enough to flatter their father in the plays opening sceneand, early in the play, their bad behavior toward Lear seems matched by his own pride and temper. But any sympathy that the audience can muster for them evaporates quickly, first when they turn their father out into the storm at the end of Act 2 and then when they viciously put out Gloucesters eyes in Act 3. Goneril and Regan are, in a sense, personifications of evilthey have no conscience, only appetite. It is this greedy ambition that enables them to crush all opposition and make themselves mistresses of Britain. Ultimately, however, this same appetite brings about their undoing. Their desire for power is satisfied, but both harbor sexual desire for Edmund, which destroys their alliance and eventually leads them to destroy each other. Evil, the play suggests, inevitably turns in on itself. Themes, Motifs & Symbols Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. Justice King Lear is a brutal play, filled with human cruelty and awful, seemingly meaningless disasters. The plays succession of terrible events raises an obvious question for the charactersnamely, whether there is any possibility of justice in the world, or whether the world is fundamentally indifferent or even hostile to humankind. Various characters offer their opinions: As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; / They kill us for their sport, Gloucester muses, realizing it foolish

for humankind to assume that the natural world works in parallel with socially or morally convenient notions of justice (4.1.3738). Edgar, on the other hand, insists that the gods are just, believing that individuals get what they deserve (5.3.169). But, in the end, we are left with only a terrifying uncertaintyalthough the wicked die, the good die along with them, culminating in the awful image of Lear cradling Cordelias body in his arms. There is goodness in the world of the play, but there is also madness and death, and it is difficult to tell which triumphs in the end. Authority versus Chaos King Lear is about political authority as much as it is about family dynamics. Lear is not only a father but also a king, and when he gives away his authority to the unworthy and evil Goneril and Regan, he delivers not only himself and his family but all of Britain into chaos and cruelty. As the two wicked sisters indulge their appetite for power and Edmund begins his own ascension, the kingdom descends into civil strife, and we realize that Lear has destroyed not only his own authority but all authority in Britain. The stable, hierarchal order that Lear initially represents falls apart and disorder engulfs the realm. The failure of authority in the face of chaos recurs in Lears wanderings on the heath during the storm. Witnessing the powerful forces of the natural world, Lear comes to understand that he, like the rest of humankind, is insignificant in the world. This realization proves much more important than the realization of his loss of political control, as it compels him to re-prioritize his values and become humble and caring. With this newfound understanding of himself, Lear hopes to be able to confront the chaos in the political realm as well. Reconciliation Darkness and unhappiness pervade King Lear, and the devastating Act 5 represents one of the most tragic endings in all of literature. Nevertheless, the play presents the central relationshipthat between Lear and Cordeliaas a dramatic embodiment of true, self-sacrificing love. Rather than despising Lear for banishing her, Cordelia remains devoted, even from afar, and eventually brings an army from a foreign country to rescue him from his tormentors. Lear, meanwhile, learns a tremendously cruel lesson in humility and eventually reaches the point where he can reunite joyfully with Cordelia and experience the balm of her forgiving love. Lears recognition of the error of his ways is an ingredient vital to reconciliation with Cordelia, not because Cordelia feels wronged by him but because he has understood the sincerity and depth of her love for him. His maturation enables him to bring Cordelia back into his good graces, a testament to loves ability to flourish, even if only fleetingly, amid the horror and chaos that engulf the rest of the play. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the texts major themes. Madness

Insanity occupies a central place in the play and is associated with both disorder and hidden wisdom. The Fool, who offers Lear insight in the early sections of the play, offers his counsel in a seemingly mad babble. Later, when Lear himself goes mad, the turmoil in his mind mirrors the chaos that has descended upon his kingdom. At the same time, however, it also provides him with important wisdom by reducing him to his bare humanity, stripped of all royal pretensions. Lear thus learns humility. He is joined in his real madness by Edgars feigned insanity, which also contains nuggets of wisdom for the king to mine. Meanwhile, Edgars time as a supposedly insane beggar hardens him and prepares him to defeat Edmund at the close of the play. Betrayal Betrayals play a critical role in the play and show the workings of wickedness in both the familial and political realmshere, brothers betray brothers and children betray fathers. Goneril and Regans betrayal of Lear raises them to power in Britain, where Edmund, who has betrayed both Edgar and Gloucester, joins them. However, the play suggests that betrayers inevitably turn on one another, showing how Goneril and Regan fall out when they both become attracted to Edmund, and how their jealousies of one another ultimately lead to mutual destruction. Additionally, it is important to remember that the entire play is set in motion by Lears blind, foolish betrayal of Cordelias love for him, which reinforces that at the heart of every betrayal lies a skewed set of values. Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. The Storm As Lear wanders about a desolate heath in Act 3, a terrible storm, strongly but ambiguously symbolic, rages overhead. In part, the storm echoes Lears inner turmoil and mounting madness: it is a physical, turbulent natural reflection of Lears internal confusion. At the same time, the storm embodies the awesome power of nature, which forces the powerless king to recognize his own mortality and human frailty and to cultivate a sense of humility for the first time. The storm may also symbolize some kind of divine justice, as if nature itself is angry about the events in the play. Finally, the meteorological chaos also symbolizes the political disarray that has engulfed Lears Britain. Blindness Gloucesters physical blindness symbolizes the metaphorical blindness that grips both Gloucester and the plays other father figure, Lear. The parallels between the two men are clear: both have loyal children and disloyal children, both are blind to the truth, and both end up banishing the loyal children and making the wicked one(s) their heir(s). Only when Gloucester has lost the use of his eyes and Lear has gone mad does each realize his tremendous error. It is appropriate that the play brings them together near Dover in Act 4 to commiserate about how their blindness to the truth about their children has cost them dearly.

William Congreve (1670-1729) English dramatist who shaped the English comedy of manners through his brilliant comic dialogue, his satirical portrayal of the war of the sexes, and his ironic scrutiny of the affectations of his age. His major plays were The Old Bachelour (1693), The Double-Dealer (1693), Love for Love (1695), and The Way of the World (1700). In 1674 Congreve's father was granted a commission in the army to join the garrison at Youghal, in Ireland. When he was transferred to Carrickfergus, Congreve, in 1681, was sent to school at Kilkenny, the Eton of Ireland. In April 1686 he entered Trinity College, Dublin (where he received his M.A. in 1696). He studied under the distinguished philosopher and mathematician St. George Ashe, who also tutored his elder schoolfellow and ultimate lifelong friend Jonathan Swift. It was probably during the Glorious Revolution (168889) that the family moved to the Congreve home at Stretton in Staffordshire, Congreve's father being made estate agent to the earl of Cork in 1690. In 1691 he was entered as a law student at the Middle Temple. Never a serious reader in law, he published in 1692 under the pseudonym Cleophil a light but delightfully skillful near-parody of fashionable romance, possibly drafted when he was 17, Incognita: or, Love and Duty reconcil'd. He quickly became known among men of letters, had some verses printed in a miscellany of the same year, and became a protg of John Dryden. In that year Dryden published his translation of the satires of Juvenal and Persius (dated 1693), in which Congreve collaborated, contributing the complimentary poem To Mr. Dryden. It was in March 1693 that he achieved sudden fame with the production at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, of The Old Bachelour, written, he said, in 1690 to amuse himself during convalescence. Warmly heralded by Dryden, who declared that he had never read so brilliant a first play, though it needed to be given the fashionable Cutt of the Town, it was an enormous success, running for the then unprecedented length of a fortnight. His next play, The Double-Dealer, played in November or December at Drury Lane but did not meet with the same applause (it later became the more critically admired work, however). Its published form contained a panegyrical introduction by Dryden. Love for Love almost repeated the success of his first play. Performed in April 1695, it was the first production staged for the new theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was opened after protracted crises in the old Theatre Royal, complicated by quarrels among the actors. Congreve became one of the managers of the new theatre, promising to provide a new play every year.

In 1695 he began to write his more public occasional verse, such as his pastoral on the death of Queen Mary II and his Pindarique Ode, Humbly Offer'd to the King on his taking Namure; and John Dennis, then a young, unsoured critic, collecting his Letters upon Several Occasions (published 1696), extracted from Congreve his Letter Concerning Humour in Comedy. By this time, Congreve's position among men of letters was so well established that he was considered worthy of one of those sinecure posts by which men of power in government rewarded literary merit: he was made one of the five commissioners for licensing hackney coaches, though at a reduced salary of 100 per annum. Though Congreve signally failed to carry out his promise of writing a play a year for the Lincoln's Inn theatre, he showed his good intentions by letting them stage The Mourning Bride. Although it is now his least regarded drama, this tragedy, produced early in 1697, swelled his reputation enormously and became his most popular play. No further dramatic work appeared until March 1700, when Congreve's masterpiece, The Way of the World, was producedwith a brilliant castat Lincoln's Inn Fields; though it is now his only frequently revived piece, it was a failure with the audience. This was Congreve's last attempt to write a play, though he did not entirely desert the theatre. He wrote librettos for two operas, and in 1704 he collaborated in translating Molire's Monsieur de Pourceaugnac for Lincoln's Inn Fields. In 1705 he associated himself for a short time with the playwright and architect Sir John Vanbrugh in the Queen's theatre, or Italian Opera house, writing an epilogue to its first production. It is likely that Congreve's retreat from the stage was partly a result of a campaign against the supposed immorality of contemporary comedies. This attack was led most notably by Jeremy Collier, author of the tract A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage (1698), which specifically censured Congreve and Dryden, among others. In reply, Congreve wrote Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations (1698). The rest of his life he passed quietly enough, being in easy circumstances thanks to his private income, the royalties on his plays, and his not very exacting posts in the civil service. In 1705 he was made a commissioner for wines, a post that he retained by virtue of Swift's good offices at the change of government in 1710 but which he relinquished in 1714 when he joined the customs service; his position was improved at the end of 1714 with the addition of the secretaryship of the island of Jamaica. He wrote a considerable number of poems, some of the light social variety, some soundly scholarly translations from Homer, Juvenal, Ovid, and Horace, and some Pindaric odes. The volume containing these odes also comprised his timely "Discourse on the Pindarique Ode" (1706), which brought some order to a form that had become wildly unrestrained since the days of the poet Abraham Cowley. Congreve's friendships were numerous, warm, and constant, as much with insignificant people, such as his early companions in

Ireland, as with the literary figures of his time. No quarrels are attributed to him, except for a very brief one with Jacob Tonson, a publisher. Swift, whose friendship with him had begun in early days in Ireland, was unvarying in his affection; for John Gay, poet and author of The Beggar's Opera, he was the unreproachful man; Alexander Pope dedicated his Iliad to him; and Sir Richard Steele his edition of Joseph Addison's The Drummer. As to his relations with the other sex, his affection for Mrs. Anne Bracegirdlewho acted most of his female leadsis well known; they were always close friends, but whether the intimacy was of a deeper nature is undetermined. In his later years he was devotedly attached to the second duchess of Marlborough, and it is almost certain that he was the father of her second daughter, Lady Mary Godolphin, later duchess of Leeds. This would account for the large legacy, of almost all his fortune, which he left to the duchess of Marlborough. He died after a carriage accident. Congreve's character was praised in Giles Jacob's Poetical Register (1719), where he is described as being so far from being puff'd up with Vanitythat he abounds with Humility and good Nature. He does not shew so much the Poet as the Gentleman. The last phrase will serve as a comment on the notorious meeting with Voltaire, who in 1726 had come celebrity-seeking in England and wished to extract what he could from the great English writer of comedy. Congreve, failing, fatigued, attacked by gout, and half-blind, did not feel equal to discussing the minutiae of comic writing or a play he had written some 30 years earlier. He told Voltaire that he would be delighted to talk on general subjects, on the footing of a gentleman as he phrased it, but not on subjects of which he would be expected to display expert critical knowledge and affect the pundit. Congreve is the outstanding writer of the English comedy of manners, markedly different in many respects from others of this period of the drama. Taking as its main theme the manners and behaviour of the class to which it was addressed, that is, the antipuritanical theatre audience drawn largely from the court, it dealt with imitators of French customs, conceited wits, and fantastics of all kinds; but its main theme was the sexual life led by a large number of courtiers, with their philosophy of freedom and experimentation. Restoration comedy was always satirical and sometimes cynical. Congreve rises above other dramatists of his time in both the delicacy of his feeling and the perfection of his phrasing. The latter is strikingly exhibited in the opening speeches of The Old Bachelour, a play that no doubt appealed to the audiences because it handled with a new brilliance themes they were familiar with. Some of the repartee may seem superficial to modern readers, but that was the manner of the time. As Congreve progressed, his speeches became more modulated, more musical, but always sure in their cadence. Every sentence is replete with sense and satire, William Hazlitt wrote, conveyed in the most polished and pointed terms. As George Meredith stated, He is at once precise and volublein this he is a classic, and is worthy of

treading a measure with Molire. Congreve's most successful work is his last play, The Way of the World. Here he is doing more than holding up to ridicule the assumptions that governed the society of his time. He could not regard love merely as the gratification of lust, a matter of appetite rather than of feeling, but he was equally averse to rationalizing love. Congreve goes deeper than any of his contemporaries, has more feeling for the individual, and is far subtler. He was a sensitive craftsman, and nothing came from his hand that was not thoughtfully conceived and expertly contrived. Though not the equal of Molire, he was the nearest English approach to him.