Stage Convention

1
Stage Convention

• using words and actions to create scenes and
  atmosphere that arent really there
• The Globe Theater was open air in mid-day with no
  special effects!
• Ex -- talking about the moonlight to signify
  night, looking across the audience and talking of
  a vast lake

2
Iambic Pentameter

• Iambic is a particular type of meter in poetry
  a specific combination of syllables
• unstressed stressed (2 syllables)
• Examples divine, caress, bizarre, delight
• Penta five, So pentameter is five of these
  iambic meters in one line
• This means ten (10) syllables per line of
  unstressed and stressed
• My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun

3
Blank Verse

• Blank verse is simply unrhymed Iambic Pentameter
• Every line has 10 syllables of unstressed /
  stressed
• Shakespeare wrote all his plays in it!
• This gave his plays a very musical and elevated
  quality
• Lesser characters speak in prose (831)

4
Heroic Couplet

• Two successive rhyming lines
• Usually in Iambic Pentameter
• Make / emphasize a point, sum up information in a
  complete thought
• Often found at the end of a scene or act, and at
  the end of a Sonnet
• And after this, let Caesar seat him sure
• For we will shake him, or worse days endure.

5
Tragedy

• main character is involved in a significant event
  that ends in disaster unnecessarily?
• lots of bad things happen (miscommunication) a
  lot of people die

6
Tragic Flaw

• a weakness (not necessarily a bad thing) of the
  main character that causes his/her ruin
• this flaw gets exploited / out of control and
  eventually leads to the characters downfall
• Romeo ? love and loyalty
• Brutus ? love for Rome

7
Tragic Hero

• An essentially good person whose Tragic Flaw gets
  exploited leading him down a path of events to
  his ruin seemingly out of control!

8
Dramatic Irony

• what appears to be is not what really is
• character fails to realize what the audience
  already knows
• this creates anxiety for the audience (you know
  Juliet isnt dead)

9
Comedy

• Happy Ending Everyone gets what he/she deserves
• Usually romantic with multiple marriages at the
  end
• Humor comes from DISORDER ?misidentity,
  miscommunication ?who is in love with who?
• Situational Ironywhat seems to be isnt some
  character know what everyone else doesnt, and
  sometimes use it for humor ?Puck
• EXTREMES are used, just like in modern sitcoms
  and comedies ? falls in love with a Donkeyhead
• A Midsummers Night Dream

10
History

• Based on historical events, usually British or
  Roman
• Much artistic license is used, meaning that new
  characters or events may have been added to make
  the story more interesting
• History plays had one of two purposes
• to glorify England and stir up Patriotism, or to
  satirize (poke fun of) the monarchy
• Henry the Fifth

11
Soliloquy

• a speech made by a single character on stage
  ALONE
• expresses inner thoughts thinking out loud on
  stage
• Ex -- Hamlets To be or not to be that is the
  question...

12
Monologue

• a speech made by a single character on stage
  without interruptions from others
• Marc Antonys funeral speech Friends, Romans,
  Countrymen

13
Aside

• a brief comment made by a character on stage that
  no one else hears.
• either express thoughts, provides information, or
  tells a joke to the audience

14
Sonnet

• A very structured form of Poetry
• Originated in Italy with Petrarch and the
  Renaissance
• Revamped and made popular by Shakespeare
• Fourteen lines long (14)
• Iambic Pentameter (10 syllables x 14 lines only
  140 syllables)
• Very Specific Rhyme Pattern ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
• Always ends in a Heroic Couplet
• First 8 lines usually ask a question or present a
  problem, last 6 lines answer it

15
Essay Topic

• Who is the Tragic Hero in the play?
• Julius Caesar?
• Brutus?
• Cassius?
• Why? What is the Tragic Flaw?
• Writing a Five Paragraph Essay, find three
  examples and cite actual lines from the play to
  support your choice for who the tragic hero is.