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A drama is a story that can have elements of both a comedy and tragedy. In Classical Greek tradition as well as during the Renaissance, which was inspired by classical traditions, dramas were plays.

During the Renaissance, only the rich could read and write. Performed plays allowed for the working class and illiterate to have access to this form of entertainment.

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A play that deals with ordinary people in humorous or exaggerated situations, usually ending in reconciliation, marriage, or joy. Its purpose is to amuse and often to satirize human behavior.

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A serious play that shows the downfall of a noble character due to fate, flaws, or errors in judgment. It stirs pity and fear in the audience, leading to catharsis (emotional release).

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The 9 Plot Elements Of Shakespearean Tragedies✔️

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Some of Shakespeare’s most revered plays fall under the tragedy genre. Here we explore 9 key plot concepts that Shakespeare uses in all of his tragedy plays.

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Complete list of Shakespeare's plays, by genre :|: Open Source Shakespeare

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High Comedy Vs Low Comedy: Exploring The Spectrum Of Humor In Literature

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Dive into the distinctions between High Comedy and Low Comedy, with examples and insights into their definitions, purposes, and uses in literature. Enhance your understanding of these comedic devices and their impact on storytelling.

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ARISTOPHANES

Aristophanes, the most famous writer of Greek comedies, was born in the 440s b.c.e. He lived through the upheaval of the Peloponnesian War, which lasted from 431 to 404, and stripped Athens of her place as cultural and political capital of the Greek city-states.

Many of his plays comment on the long war-perhaps the most famous is Lysistrata, whose heroine leads a sex strike in order to bring about peace. He often made fun of tragedy and the tragedians: Aristophanes' Frogs is one of the best ancient critiques of the other playwrights that we still have.

He produced his first play in 427. Before his death in the 380s he had written 44 comedies, of which we have eleven.

AESCHYLUS

The first great tragedian, Aeschylus, was born around 525 b.c.e. He produced his first dramas in 498, and he had his first victory in 484. We know he was still working in 458, when he produced his trilogy Oresteia.

Aeschylus actually fought in the front lines against the Persians at Marathon in 490. We don't know much about the rest of his life, but we do know that his Persians (financed by Pericles) was such a success that he was invited to Sicily by Hieron of Syracuse to restage it. He died in Sicily, having returned there sometime after 458. His tombstone mentions that he was an Athenian and that he fought at Marathon, but does not mention his plays.

His life bridged the Archaic and Classical ages, and Aeschylus' plays reflect that fact. Considered even by the ancients to be difficult and old-fashioned, Aeschylus was also quite innovative in the structures, personnel, and even subjects of his plays. He wrote around 89 plays, of which we have only seven.

SOPHOCLES

Sophocles, an older contemporary of Euripides, was born 497/496 b.c.e. at Colonus outside Athens. He first competed in 468, when he won first prize and beat his great elder Aeschylus at the same time. He won eighteen victories at the Great Dionysia, and he never placed lower than second.

We know that Sophocles was active in Athenian public life: he was strategos (one of ten elected generals) with Pericles in 441/0, an office he probably held more than once. He was also personally involved in bringing the healing cult of Asclepius to Athens. He died in 406, soon after Euripides.

Aristotle admired Sophocles (and particularly his Oedipus the King) because he wrote good plots about important people. Many people share Aristotle's point of view and consider Sophocles the greatest Greek playwright. We know of a total of 123 plays written by Sophocles, of which a mere seven survive.

EURIPIDES

Euripides was the youngest of the three great tragedians. Born in the 480s b.c.e., Euripides first competed in the Great Dionysia in 455. He competed twenty-one more times, but won only four times, including with the tetralogy that included Bacchae and Iphigeneia at Aulis, produced after his death in 406.

Most of what has come down to us as Euripides' biography is pieced together from jokes made about him in comedies, and thus is not particularly reliable. He seems not to have taken part in public life; he may have had a bad marriage; and one of his sons (or a nephew) was a tragic poet, too. There is also some evidence that he may have been an intellectual recluse, and he perhaps had a large library.

The ancients criticized his plays for being too pedestrian and too easily resolved. Euripides also had a reputation for literary misogyny, but modern audiences might wonder at such a charge leveled against the creator of the heroines of Alcestis, Medea, Iphigeneia at Aulis, and Hecuba.

We are fortunate still to have nineteen plays by Euripides.

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Ancient Greek Playwrights - The Randolph College Greek Play

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ARISTOPHANES Aristophanes, the most famous writer of Greek comedies, was born in the 440s b.c.e. He lived through the upheaval of the Peloponnesian War, which lasted from 431 to 404, and stripped Athens of her place as cultural and political capital of the Greek city-states.

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From Oresteia to Hamlet: Greek and Roman Influences on English Literature

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From Oresteia to Hamlet: Greek and Roman Influences on English Literature

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From Oresteia to Hamlet: Greek and Roman Influences on English Literature

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Explore the timeless influence of Greek and Roman literature on English literature, from the origins of Greek theatre to Shakespeare’s iconic play, Hamlet.

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I've recently gotten my roommates to watch Arrested Development with me, which is great because Netflix released the new season a couple weeks ago (which I still haven't watched), so the three of us are working through the first three seasons together. We're pretty much all snickering through each episode. But that's the whole point of comedy, right?

Welcome to the last of the seven basic plots: the Comedy.

Want to learn more about plot types? Check out my new book, The Write Structure, and learn the hidden principles behind bestselling stories. Click to check out the book.

What is a Comedy Plot?

A Comedy is a work in which the hero and heroine are destined to be together, but something is preventing them from doing so. Over the course of the story, whatever is keeping them apart is removed from the equation, usually after a great deal of increasing confusion and miscommunication, which usually results in mass hilarity. In the end, the confusion is cleared up, the bad guy is punished, and everyone gets married.

The structure of a Comedy according to Booker is less rigid than the other six plot types, but for the most part there are three acts to the story.

The "Shadow of Confusion"

We're introduced to the hero and heroine, who are clearly marked as destined to be together (along with possibly a few emerging beta couples), but they're being separated. This could be physical separation (maybe they haven't met yet), or emotional separation (see A Midsummer Night's Dream 's Demetrius and Helena for a good example of this). Either way, there's confusion, miscommunication, and frustration, and the designated couples aren't hooking up.

It Gets Worse

The confusion previously mentioned gets even more convoluted. The darkness separating everyone is at its thickest, and the tension for the characters is at its peak. Things are going disastrously for our hero and heroine.

The Confusion is Lifted

Someone or something explains the misunderstandings, all the characters breathe collective sighs of relief, weddings are arranged, and the bad guy is either punished or repents in time for the engagement party.

The key in Comedy is the execution and transition between the stages. Also, it's important to keep in mind that Comedy in this definition isn't necessarily funny; the name just indicates that everyone lives happily ever after. But as anyone who has seen Singin' In the Rain or read The Importance of Being Earnest can attest, confusion is a great mine for humor.

PRACTICE

Take fifteen minutes and write a scene of traditional comedy. Post your practice in the comments and leave notes for your fellow writers. Have fun with this one!

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I've recently gotten my roommates to watch Arrested Development with me, which is great because Netflix released the new season a couple weeks ago (which I still haven't watched), so the three of us are working through the first three seasons together. We're pretty much all snickering through each episode.