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Theatre Appreciation Online Course |
Last revision date: January 4, 2008
Character in the Play
Objectives for this lesson:Students will examine:
elements of character and characterization
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Aristotle's Six Parts of a Tragedy (click here for a slide presentation about the six parts of a play -- with sound -- requires a relatively fast connection and an internet sound plug-in installed)
1. Plot2. Character3. Thought (theme, idea)4. Diction (Language)5. Music (sound)6. Spectacle
2. CHARACTER: the essences of human behavior.
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Representative or quintessential characters -- embodiment of of the characteristics of an entire group.
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Only human as much as the playwright and production have made them distinguishable from other characters, physically, socially, psychologically, morally.
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The concept of "decorum" was important in the Neoclassical period--characters should behave according to their class /circumstances (Example: The Cid)
Revealed ONLY by what characters says, does, what others say about him, react to him (stage directions, etc.). -
Can also be revealed through how the character functions in the play -- what functions to they fulfill in the play ?
The following terms help describe characters according to their function in the play :
Protagonist -- "agon" = struggle; the pro side of the struggle -- often used to refer to the lead character in a tragedy.
Antagonist -- the anti side of the struggle -- often the bad guy, but could be anyone / thing that struggles against the protagonist.
Foil / Counterpart: -- reveals some aspects of the main characters by having similar or different circumstances or by behaving similarly or differently
Stock characters -- exemplify one particular characteristic, as in commedia dell' arte --
Type -- a character who is larger than life who has a "dominant trait" -- as opposed to a "real" or life-like individual [Sporre, 95]. -- similar to "stock" characters -- for example: the "villain," the "good cop gone bad," the "precocious child," etc.
Narrators / Chorus and Non-Human characters
[Confidante -- a character whom the protagonist or other important character confides in...
Raisonneur / author's character -- speaks for the author, giving the author's morals or philosophy -- usually not the protagonist