| A | B |
|---|
| tragedy | a genre of in which the protagonist meets a tragic end, usually through some character flaw |
| pathos | an identification and pity for the tragic protagonist |
| hamartia | a character's tragic flaw in personality or judgement |
| catharsis | an emotional release felt by an audience through pathos with the tragic protagonist |
| comedy | a genre of play in which all of the plot complications come to a pleasing end and the protagonist achieves his/her goal |
| low comedy | a type of comedy that relies on low humor, like physical gags, for laughs |
| farce | a very broad sort of comedyin which the characters and the situations are larger than life |
| high comedy | a type of comedy that relies on witty conversation and clever jokes for laughs |
| middle comedy | a type of comedy that is a mixture of low and high comedy |
| comedy of manners | a type of high comedy, popular during the 18th century, that focuses on high society |
| screen scene | farcical scenes in which some actors hide from the others, but are still able to hear the dialogue |
| aside | a speech spoken directly to the audience that the other actors onstage don't hear |
| burlesque | a form of low comedy that mocks a broad topic |
| parody | a type of low comedy that mocks a certain author's work by imitating the style for comic effect |
| caricature | an exaggeration of an aspect of a character for a literary work |
| satire | a style of comedy that attacks the ills of society with humor |
| fantasy | a play that deals with unrealistic and fantastic characters |
| romantic comedy | a play that presents an idealized love affair, in the romantic style |
| sentimental comedy | 18th century genre that was a reaction to the immorality of Restoration drama, presents life as ideal |
| melodrama | plays based on romantic plots with the primary goal of engaging the audience by any means necessary |
| play of ideas | a play that deals with a social problem or ethical issue, sometimes proposing a solution |
| theatrical conventions | something done in the theatre for representing something that would be difficult to show onstage; example: the use of a curtain |
| representational | a form of drama that attempts to create a world of the play without directly involving the audiencethe audience |
| presentational | a type of drama doesn't try to create an illusion of not being a play, the characters may engage the audience directly |
| allegory | a form of storytelling that teaches moral concepts through symbolic characters, events or objects |
