Comedy and Drama Tragedy and Term Paper

Total Length: 1935 words ( 6 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 5

Page 1 of 6

This echoes life. To others we present as a simple person, perhaps even shallow and one-dimensional. Yet inside we are a mass of interminable twists and turns of plots and subplots. The story must reflect positive morality or, as Aristotle warned, when storytelling goes bad, the result is decadence. As stories become more extravagant and violent, and all the areas of storytelling - acting, stage settings or environments, music, sound effects and dialogue - become more riotous and tumultuous, the world of the stage and screen become grotesque and out of context. When a culture experiences unmanageable difficulties it is time to return to the classical comedic theme, that of good triumphing over evil (McKee 15).

The play is the thing, it is said; and an inspired drama may bring one individual's explanation of that thing called life to an intrigued mind. The playwright must know himself first. Self-knowledge, plus deep reflection on reactions to life and diversity are hung on a structure, the basic 5-part structure derived from the Greeks, natural and user-friendly guidelines from Greek playwrights centuries ago, and used by Shakespeare himself (Burkert 88).

It takes the whole mind of the playwright to create a fascinating story that brings the audience to grasp the meaning as they search for reason in life's strange twists of fate. It also takes "desire, forces of antagonism, turning points, spine, progression, crisis, climax and stories seen from the inside out" (McKee 16). One is not escaping reality when one views a drama; one is searching for reality, for order to come out of chaos and for truth to be revealed in agony.
Works Cited

Bradbrook, Murel Clara, the Growth and Structure of Elizabethan Comedy. University of California Press, 1956.

Burkert, W. Greek Tragedy and Sacrificial Ritual. Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 7 (1966): 87-121.

Englert, Walter. Ancient Greek Theater. Reed Library. Retrieved May 18, 2007 at http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/Theater.html.

McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York, NY: Harper. 1997.

McManus, Barbara. Tools for Analyzing Prose Fiction. 1998. http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/tools.html.

Shakespeare, William, the Comedy of Errors. (Levin, Harry, ed) New York, NY: Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2002.

Worrall, David. Theatric Revolution: Drama, Censorship and Romantic Period Subcultures 1773-1832. London: Oxford University Press. 2006.

McKee's students have written, directed, or produced Air Force One, the Deer Hunter, E.R., a Fish Called Wanda, Forrest Gump, NYPD Blue, and Sleepless in Seattle.

Fate is another Greek word meaning the three personifications of destiny in Greco-Roman stories and myths. The three Fates were Clotho, the spinner; Lachesis, the measurer of the thread of life; and Atropos, the….....

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