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Reading a play: the language of drama
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Most students study at least one play for GCSE Literature, often by Shakespeare. Plays are written to be performed, so you need the terms for how drama works on stage.
Drama terms
Shakespeare's language
wherefore means why: 'O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?' asks WHY he is Romeo (a Montague), not where he is.
Shakespeare often gives high-status or serious characters verse (poetry) and lower-status or comic characters prose, so a switch between them can tell you something.
Iambic pentameter
'Shall I com-PARE thee TO a SUM-mer's DAY?' (Sonnet 18)
When the rhythm breaks, look closely: it can show a character's mind in turmoil.
In a play, a character tells another 'Of course I trust you', then turns to the audience and says 'I trust him as I trust a snake.' Name the technique and its effect.
- The second line is spoken to the audience only, so it is an aside.
- The audience now knows his real feelings while the other character does not: dramatic irony.
- Effect: the audience feels tension and waits for the betrayal.
Answer: An aside creates dramatic irony: the audience knows he is lying, which builds tension.
Use drama terms (stage directions, soliloquy, aside, dramatic irony) and write about the audience. Know thou/thee/thy, 'wherefore' = why, and the da-DUM beat of iambic pentameter.
The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.
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