Q: Write a detailed note on the kinds/Types of Comedy elements can help you increase in value and converse plays
value and converse plays that is seen
Comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is satirical in
its tone, mostly having cheerful ending. The idea of this dramatic work is
achievement over unpleasant circumstance by which to create comic
effects, resulting in happy or successful conclusion. Thus, the purpose of
comedy is to please the audience. Comedy has multiple sub-genres
depending upon source of humor, context in which an author delivers
dialogues, which include farce, satire and burlesque. Tragedy, in
contrast, is opposite to comedy, as tragedy deals with sorrowful and
tragic events in a story.
Types of Comedy
 Romantic Comedy
This type of drama involves the theme of love leading to happy
conclusion. We find romantic comedy in Shakespearean plays and some
Elizabethan contemporaries. These plays are concerned with idealized
love affairs. It is a composite genre which center’s mostly on the
variations of young lovers, who get happily united in the end. It is a fact
that the true love never runs smooth; however, love overcomes the
difficulties and ends in a happy union. The best examples for this genre
are to be found in Shakespeare’s works, e.g.: A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, As You Like It.
 Comedy of Humors
Is a form of drama typical at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the
17th century; by Ben Johnson the first dramatist with a belief that
people’s actions are governed by their dominant bodily humor, its
characters are ruled by a particular passion or trait. The term humor
derives from Latin word ‘humor’ that means liquid. It comes from a
theory that human body has four liquids or humors, which
include phelgm, blood, yellow bile and black bile. It explains that when
human beings have balance of these humors in their bodies, they remain
healthy. The first and most significant playwright of the genre was Ben
Jonson, in his Every Man in His Humour and Every Man Out of His
Humour.
 Comedy of Manners
Also called ‘Restoration comedy’ or ‘artificial comedy’; is a form of
dramatic genre deals with intrigues and relations of ladies and
gentlemen, living in a sophisticated society. The comedy of manners
depicts a stylish society, mainly the middle and upper classes, its focus is
on elegance, with characters of fashion and rank, but also would-be
nobles, fops, country bumpkins, ambitious social climbers, and so on.
This form relies upon high comedy, derived from sparkle and wit of
dialogues, social intrigue, violations of social traditions, and good
manners by nonsense characters like jealous husbands, wives, adultery
and cuckoldry and foppish dandies. We find its use in Restoration
dramatists, particularly in the works of William Wycherley and William
Congreve. Some of Shakespeare’s plays (e.g. Love’s Labour’s Lost, or
Much Ado About Nothing) can be considered examples of this genre, as
are the plays of Molière, Sheridan, and Oscar Wilde.
 Sentimental Comedy
Sentimental drama contains both comedy and sentimental tragedy. It
appeared as a reaction against the immoral comedy of manners, which
emphasized vices and faults of people; sentimental comedy focused on
the virtues of private life, with simple and honorable characters. This
form gained popularity among the middle class audiences in eighteenth
century. This drama incorporates scenes with extreme emotions evoking
excessive pity. Some typical examples can be found in the work of Oliver
Goldsmith and Robert Steele; nevertheless, on the whole, the genre did
not prove to be as enduring as its forerunners, and it is not often
performed any more.
 Tragicomedy
This dramatic genre contains both tragic and comedic elements. It blends
both essentials to lighten an overall mood of the play. Often,
tragicomedy is a serious play that ends happily.
Q: Drama Definition / Types/ Characteristics/ Elements
Drama is intended to replicate human behavior and action in the midst
of tragedy and everyday life. A number of genres exist within drama,
each with their own storytelling methods, character types and dramatic
approach. There are four main genres of drama: the tragedy, comedy,
melodrama and tragicomedy. Understanding the characteristics of these
genres generates a basic understanding of the influences and types of
theater being created today.
Drama is a distinctive fictitious form because they are intended to be
performed out on a stage before an audience. The word ‘drama’ comes
from the Greek word ‘dran’ meaning to act or to do. Drama brings a
story to life before our eyes, the story of a play or drama is told through
dialogue and action and is combined with the setting that the audience
perceives essentially from scenery and props. Knowing about these
and read.
The 5 characteristics of drama are:
 Idea/Plot
 Characters
 Language
 Music
 Performance
People interpret drama in different ways, and what are considered the
'key elements' of the medium may vary, depending on whether you're in
the audience or actually part of the cast. An additional way to describe
the characteristics of drama would be to look at it to go through
between inceptions through to being performed in front of a live
audience.
The following could all be seen as characteristics of dramatic
performances:
 script/text/scenario/plan
 the process
 the product
 the audience
Drama was broadly categorized into three different forms, viz. opera,
pantomime, and creative drama.
Opera: this form was accepted warmly during the Renaissance period
due to its versatility. Theater and music were in perfect harmony, and
the actors displayed exceptional acting and singing skills.
Pantomimes: These were composed keeping the theme of folk tales as
the primary element, and symbolism occupied a prominent position. It
was organized in the form of masques, where characters wore elaborate
costumes and makeup.
Creative drama: It is the modern version of drama, which was
popularized mostly by youngsters, possessing innate acting skills. Stage
shows and theaters were organized in schools and colleges, which
provided a platform for students to exhibit their talent.
The components of drama are: theme, plot, audio-visual effects, and
music. All these elements must be synchronized perfectly for creating a
masterpiece.
Characteristics of a Drama
Drama reflects human behavior in the form of a story through acting and
dance. This creative art form is renowned throughout the world as
drama. It is a means of self-expression, where actors showcase their
inherent talents on stage and is interwoven with other elements, like
music, dance, instruments, microphones, and lights, to make it more
appealing to the audience. Theater and drama are collective terms, and
the basic component of the play is a story based on fictional events and
characters.
Stages of Drama:
 Proscenium stage – A stage where the audience sit on one
side only (you might know this as end-on staging). The
audience face one side of the stage directly, and normally sit
at a lower height facing the acting area this is called a
proscenium stage
 In-the-round stage – An in-the-round stage – is positioned at
the center of the audience – i.e. there are audience around
the entire stage. This type of stage creates quite an intimate
atmosphere, and is good for drama that needs audience
involvement. The stage does not need to be circle but there
are seats all around it.
 Traverse stage – A stage where the audience sits on two sides
is called a traverse stage. Again, this type of stage is good for
creating an intimate atmosphere. Traverse when the audience
sits on two side s.
Types of Drama
Drama is one of the best literary forms through which dramatists can
directly speak to their readers or audience as well as they can receive
instant feedback of audience. Drama is a mode of fictional
representation through dialogue and performance. A few dramatists use
their characters as a vehicle to convey their thoughts, values such as
poets do with personas, and novelists do with narrators. In drama the
characters live out a story without any comments of the author,
providing the audience a direct presentation of characters’ life
experiences.
Since drama uses spoken words and dialogues, thus language of
characters plays a vital role, as it may give clues to their feelings,
personalities, backgrounds, and change in feelings, etc. It is one of the
literary genres, which is an imitation of some action. Drama is also a type costumes, and special effects should also be considered when
of a play written for theaters, televisions, radios and films. studying drama, because these items play a large role in the
In simple words, a drama is a composition in verse or prose presenting a production of a play.
story in pantomime or dialogue, containing conflict of characters,
particularly the ones who perform in front of audience on the stage. The
person who writes drama for stage directions is known as a dramatist or
playwright.
Few popular types of drama are listed below:
 Comedy – Comedies are lighter in tone than ordinary writers,
and provide a happy conclusion. A comedy makes us laugh
when the play is well-composed with the humorous elements.
The intention of dramatists in comedies is to make their
audience laugh. Hence, they use quaint circumstances,
unusual characters and witty remarks. Composing a comical
drama requires high level of intellect and perceptive faculties,
because provoking laughter is not as easy as it may seem.
 Melodrama – Melodrama is exaggeration of emotions, which
is sensational and appeals directly to the senses of audience. a
superbly executed melodramatic plot can absorb you
completely. They usually depict the good and evil aspects of
the characters involved. Just like the farce, the characters are
of single dimension and simple, or may be stereotyped.
 Tragedy – Tragic dramas are one of the oldest forms of drama.
It exposes the plight and suffering of humans to the audience.
They use darker themes such as disaster, pain, ruins of a
dynasty, moral setback, downfall of man, personal loss,
emotional betrayals, death, and denials. Protagonists often
have a tragic flaw—a characteristic that leads them to their
downfall.
 Fantasy: It is a fictional work where characters virtually
display supernatural skills. It is more appealing to children as
fairies, angels, superheroes, etc., are embedded in the plot.
Use of magic, pseudo science, horror, and spooky themes
through various kinds of technical devices create a perfect
world of fantasy. The modern version of drama incorporates a
great deal of special effects.
 Musical Drama – Music, melody, and dance play a significant
role in a musical drama. In musical drama, the dramatists not
only tell their story through acting and dialogue, nevertheless
through dance as well as music. Often the story may be
comedic, though it may also involve serious subjects. Here,
the story is conveyed through music and dance along with
dialogs and acting. Musical drama became popular as opera,
which is still considered to be intensely sensuous.
 Farce – Generally, a farce is a nonsensical genre of drama,
which often overacts or engages slapstick humor. It uses
highly improbable situations, stereotyped characters,
extravagant exaggeration, and violent horseplay.

Elements of Drama
In drama, a mime is a person who conveys a story by means of
pantomime. Mimes nowadays are thought of as people in white face
paint and black clothes doing comedy.
Naturalism in drama refers to the belief that a play should try to
represent reality as closely as possible. Realism in drama occurs when a
play resembles real life, such as showing political events that occurred
within a country. Depending on the era, these events were relevant to
society.
Elements of Drama are:
 The first element of drama, explicitly the thought, theme, and
ideas of a production, describes what the play means as
conflicting to what happens throughout the plot. It deals with
the complete messages of a production.
 The second element of drama, action and plot, deals with
what happens throughout the production as well as the main
conflicts. It includes the exposition, the rising action, climax,
falling action and resolution of the play.
 The third element of drama, characters, describes the people
involved in the plot of the play.
 The fourth element, language, refers to the words chosen by
the playwright as well as the way in which the characters
speak them. The dialect chosen helps drive the play and
shapes the background of individual characters.
 The fifth element, music, refers to any music that drives the
play forward and heightens excitement or suspense
throughout. Music is a part of most theatrical productions,
but not all. The spectacle element, or the props, scenery,