The Significance of Language in Dramatic Productions Essay examples

It wasn’t much of a chat, but the point is, it happened eight years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. That’s probably why I can still hear Mick’s voice like he was standing right next to me. You know they say when someone you love dies that you forget how their voice sounds, but that hasn’t happened yet. Which is why I’m not surprised that I still remember everything about the last conversation I had with my brother before his accident. He said to me,

11. Point out some moments in the play when the playwright conveys much to the audience without dialogue

The use of descriptive language is important for the writer to entertain, persuade and teleport the reader into their work. Descriptive use and imagery allow the reader to experience the setting, sound, taste, and mood as if they can live through it. Which takes us to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Not only does he use exceptional details and imagery throughout the play between the characters, but the way he uses word allows us to put ourselves into the play as if we can feel what they feel. It also allows us to experience and go through the play as if we are in it also. So in this paper, I would like to focus on a few major moments where I believe Shakespeare descriptive language is the strongest.

Shakespeare was very specific, in 1603, about his choice of words when he wrote the play, “Othello”. The three language devices – “words as power”, “words as character” and “words as conversation” with the audience – are used to create characters’ identities and fates, and also to drive the plot of the play (Krieger, 2012).

It would appear that many rehearse their performance, allowing themselves to correct any flaws in their performance before giving it.

The overall dramatic meaning of this play has been successfully shown by the elements of drama. The

Drama often generates levels of meaning that are not directly stated (sometimes called sub-text). Explore some examples of the presence of sub-text and its dramatic importance in at least two of the plays you have studied. (May 2014)

Authors often times use diction, figurative language, and dialogue to convey different ideas that highlight the importance of certain characters and the way they feel. Manipulating language allows an author to give insight into the characters, expand the plot, and amplify the reader’s understanding of the piece as a whole. Edmond Rostand does this very successfully in his play,“Cyrano de Bergerac”. The exchanges between characters allow the story to develop, and put an emphasis on the importance of characters through dialogue. By writing “Cyrano de Bergerac” in the form of a play, Edmond Rostand successfully employs dialogue to reveal characters’ inner conflicts through how they interact with each other.

Good morning/afternoon year eleven. Today, I will be speaking about how the power of language is explored in Shakespeare’s “Othello” through the complex characters and their speeches throughout the play. Othello and Iago, the protagonist and antagonist, both have moments in which they use language to speak directly to the audience. They convince us to feel or think a certain way, despite the underlying truth in their speech. Iago’s speech in Act 1, Scene 1, Line 42, detailing his feelings towards Othello, and Othello’s speech at the beginning of Act 5, Scene 2, prior to murdering his wife Desdemona, both use language to convey a manipulated truth and intent. These speeches inflict emotions onto the audience, as though we are being spoken to and tricked just as the characters in the play are.

Erving Goffman was a sociologist known for developing the symbolic interaction and dramaturgical theory perspective. The dramaturgical theory is a social psychological perspective that studies human behavior and social interaction in terms of the analogy of the theater. This perspective is also related to symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism is a theory based on interaction and communication, facilitated by many different words, gestures, and other symbols that have acquired various meanings. Dramaturgical theorist focus on how people manipulate various aspects of themselves and their settings to influence how others define and respond to them. In this perspective, “the self” is constructed of the various roles that one acquires, in order to present their various selves in ways that sustain particular impressions to their audiences. “The self” is a private possession established in and reflective of an individual’s personality, which includes ones values, beliefs, motives, traits, and dispositions. In addition, a person’s “self” is acquired through social relationships and is a structurally fundamental process that may change due to various situations. As humans interact with one another they are placed in social categories based on their attributes and actions. These assessments are primarily based on ones knowledge of roles.

The power of language holds great significance not only in Shakespearean study but of our daily lives as well. Every nuance Shakespeare creates leaves a clue to a greater truth or understanding of our humanity. Exploring the works of Shakespeare with this in mind allows for audiences to gain more appreciation and awareness of the depth of language and communication through his dialogue and characters as Shakespeare: “asks us to adorn the actor with our thoughts and ‘carry them here and there, jumping o’er the times’” (Bevington xiii).

The second oldest form of literature after poetry is drama. Dramas have changed a lot over the years. They use to plays that were wrote to be performed in the theater, and now they are mostly written to be performed in a movie or a television show. There are many dramas today that most people would not considered to be drama. Before reading the information in our text book, I thought drama was basically just a story or movie between people who had problems with each other; but that’s not completely true. Dramas can basically be anything that has a hero or dialogue to a certain extent. For this paper, I choose to write about the drama in the movie The Hunger Games. This movie is not just only drama, it is also adventure and sci-fi movie.

The theatrical plays of “Angels in America” and “August: Osage County” both of the playwrights create a heart wrenching, tear jerking, and amazing work. Each character is developed to have its own sets of values, beliefs, and attitudes towards life and so there are no two characters alike. With each character having its own identity, it brings a sense of excitement and unpredictability in the plays. Tracy Letts the writer for “August: Osage County” establishes a sense of reality in his play by developing characters that everyone can relate too. His play is about family, the use of drugs, cancer, and suicide, subjects that people go through during their lifetime. Tony Kushner the playwright of “Angels in America” provides the same feeling

Despite the claim that Drama in Education ( DIE) as a pedagogy dimmed its popularity in the Western world since 1990 until 2016 (Gallagher, et al. , 2017), in the year of 2011, Morrow, et al. included it as one of the best practices in literacy instruction. Some of the teachers who had the experience of trying process drama in their classrooms found that the pedagogy improved students’ participations, pushed students to use their imaginations, performed deeper understanding of the topics being learned and made the students learn to have empathy ( Long, 1998). Do the voices from the classroom resemble to what researchers and theories have to say on process drama?

     There have been many dramatic plays over the centuries. Many of these plays have died in their time, while others have lived on. What makes these plays endure time and continue to be influential over time? Perhaps it is the storyline or the interesting nature of the play is what makes these dramas last. I think that it is the focus on human nature and its essential truths that keep these plays alive. Most of the plays, still enacted in theaters today, deal with social issues that people can learn from and relate to.