Reading Drama Here are some questions you might ask when you are faced with the task of reading or writing about drama. (Note that cross-references refer to selections in Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience, seventh edition.) 1. How does the play begin? Is the exposition presented dramatically through the interaction among characters, or novelistically through long, less realistic, speeches that convey a lot of information, or through some device such as the reading of long letters or lengthy reports delivered by a messenger? 2. How does the information conveyed in exposition (which may occur at various moments throughout the play) establish the basis for dramatic irony? That is, what is the role of the ironic response generated in an audience when it knows more than do the characters? For example, because we know that Iago is a villain in Shakespeare's Othello (p. 1041), we hear an ironic dimension in his speeches that the characters do not hear, and that irony is the source of much tension in the audience. 3. Who are the principal characters, and how are the distinctive qualities of each dramatically conveyed? How do they change as the play proceeds? Are they sympathetic? What function do the minor characters serve? A paper that thoughtfully assesses the role of minor characters can often succeed better than the attempt to analyze the major figures who may embody too much complexity to deal with in 1,000 words. 4. Where is the play set? Does it matter that it is set there? Why? Does the setting play some significant role in the drama, or is it merely a place, any place? 5. What is the central conflict in the play? How is it resolved? Is the resolution satisfying? 6. Do you need to know something of the historical circumstances out of which the play emerged, or something of the life of the author in order to appreciate the play fully? If so, how does the information enhance your understanding? 7. Since plays are usually written to be performed rather than read, what visual and auditory elements of the play are significant to your response? If you are reading a text, place yourself in the position of the director and the actors in order to respond to this aspect of drama. 8. What is the play's theme? How does the dramatic action embody that theme?