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Hostos Community College Library

ENG 212 - Studies in Drama

The Prologue text from Romeo & Juliet printed in 1597

Unit 1: A Look at Character

●      Identify various dramatic movements and their historical impact 

●      Analyze how the literary elements of plot, setting, character, and conflict find expression in dramatic works

●      Compare different interpretations of the same dramatic texts

●.     Evaluate critical and/or scholarly responses to dramatic compositions

●      Analyze a variety of dramatic works

Readings

Analysis of the Characters

The model below provides a guide for the analysis of the characters in order to identify the personality of each of them,  their attitude on stage and the network of relationships holding together the drama. The analysis will focus on:

  1. the character’s physical appearance (description of body and face, clothes and accessories);
  2. story of his/her life (identification of all biographical elements that define the character’s story and situate him or her in relation with the others);
  3. point of view (interpretation of the character’s perspective in relation to the overall vision of world as proposed by the author);
  4. personality (description of the character’s behavior defining his/her personality on stage as it relates to others:  tone of the voice,  gestures,  movements,  distance or proximity to other characters);
  5. description of the mask (different ways in which each character places himself/herself in relation to others);
  6. definition of the mask’s motivation and choice through which the character will achieve his/her goals.

Name of the Character    Physical Appearance    Story of Life    Point of View    Personality    Mask

 

Antigone

Written by Sophocles circa 441 BC, Antigone is an Athenian tragedy. Of the three Theban plays, Antigone is the third in order of the events depicted in the plays, but was the first to be written.

Romeo and Juliet

"The prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls the title characters “star-crossed lovers”—and the stars do seem to conspire against these young lovers. Romeo is a Montague, and Juliet a Capulet. Their families are enmeshed in a feud, but the moment they meet—when Romeo and his friends attend a party at Juliet’s house in disguise—the two fall in love and quickly decide that they want to be married."

 

woodcut illustration from title page of Romeo and Juliet printed in 1597

Attributions

Analysis of the Characters
Source:Theater Practicum for Language Teaching: The Model, Yale University, https://campuspress.yale.edu/theaterpracticummodel/materials-2/analysis-of-the-characters/
The web site is an open source.

Antigone
Source: Sophocles, Antigone, Translator: F. Storr. Ryerson University: The Public Domain Core Collection Project, https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/antigone/chapter/antigone/
Public Domain

Romeo & Juliet
Source: Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet from The Folger Shakespeare. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. https://folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/romeo-and-juliet/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported

Images
Source: William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, First Quarto (1597). Folger Shakespeare Library Digital Collections, https://digitalcollections.folger.edu/bib163932-157531
No Copyright CC0 1.0 Universal