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A. Terms for Drama

1. Exposition: part where we first meet the characters, learn what happened before the curtain rose, and find out what is happening now

2. Foreshadowing: a hint of what is to come

3. Dramatic question: the question that creates suspense in the viewer, the question we want answered; there may be more than one

4. Climax: the moment, usually late in a play, when tension reaches its greatest height

5. Conclusion or denouement: the play’s outcome

6. Rising action: part of the story in which events are moving toward a climax

7. Falling action: the subsequent events after the climax

8. Unities: unity of action, unity of time, unity of place; a single series of interrelated actions that take place within a twenty four hours in a single location

9. Stage business: any nonverbal action that engages the attention of an audience

10. Symbols: objects that suggest larger meanings

11. Irony: the use of words to convey a meaning that is opposite of its literal meaning

12. Dramatic irony: irony that is inherent in speeches or a situation of a drama and is understood by the audience but not grasped by the characters in the play

Trifles activity: Theater Critics

For this discussion board, I want you to pretend that we have just watched the debut of this show by the Provincetown Players on August 8, 1916, and we are impressed with how well Glaspell included all the elements of a good drama in such a short play. Write a positive review.  Of course, we are not actually seeing it, just imagining its production based on its script, but work with me here!

To give your posts more variety, please focus on one of these aspects of theater: plot, character, stage business, symbols, and irony. Use your elements to help you argue that this is a perfect play. You will need to explain how your particular element is working in the play and use quotes to make your point. For example, if you have character, examine each character and say why he or she is necessary to the play, using a quote for each. You should also use the terms for character we studied in the fiction unit: flat, round, dynamic, static, foil. If you have plot, show how all the plot terms listed (1-7) above are part of this play.

B. Your task for this DB is to be amateur detectives (like Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters) and notice motifs in Act 1 of Death of a Salesman that are already repeating and building meaning. Here are some of the possibilities, but feel free to come up with your own ideas:

Stockings

Flute / music

Cigarettes

Eyes

Money—all actions driven by it, appliances, bills, cars—expenses

Smashed-up cars, cars in general

Contrasting characters of sons

Focus on the future

Cheese

Sports

Adonises—physical appearance

Lying/cheating/stealing

Cards

Liked but not well-liked

Contradictions

Apartment buildings of the city vs. ranch/frontier

 

Choose a motif and then show where it appears in Act 1 and how it begins to gain symbolic resonance from its repetition. Then end your initial post with a theme you see developing. Be sure to state your theme as a complete sentence.