Features of Modern Drama

Drama is one of the types of genre in Literature and modern drama is a type of Drama.

1. Features of Modern Drama By Humna Irfan BS-VI

2. Modern Drama Plays written in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which depicts all the progressions that occurred on the political, social, economic, religious and psychological level. Faith has replaced by reason and are less concerned with fantasy, historical elements and lush scenery. There are some features of Modern Drama which we have studied.

3. Realism The modern dramatists made efforts to deal with real problems of life. Henrik Ibsen popularized realism in Modern Drama. He dealt with the problems of real life in a realistic manner of his play. Further more dramatist followed his realistic manner in their plays.

4. Naturalism This theory suggests that everything works on the laws of cause and effect. Man has become rational. Naturalist plays are therefore considered as " slice of life " plays because they rarely change their settings. Naturalism means  inner reality  and realism means  outer reality .

5. Romanticism Focused on emotions, equality, freedom and nature which were the main characteristics if Elizabethan age. It was mainly Sir J.M. Barrie’s efforts that the new wave of Romanticism swept over Modern Drama for some years of the 20th century.

6. Absurdism The believe that human beings live in essential isolation in a meaningless and irrational world. The use of  absurdity  in literature is a vehicle for writers to explore those elements in the world that do not make sense.

7. Comedy of Manner The Comedy of manners, also called anti-sentimental comedy, is a form of comedy that satirizes the manners and affections of contemporary society and questions social standards. The Comedy of Manners lapsed in the early 19th Century, but was revived by many skillful dramatists like Oscar Wilde and G.B.Shaw

8. “ A Doll’s House ” “A Doll’s House” is often considered as the first Realistic Modern Drama, containing many of the key elements of this genre. Henrik Ibsen highlights the forced role of women and the deceptive appearances. Realism is portrayed in the drama through three themes identity , social expectations and gender . “ I will do everything I can to please you, Torvald! I will sing for you, dance for you ” - Nora

9. “ Waiting for Godot ” It is a prime example of what has come to be known as the theater of the absurd. The play is filled with nonsensical lines, wordplay, meaningless dialogue, and characters who abruptly shift emotions and forget everything, ranging from their own identities to what happened yesterday .

10. “ Arms and the Man ” A comedy of manners, bordering on farce, George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man pits romance versus realism, idealism versus pragmatism and flamboyant foolishness versus clockwork precision. Shaw’s “Arms and the Man” is a pleasant and humorous attack on both love and war which are often regarded as societal ideals.

11. “It came into my head just as he [ Sergius ] was holding me in his arms and looking into my eyes, that perhaps we only had our heroic ideas because we are so fond of reading Byron and Pushkin, and because we were so delighted with the opera that season at Bucharest” (Shaw 7)

12. “ The Caretaker ” Pinter uses elements of both comedy and tragedy to create a play that elicits complex reactions in the audience . Life has no meaning or meta-narrative; it is fragmented, chaotic, confusing, and hostile . The characters are isolated, lonely, and oppressed by forces outside their control. 

13. Thank you!