INSTITUTION: MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY

ADMISSION: BEDA/2020/69016

DEPARTMENT: SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

FACULTY: BACHELOR OF EDUCATION ARTS

UNIT TITLE: DRAMA

UNIT CODE: BLA 3116

PRESENTED TO: DR.MWANGI

TASK: CAT ONE AND TWO

PRESENTED BY: JUMA DAVID OTIENO

CELL PHONE: 0728112145

1) Differentiate drama and other two genres of literature(10mks)

Comparison between Drama,Fables and Novel or fictions

a) Drama is meant for stage performance.

Drama is written to be acted or staged by live actors to a live audience. And drama can be
performed anywhere at any time. Other literary works like novels are written to be read and
poems are written to be sung or recited.
b)   Drama is written in a dialogue form.
Since drama is meant for stage performance it is written / printed in dialogue or conversations
form that makes it easier to be acted. However to make it live at some points the playwright may
use monologues (soliloquies), poetic language, songs, or mime (dumb show) whereas fables and
fictions are written in prose.
c)    Drama is divided in form of Acts and Scenes.
An act is a major unit of action in a play and a scene is a smaller section or a subdivision of one
act. Once act may have several scenes each carrying one event. Other works like novels are
divided in forms of parts/chapters and paragraphs while poems are divided into verses and
stanzas.
d)   Drama has stage direction.
These are the instructions or notes which describe how the work is to be performed. These show
areas of the stage where the characters sit, stand, when they leave or enter, how the dress, time of
the day, when the curtain rise and fall etc while novels and fables do not include stage direction
because they are not meant to be performed.
e)    Drama has a strong influence to the audience.
Drama allows the audience participation since people are attracted by actions drama has a strong
influence than fables and fictions. People are tempted to live or act imitating the life and actions
of the characters. Also the audience can participate by clapping, laughing, screaming, frowning,
or responding as the actors involve them.
f)     Drama makes extensive use of 1st person pronoun (I, me, we, us).
 Since drama is meant to be acted by actors, most characters speak from the first person point of
view. (I, me, we or us). Other works like novels make extensive use of 3rd person (he, she it,
they).
g)    Drama uses shorter time in performance than novels.
It takes only two to three hours to what a performance but it takes days or weeks to finish
reading one novel. This makes drama more appealing to the audience since it is time considerate.
h)   Drama is characterized by action.
When drama is presented on the stage it involves actions that are carried out by characters.
Characters can fight, make love, laugh, cry, etc. all these add effect to the livelihood of drama
and make it more appealing to the audience.
i)     Drama has language economy.
Words are not wasted in drama. The playwrights usually choose the suitable words that express
their intended meaning. Most plays are very short as compared to novels. For example Soyinka’s
‘The trials of Brother Jero’ and Ngugi’s ‘This Time Tomorrow’ are very short but with strong
messages.
j)     Drama involves many people in its production.
For the drama to be staged many people are involved unlike novels and poems which can be
produced by the authors only. In production of a drama there should be actors/actresses, the
director, floor manager or location manager, production manager, designer (costumes and
makeup) etc. on top of that there should be the live audience. 
k)  Drama involves imitation of real life events. Or it reflects the experiences of Human kind
Like other literary works Drama is a product of the society. Drama imitates the real life events
and brings them on stage. This makes drama t be more meaningful to the audience.
l)      Drama can be performed anywhere and/or any time.
m) Drama brings the whole world on stage.

2) Evaluate character and characterization in a play of your choice(10mks)

Characters in An enemy of the people by Henrik Ibsen

 Doctor Thomas Stockmann
A practicing medical doctor, the medical officer of the town baths, and the brother of the mayor,
who got him the job at the baths. Stockmann is idealistic and excitable. For much of his life he
was destitute and lived in the countryside; now he is happy to be fairly prosperous and living in a
bustling town.

 Mrs. Katherine Stockmann

Dr. Stockmann's wife. She is loyal and practical and often encourages her husband to think of his
family when he is being rash. Morten Kiil is her adoptive father, or grandfather, depending on
translation.

 Petra Stockmann
The daughter of Thomas and Katherine, Petra is as idealistic as her father. She is a hard-working
teacher, and she is frustrated that the law requires her to teach things she doesn't believe in.

 Peter Stockmann
Peter is Dr. Stockmann's brother. He is also chairman of the baths committee. He is a cautious
but sometimes ruthless politician.

 Hovstad
Hovstad is editor of The People's Herald, the town's leftist newspaper. Although slightly corrupt,
he is at heart a political radical.
 Aslaksen
Aslaksen is the newspaper's printer. Because he lets the paper print on credit, he has a degree of
editorial control. He is also the chairman of the homeowners association, which represents the
town's small business class, the majority of voters. He also has great influence with the
Temperance Society, and he is a lover of moderation.

 Billing
An assistant at the newspaper, he is a radical, like Hovstad, but he is also ambitious and plans to
run for office. He is in some way courting Petra.
 Captain Horster
A ship captain who has little interest in local politics, Horster provides the hall for Doctor
Stockmann's speech, but he is fired from his ship as a result.

Morten Kiil

A rich old man, Kiil owns several of the tanneries that Dr. Stockmann implicates in his water
pollution report. He is the adoptive father or grandfather (depending on the translation) of Mrs.
Stockmann, and his will assigns a good deal of wealth to her and her children.

Characterisation

Actions

As in most dramas, the characters are defined by their actions. Dr. Stockmann's relentless pursuit
of his quest for truth shows him to a man of principle and possibly naïve idealism. The
machinations of his brother, Mayor Stockmann, reveal the Mayor's ultimately crafty yet practical
nature. Hovstad's betrayal of the Doctor demonstrates his hypocrisy. And then, of course, there's
Aslaksen, whose timid nature is shown by his refusal to take any action that ruffles feathers.

Speech and Dialogue

Plays are written almost entirely in dialogue, so it makes sense that the characters that inhabit
them are often defined by the way they speak. Dr. Stockmann tends to speak in high-energy
bursts and has a tendency to go off on long monologues. This all seems to point to the idea that
the Doctor is a guy who has a lot of ideas and is super enthusiastic about sharing them.

A distinct difference in personalities becomes pretty clear when you compare the way Dr.
Stockmann talks to his wife. Rather than haranguing everybody with her ideas, she stays quiet
most of the time, only occasionally butting in to try and reign in her husband's wilder ideas. Mrs.
Stockmann's restraint in her speech denotes her cautious nature.
 Social Status

Social status is a big deal in An Enemy of the People. All the characters are defined by it in some
way. The Mayor uses his top-dog status to assert his will over just about everybody. Hovstad
uses his position as editor the paper to gain power and as a tool for his liberal political agenda.
Then there's Dr. Stockmann, whose status goes from respected man about town to lowest of the
low. His journey as a character is clearly marked by his journey down the social ladion:

3) What is African poetry? Using a play of your choice from Africa assess characteristics of
drama.(10mks)

African poetry is any poetry written and performed in the way that African poets have done it
since as far back as we can trace African history and poetry,it potrays African culture,fears and
their values.

Characters: Characters play an important role in the drams whether it is a major or minor one. A
brief description of each character should be included in the drama. For example: Morten
Kill,captain Horster,Billing,Petra Stockmann and Peter Stockmann are characters in an enemy of
the people.
Plot: Plot comprises exposition, a rising action as well as a falling action, climax and resolution.
After the exposition, the main conflict comes and finally, the resolution that provides a
conclusion. A coastal town in southern Norway, the Stockmanns' sitting room, a newspaper
office, a large meeting room, the Doctor's study

The play takes place in a nameless coastal town in the south of Norway. The location of the town
is important because it's what helps make it a tourist destination. The town's southerly location
means that it's warmer than much of the famously frigid Norway. The balmy climate also adds
an extra halo over the town in the Doctor's mind, because he was stuck for years in the
blisteringly cold north.

The different rooms in which Ibsen chooses to set each scene all seem to have significance as
well. In the first act, we're in the Stockmanns' sitting room and can also see the dining room in
the background. The setting helps depict the Doctor as a man of the people. We're shown a house
full of friends, enjoying Dr. Stockmann's famous hospitality. This makes his friends' betrayal
later in the play all the more bitter.

The most devastating set of betrayals occur in the newspaper office, where the Doctor learns that
Hovstad and Aslaksen have turned against him. The setting highlights the fact that Dr.
Stockmann is being betrayed by media, and becomes in some ways symbolic of the overall
corruption of the media in the Doctor's eyes.

In Act 4 we move to a large room in Captain Horster's house. The room is full of people waiting
to hear the Doctor's controversial speech. The fact that Ibsen chooses to set the act in a place that
can hold a large number of cast members seems significant. The stakes of the Doctor's tirade are
greatly heightened by an increasingly rowdy crowd. Also, this public meeting room helps turn
the play into a forum for radical ideas.

In the last act we're transported to the Doctor's study. Stage directions tell us that "In the right
hand wall are two windows, of which all the panes are broken" (5.1). This detail shows the all
out rage that Dr. Stockmann's attempt at truth telling has brought down on him. His sanctuary
where he formulated his original ideas about the Baths has been violated and attacked. The stage
directions also note that "cabinets containing specimens, line the walls" (5.1). This fact seems
pretty significant as well, because the Doctor is just about to embark on his greatest experiment
of all: the reeducation of mankind.

Tragedy: A play, which is written based on a social, religious or personal issue. In tragedy, a
Henrik Ibsen wrote “An Enemy of the People” to be the first modern tragedy. The tragic hero
Dr. Stockmann is a great man who falls from the towns' graces. They bring about his downfall
when he tries to tell them about how their main source of income is poisoned. series of actions
are developed with a noticeable magnitude of characters. Most importantly, it is not narrative as it
provides actions. In tragedy, the protagonist carries a tragic flaw and sometimes, the character
shows the arrogance or pride and it ends with an unavoidable downfall.
the wedding or expectation of new generation. Here, characters are represented in a comic and
absurd ways.

Symbolism and imagery:

Towards the end of the play Dr. Stockmann becomes a Christ figure. Dr. Stockmann, however,
might disagree with our assessment. In Act 4 he yells at the crowd, "I am not so forgiving as a
certain Person; I do not say: 'I forgive you, for ye know not what ye do'" (4.188). OK, Doc, you
might not be as forgiving as Christ, but you sure share a lot of similarities. The Doctor, like
Jesus, has a message of truth that he wants to spread across the land. He's hounded by the
authorities for wanting to spread it. The majority of his community rejects his message.
Eventually an angry mob chastises him and throws rocks.

Though the Doctor isn't executed like Jesus, the townspeople turning against him and destroying
his life could be seen as a metaphorical crucifixion. Also, when Dr. Stockmann regains his
strength at the end of the play and sets out to reeducate the world, it could be interpreted as sort
of resurrection. The fact that he wants to pass his truth on to legion of young followers is also
much like Jesus and his disciples.

Dr. Stockmann is also tempted to sway from his path of truth much like Christ was tempted by
the Devil. The Mayor tries to get Stockmann to retract his statements, by promising his job back
in the future. Morten Kiil, Stockmann's father-in-law, threatens to take away Stockmann's
family's inheritance. Then Hovstad and Aslaksen come and try to convince the Doctor to cash in
on the controversy of the Baths. Throughout this scene, you'll hear the Dr. Stockmann say things
like, "Well, I think I have had a visit from every one of the devil's messengers to-day!" (4.259).
Chances are this sort of language is not a coincidence.