Literary Genres and Dramatic Theory Fundamentals

Dramatic Comedy: Genre and Characteristics

A dramatic comedy is a genre characterized by its main characters facing the difficulties of everyday life. They often struggle to make people laugh (the "public"), driven by their own defects toward happy endings, which often mocks human weakness.

As for characteristics, the main character is usually ordinary: a liar, charlatan, a braggart, rogue, or lover. They are often gullible and unconscious. This contrasts sharply with the tragedy, where the character actor possesses a deep sense of ethics.

Narrative Counterpoint Technique

Counterpoint is a narrative technique based on parallel events featuring different characters, often presented simultaneously or remotely in subsequent scenes. It frequently breaks the linearity of past and present.

The technique of counterpoint is one of the most used and was successfully employed by Aldous Huxley in his novel Counterpoint. This technique is also applied in narratives depicting simultaneous events, such as lovemaking in the same city or contrasting modes of living (Benito Varela, 1967).

Drama and the Dramatic Genre

Drama, or the dramatic genre, is a literary form that represents an event or conflict in the lives of human beings through the dialogue of the characters.

The essential feature is the action. What happens in the work is not described, narrated, or commented upon directly by the playwright, but rather seen by the viewer. Although the play is written, the primary focus is the action that unfolds.

The Three Dramatic Unities

Ancient dramatic theory mandated the law of the three units for theatrical works. These are:

• Unity of Time
• Unity of Place
• Unity of Action

Unity of Time

The action should not last longer than the time used for representation. By extending the term, twenty-four hours was established as the ideal maximum duration for the drama, meaning all events imagined in a work should occur within one day.

Unity of Place

The action must be rendered as happening in a single location. For example, if the dramatic action begins in Guatemala in the first act, it must develop and reach its outcome in Guatemala.

Unity of Action

This unity requires that the plot consists only of secondary parts closely related to the main action, and that the characters retain their established character until the end of the work.