Glossary

• ANTAGONIST-The force that is opposed to the protagonist in the major conflict of a story. That force may be other characters, within the protagonist (for example, a personal decision that must be made), or some outside force such as nature.
• CHARACTER-Someone who embodies a major action. Someone who wants something.
• CLIMAX-A peak of intensity of an action, sometimes occasioning a reversal or discovery. It is the struggle between opposing forces that determines the action. Story conflict can pit character against nature (i.e. storms at sea), character against another character (i.e. protagonist versus antagonist) or character against himself. The strongest point of emotional tension in a story, often involving the turning point in which the protagonist wins or loses the major conflict.
• CONCLUSION-To bring to an end. To resolve to come to an agreement or settlement. Result or outcome. The final portion of a story, after the conflict has been resolved either in favor or against the protagonist.
• CONTINUITY-The coherence between scenes in a play that emphasize smooth transitions so that the story seems continuous, unbroken, and sensibly and realistically.
• DIALOGUE-Rapid back and forth exchange, which advances the action of a Play.
• EXPOSITION-Background material, consisting of prior actions, offstage actions and given circumstances.
• FALLING ACTION-The part of a dramatic plot that follows the climax.
• INITIAL INICIDENT-The event in a story that is the beginning of the major conflict for the protagonist.
• MOOD-The prevailing emotional attitudes in a play i.e. regret, hopefulness, bitterness.
• OBSTACLES-Impediments that prevents a character from getting what he wants.
• OBJECTIVE-What a character WANTS to do. Not what character HAS to do.
• PLACE-Where the action of the play occurs.
• PLOT-The architecture of the major actions of a play.
• PROTAGONIST-The principal and central character of a play, usually goes though a change as a result of the play.
• RISING ACTION-Part of a dramatic plot that leads through a series of events of increasing interest and power to the climax. It begins with an event that sets a conflict of opposing forces into motion, and moves though complication towards the climax.
• THEME-The central or dominating idea, the "message" implicit in a work. The theme of a work is seldom stated directly. It is an abstract concept indirectly expressed through recurrent images, actions, characters, and symbols, and must be inferred by the audience.
• TIME-When the play takes place i.e. 1970, 2005.