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.
