General Awareness

Theatrical Genres and Drama

1,984 Questions

Theatrical genres and drama encompass the study of various performance styles, including melodrama, burlesque, vaudeville, and political theater. It explores literary theories, tragic heroes, and the works of notable playwrights like Shakespeare and Brecht. These topics form a key component of the art and culture syllabus in many competitive exams.

Theatrical theoriesShakespearean dramaEpic theatre conceptsPerformance genres

Theatrical Genres and Drama Questions

Multiple choice

In context, which of the following revisions is necessary in sentence 8?

Direction for questions 13 to 18: The following passage is an early draft of an essay. Some parts of the passage need to be rewritten. Read the passage and select the best answers for the questions that follow. Some questions are about particular sentences or parts of sentences and ask you to improve sentence structure or word choice. Other questions ask you to consider organization and development. In choosing answers, follow the requirements of standard written English.

 

Macbeth
(1) Composed in late 1606 or early 1607, Macbeth is the last of Shakespeare's four great tragedies, the others being Hamlet, King Lear and Othello. (2) It is a relatively short play without a major subplot, and it is considered by many scholars to be Shakespeare’s darkest work. (3) Lear is an utter tragedy in which the natural world is amorally indifferent toward mankind, but in Macbeth, Shakespeare adds a supernatural dimension that purposively conspires against Macbeth and his kingdom. (4) In the tragedy of Lear, the distraught king summons the goddess of Chaos, Hecht, in Macbeth, Hecate appears as an actual character.

(5) Shakespeare's Scottish tragedy is about Macbeth's bloody rise to power, including the murder of the Scottish king, Duncan, and the guilt-ridden pathology of evil deeds generating still more evil deeds. (6) Lady Macbeth was an integral part of the play’s most memorable character in the thematic web. (7) Like her husband, Lady Macbeth's ambition for power leads her into an unnatural, phantasmagoric realm of witchcraft, insomnia and madness. (8) While Macbeth responds to the prophecies of the play's famous trio of witches, Lady Macbeth goes even further by figuratively transforming herself into an unnatural, desexualized evil spirit. (9) The current trend of critical opinion is toward an upward reevaluation of Lady Macbeth, who is said to be rehumanized by her insanity and her suicide. (10) Much of this reappraisal of Lady Macbeth has taken place in discussions of her ironically strong marriage to Macbeth. (11) A union that on unfolding of the tragedy undergoes disintegration rested on loving bonds.

  1. Insert ‘But’ at the beginning of the sentence.

  2. Replace ‘While’ with ‘Even though’.

  3. Replace ‘comma’ after witches with a semi-colon.

  4. Delete ‘even’ in the latter part of the sentence.

  5. Change ‘by figuratively transforming to ‘to figuratively transform’.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Sentence 7 highlights Lady Macbeth’s similarity with her husband, Macbeth whereas sentence 8 highlights the different scenarios of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.  This implies that sentence 8 is in contrast to sentence 7.  Therefore, option (A) is the answer. Replacing ‘while’ with ‘even though’ would not be appropriate as the contrasting situation is not within the sentence. Moreover, ‘while’ depicting throughout or during that time period is necessary for the flow of the sentence.  Hence, option (A) is the answer.

Multiple choice

To which period did Shakespeare belong?

  1. Puritan period

  2. Elizabethan period

  3. Victorian period

  4. None of these
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

William Shakespeare belonged to the Elizabethan period (1558-1603), named after Queen Elizabeth I. This was the golden age of English literature and drama. The Puritan period came later, while the Victorian period was 19th century - both after Shakespeare's time.

Multiple choice

Choose the correct chronological sequence of the following plays.

  1. King Lear, Othello, Macbeth and Hamlet

  2. Othello, Macbeth, King Lear and Hamlet

  3. Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth

  4. Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Shakespeare wrote these tragedies in this order: Hamlet (c. 1600), Othello (c. 1603), King Lear (c. 1605), and Macbeth (c. 1606). This reflects the evolution of his tragic vision during the great period of 1600-1606.

Multiple choice

PLAY is to ACTOR as CONCERT is to

  1. DRAMA

  2. MUSICIAN

  3. SONG

  4. RHYTHM

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

A play is performed by an actor, just as a concert is performed by a musician. This is a direct functional relationship: the activity is performed by the person associated with it.

Multiple choice

Find the odd one out.

  1. As you like it

  2. Macbeth

  3. Othello

  4. Divine comedy
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Except the divine comedy, all are the names of novels written by the William Shakespeare.

Multiple choice

One of the famous tragedies of Shakespeare is

  1. The Merchant of Venice

  2. Macbeth

  3. The Tempest

  4. As You Like It
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare's most famous tragedies. The Merchant of Venice is often classified as a comedy, and The Tempest is a romance.

Multiple choice

According to Wikipedia, ‘monologue’ is presented by a single character most often to express their mental thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Which of the following does NOT represent a monologue?

  1. A poet reciting a poem on the stage

  2. Anshuman hosting an award show

  3. A mother narrating a story to her child

  4. A teacher taking up student queries in the class
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

When a teacher is taking up queries in a class, the conversation is two-way between the teacher and the students.

Multiple choice

Literary historians today have rejected conventional analysis of the development of English Renaissance drama. They no longer accept the idea that the sudden achievement of Elizabethan playwrights was a historical anomaly, a sort of magical rediscovery of ancient Greek dramatic form applied to contemporary English subject matter. Instead, most students of the theatre now view Elizabethan drama as being organically related to traditional local drama, particularly medieval morality plays.

Which of the following is not consistent with the passage above?

  1. England had a dramatic tradition before the Renaissance period.

  2. Elizabethan drama, once thought to be a sudden blossoming forth of creativity, is now seen as part of a historical continuum.

  3. Historians' views of the antecedents of English Renaissance drama have changed considerably.

  4. Although English Renaissance drama treats English subject matter, its source of form and method is classical Greek drama.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

We have to look for an option that directly contradicts this. We find this in (4): It is not a “magical rediscovery of ancient Greek dramatic form applied to contemporary English subject matter”

Multiple choice

According to Wikipedia, ‘monologue’ is presented by a single character most often to express their mental thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Which of the following does NOT represent a monologue?

  1. A poet reciting a poem on the stage

  2. Anshuman hosting an award show

  3. A mother narrating a story to her child

  4. A teacher taking up student queries in the class
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

When a teacher is taking up queries in a class, the conversation is two-way between the teacher and the students.

Multiple choice

Which Shakespeare play is Ram-Leela based off of?

  1. Romeo & Juliet

  2. Macbeth

  3. Hamlet

  4. Julius Caesar
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela is a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The plot centers on two star-crossed lovers from warring families.

Multiple choice

A character's attitude and the mood is shown through_______.

  1. plot

  2. solution

  3. setting

  4. tone
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Tone refers to the author's attitude toward the subject or audience, which creates the mood of the piece. Plot is the sequence of events, setting is the time and place, and solution is the resolution of the conflict.

Multiple choice story and its elements writing english

Arrange the following dramatic arcs as they appear in the plot of the story.

a. Falling action
b. Rising action 
c. Exposition
d. Denouement
e. Climax

  1. c-b-e-a-d

  2. d-b-e-a-c

  3. c-b-d-e-a

  4. c-b-d-a-e
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

In simple terms, the dramatic arc is shaped by the beginning, middle, and end of a story. The story begins with a brief introduction of the characters, setting, narrative, etc. i.e. exposition which is the first arc. Next is the rising action which is usually prompted by a key trigger (also known as the inciting incident). Such an incident rolls the dice and causes a series of events to escalate, setting the rest of the story in motion. Next comes the climax which will tie the loopholes together and reveal a higher truth. In the falling action, the authors start resolving the remaining subplots and mini-conflicts. The denouement in simpler terms is the wrapping up of the story. It is also known as the resolution. Hence the correct sequencing is c-b-e-a-d, i.e. option A.