Not all plays evoke the same kind of reaction from an audience. Some make you laugh while others make you feel sad as you empathize with the characters. Different categories, or genres, of plays and screenplays create different reactions.
Do you want your audience to feel happy and cheerful at the end of your play, or is more important to make them think and feel deeply about your play's message? The category of play you choose to write can make a big difference in the audience's overall reaction. Study the tabs below to review the differences between plays written as comedies and plays written as tragedies.
A comedy is essentially a dramatic work with a happy ending. Comedies are usually funny, but not always. In fact, the only real requirement for a comedy is that things end well for most of the characters. Comedies often use character flaws as a tool for creating humorous situations that have a happy resolution.
Earlier in this course, you may have read the play Porcelain and Pink by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In the play, a young man thinks he is speaking to his girlfriend from outside her bedroom window. In fact, he is speaking to his girlfriend's sister from outside the bathroom window. Porcelain and Pink is considered a comedy because it is based on a humorous situation that is resolved without causing any of its characters a significant amount of suffering or unhappiness.
Question
What literary devices work well in comedies?
A tragedy is a dramatic work with an unhappy ending. In the classic tragedy, a character flaw usually leads to the destruction of one or more characters. Tragedies have unhappy—but usually very meaningful—endings.
The stage play Acceptance, which you may have read earlier in the course, is an example of a tragedy. Its serious and hard-working main character fails to get into the college of his choice while his less studious girlfriend is admitted. As a result, the two seem destined to be parted.
Question
What literary devices are often used by writers of tragedies?
Now that you've reviewed the key differences between a comedy and a tragedy, which will you write? What tone or effect do you want your script to have on the audience?
