Structural Forms in Drama

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Other Title
  • ドラマの構造形式
  • ドラマ ノ コウゾウ ケイシキ

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Abstract

Theodor A. Meyer, in his "Das deutsche Drama und seine Form", divides drama into two types : "das regelrechte Drama" (regular drama) and "das freie Drama" (free drama). The former is represented by classical French tragedy, which has a closeknit and "regular" form. When we consider its proportion, its unifying qualities and theatrical effects, we can appreciate the highest kind of formal beauty. Shakespeare is the leading exponent of "free drama". Here a strongly concentrated and unified "regular" form is apparently relaxed. Moreover, conflict of character in dialogue is not sustained throughout a Shakespeare play nor throughout a play written after the Shakespearean manner. But the distinguishing concepts of "regular drama" and "free drama", which he explained in terms of the Romance and Germanic national consciousness, seem to me to be more pertinent if they are used as a more general and basic distinction applicable to all dramatic literature and art. For an understanding of various dramatic forms and the development of style in drama, such a basic distinction will be as rewarding as other polar concepts already established in the field of Kunstwissenschaft, such as "tektonisch und kontratektonisch", and "geschlossene Form und offene Form" (closed and open form).

Journal

  • Aesthetics

    Aesthetics 16 (1), 1-9, 1965

    The Japanese Society for Aesthetics

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