A play is written to be seen and heard. Dialogue, silence, and the occasional stage direction do the work that a novel would do in narration.
The idea
Characters speak, and what they refuse to say matters too. Conflict is the pressure between wants: two people, or a person and a duty, or a person and a fact they will not face. Plot in a play moves by scenes. A scene changes when the situation has changed, not only when someone enters. Stage directions tell an actor, or a reader, what the speech alone does not: a pause, an object, a tone. They are part of the text. Ignoring them misses evidence.
Tragedy and comedy are moods and shapes, not just "sad" and "funny". A tragic movement ends in a serious loss that follows from the choices made. A comic movement ends in a reconciliation or a clearing up, often after misunderstanding. Your set plays are named by the syllabus for the year. This page teaches the questions those plays are asked. The short exchange below is not from a set text.
What earns the marks
Quote the speech, briefly, and if a stage direction changes the meaning, quote that too. "He is angry" needs the line or the direction that shows it. Do not narrate the whole play for a question on one scene. Context is one or two sentences. The rest is the scene you were asked about. Invented stage business that is not in the book does not score.
Practice questions
These are practice questions in the style of the paper, with a model answer and a mark scheme. They are not a promise of what your paper will ask.
1Question 1
4 marks
This exchange was written for practice.
KOFI: You promised the tools would be here.
AMA: I promised I would ask. (She sets the empty bag on the table.)
(a) What is the conflict? (2 marks)
(b) What does the stage direction add? (2 marks)
Model answer
(a) Kofi hears a promise that the tools would arrive. Ama says she only promised to ask. They disagree about what was promised.
(b) The empty bag shows the tools are not there. The failure is visible, not only argued.
Mark scheme
A disagreement about the promise1 mark
What each person thinks was promised1 mark
The bag is empty, so the tools did not come1 mark
The direction makes the failure visible on stage1 mark
2Question 2
2 marks
Why can a pause be as important as a line in a play? (2 marks)
Model answer
A pause can show hesitation, fear or a refusal to answer. The audience sees the silence. It is a choice, if the text marks it.
Mark scheme
Silence can express hesitation, refusal or emotion1 mark
It is part of the performance the text can indicate1 mark
3Question 3
2 marks
In a sentence, what is dramatic irony? (2 marks)
Model answer
Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something a character does not, so the character's words mean more to the audience than to the speaker.
Mark scheme
The audience knows more than a character1 mark
The character's words or actions are understood differently as a result1 mark
Practise Literature in English with Anna
More questions on this topic are inside GLearn, marked as you answer, with the reason written out. The first ones need no account.
How is a play different from a novel as a text to write about?+
A play advances by what people say and do in front of each other, plus stage directions. There is usually no narrator explaining feelings at length. Quote speech and, when they change the meaning, the directions.
What is dramatic irony?+
The audience knows a fact that a character does not. The character speaks in ignorance, and the audience hears a second meaning. Name the fact the audience has, and the line that sounds different because of it. All WASSCE Literature in English past questions