The document provides an overview of the Neoclassic period of drama from the mid-17th to early 18th centuries. It discusses key characteristics including a focus on decorum, unity of time and place, and portraying the lives of upper classes. Two main play types of the period were comedy focused on lower classes and tragedy on royals. Notable playwrights of the Neoclassic period in France included Jean Racine, Molière, and Pierre Corneille, known as the father of French tragedy. An example play by Corneille discussed is Le Cid. The document also briefly describes the proscenium theater format common during this era.

1. WINTER
Neoclassic Template
Critical Analysis of Drama
Group 8
Fira Nursya’bani
Meyza Pritama
Judika Sinaga
Prita Annisa Utami
Richo Arifianto

2. Neoclassic Period
• Neoclassicism  Greek: ‘neos’ ; Latin:
‘classicus’ ; Greek: ‘ismos’.
• It began in France by the writings of Italian
scholars in 15th century, then to the theatre.
• Mid 17th to early 18th centuries.
• It is signed by grandiosity (greatness), intricate
scenery, and elaborated drama (melodrama).
• Neoclassic believes that the main reason of a
play were enjoyment and to teach a lesson.

3. Neoclassic Period (Cont..)
• Neoclassic focuses on decorum
(appropriateness), dignified behavior, and realism.
• The stage was signed by the dramatic,
elaborated, and rich scenery.
• It then developed by the redesigned stage; the
creation of pulley system to help moving the stage
faster, the lighting and sound effects.

4. Neoclassic Period (Cont..)
Two main types of play in Neoclassic period:
1. Comedy
It focused on the lower levels of society.
2. Tragedy
It portrayed the complex and fateful lives of the
upper classes and royals.

5. The Characteristics of
Neoclassic
• Verisimilitude
• rules: reality, morality & generality
Unity of time, place and action
Ethical and philosophical framework within the
play
Creating characters that are identifiable as
good and proper French citizens

6. The Characteristics of
Neoclassic
•No mixing of genres (comedy and tragedy)
• Plays must be five acts
• The costumes and scenery were intricate and
elaborate.
• The acting is characterized by large gestures
and melodrama.

7. Playwright
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine
(22 December 1639 – 21 April
1699)
He was a French dramatist, one of
the three great playwrights of
17th-century France

8. Playwright
Racine’s plays
• Phèdre
• Andromaque
• Athalie
• Les Plaideurs
• Esther

9. Playwright
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière)
(January 15, 1622 –
February 17, 1673)
He was a French playwright
and actor who is considered
to be one of the greatest
masters of comedy in
Western literature

10. Playwright
Molière’s Plays
• Le Misanthrope (The Misanthrope)
• L'École des femmes (The School for Wives)
• Tartuffe ou L'Imposteur (Tartuffe or the Imposter)
• L'Avare (The Miser)
• Le Malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid), and
• Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (The Bourgeois
Gentleman).

11. Playwright
Pierre Corneille
The father of french tragedian
• Pierre Corneille was born in Rouen in 1606 and died
in 1684
• He was raised in the Jesuit tradition and studied law
• A significant part of his life was spent as a member of
parliament
• During his time in parliament, and for years afterward,
he was the playwright who established the
Neoclassical Ideal in French theatre.

12. Playwright
• Although he is most famous as a writer of tragedy,
• his first eight plays were comedies and first works
Mélite (1629), .
• In both tragedy and comedy, he achieved success
writing great plays that strictly adhered to the
Neoclassical doctrines of verisimilitude and the unities.

13. Playwright
• While the play adhered to the unities of time, place, and
action, the decision of the lovers to marry so quickly after
the death of Chimene’s father was seen as a violation of
decorum.
• In addition, the play did not seem to fit any of the
recognized dramatic types; it was neither comedy nor
tragedy.
• After the pause in his work, he wrote four more plays, all
of excellent worth within the Neoclassical Ideal.

14. Example of pierre work’s
• (tragedy)
Le Cid – The play begins in the evening. The hero, Roderigue, and the heroine,
Chimene, are engaged to be married. Roderigue’s father, Don Diegue, is insulted by
Chimene’s father, Don Gomez, when they quarrel over the king’s favor. The elder
general, Don Diegue is unable to defend his honor, and so he sends his son
(Roderigue) against Chimene’s father in a duel. Roderigue succeeds in killing Don
Gomez, but it costs him the love of Chimene. While Chimene sues to the king for
vengeance, word arrives of an invasion from a Moorish fleet. Roderique leads 500
soldiers in a surprise attack against the Moors, and he succeeds in thwarting the
invasion and saving the kingdom. The king cannot act against his newest hero, but, the
next morning, Chimene offers herself in marriage to whoever will challenge Roderigue
to avenge the death of her father. Don Sancho volunteers and Chimene quickly
accepts. The king determines that Chimene will wed whoever wins the duel.
Roderigue privately informs Chimene that he will not defend himself – he would rather
die with honor than live without her love. Chimene reveals her love for Roderique and
orders him to defend himself. Roderique is successful, but Chimene cannot marry the
man who killed her father so quickly after his death. The king grants Chimene one
year to mourn for her father while Roderigue is ordered to lead the army against the
Moors, until their love can be united.

15. Proscenium Theater
Proscenium is from a Greek word:
Pro  in front
Skene  hut
-ion  diminutive suffix

16. Proscenium Theater

17. Proscenium Theater

18. WINTER
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