Dramatis personæ

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For the poetry collection, see Dramatis Personae.

Dramatis personæ is a Latin phrase (literally 'the masks of the drama') used to refer collectively to the characters in a dramatic work—-commonly employed in various forms of theatre, and also on screen. Typically, off-stage characters are not considered part of the dramatis personæ. It is said to have been recorded in English since 1730, and is also evident in international use.^[1]

The dramatis personæ is also the list of character names at the beginning of a written play. In ancient Greece and in Shakespearean plays (as well as many other old dramas) the names were listed in order of hierarchy, with gods at the top and peasants at the bottom. The female characters were listed below all the male characters.

Now it is more customary to give a cast list, which also has next to each character name the name of the actor playing the part; an alternate type lists the names of the actors who played the parts originally. In order not to give away vital parts of the plot some names may be altered, for example mixed up with another name. Some minor characters may be listed just as the actors who perform the parts.

[edit] Other uses

In a wider sense, the term can be applied to any situation in which people or characters play a role, or appear to do so-—such as a metaphor, a drama, or a court case. It may also be facetiously applied in a situation where members of a group appear to play predictable roles, often for comic effect.

Dramatis personæ is used in the legal industry to identify the list of key people in a case. This is to minimise variations of names referred to throughout the matter. Literary critic Vladimir Propp in his book, The Morphology of the Folktale uses the term dramatis personæ when referring to the character roles of fairy tales, from his analysis of the Russian tales of Alexander Afanasiev.^[2]

It is also sometimes used in anthropology to denote the roles people assume when performing a social ritual, as used by Clifford Geertz in his study of Balinese ritual.^[3]

[edit] References

^ http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=dramatis&searchmode=none Etymology OnLine
^ http://www.units.muohio.edu/technologyandhumanities/Propp.htm The Function of The Dramatis Personae in The Morphology of the Folktale.
^ Clifford Geertz (1993). "Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight". In Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, pp. 412–453.