Notes

Playwright
The playwright is the writer of a play.

Script
The script is the written text of a play.


Act and Scene
An act is a major division of a play. Acts divide a play just as chapters divide a book. Acts are made up of different scenes. A scene marks changes in location or time. The scene changes if the play’s action shifts from one location or time period to another location or time period.


Character
A character is an imaginary person who is depicted in fictional works. There are many different types of characters. They may be major, minor, dynamic, or static characters.

Lines and Dialogue
Lines refer to the spoken words that make up a play. Dialogue refers to conversation between two or more characters in a play.

Monologue
A monologue is a speech given by a single character who reveals his or her personal thoughts to the audience.

Set
A set is a visual representation of a physical location in a play. For example, if the scene of a play takes place in a kitchen, the set would include a backdrop of the kitchen wall along with a stove, cabinets, utensils, and other objects typically found in a kitchen.

Stage Directions
Stage directions describe the movement, position, and tone of actors. These directions appear alongside the lines to which they correspond.

Theme in The Proposal
A theme is the message in a story. A theme usually offers some commentary about life or human nature. Sometimes, especially in fables, a theme provides a moral or a short lesson about life.

In some cases, such as fables, writers are explicit about theme. However, in most instances writers don’t explicitly state the themes of their works. Instead, readers must identify prominent themes based on their understanding of the text.

Don't confuse the theme of a work with its main idea. The main idea is what a text is mostly about. It includes a summary of the content and details. Readers need to dig beneath the text’s content to extract its themes.


Satire and farce both involve humor. Think of farce as more of a lowbrow kind of humor. As you learned earlier in the lesson, it’s basically comedy for comedy's sake—exaggerated behavior, absurd arguments, and practical jokes.

Satire, on the other hand, has a more intellectual component. The satirist has a larger goal, which is to change the audience's mind. The satirist typically does so by criticizing a given topic with the intent of making it better.

In The Proposal, Chekhov satirizes courtship among the upper middle class and nobility. Chekhov makes fun of Natalya and Lomov's desperate need to marry essentially anybody who will help provide economic security. Through this satire Chekhov suggests that people should also factor in compatibility and the qualities they want in a life partner before committing to marriage.