<span><span>A character is an imaginary person who takes part in the action of a play.</span><span>Drama tends to compress and simplify the personalities of characters, often relying on types to quickly sketch out and draw contrasts between them. </span>Unlike fiction, plays do not usually have narrators who can provide the reader or viewer with background information on characters. Consequently, the information we receive about them is limited to the dialogue they themselves speak.<span>The main character, or leading role, of a dramatic text is called the protagonist.</span><span>The antagonist is the counterpart or opponent of the protagonist.</span><span>In more traditional or popular dramatic texts, the protagonist may be called a hero or heroine, and the antagonist may be called the villain. </span><span>Dramatic texts also include minor characters or supporting roles. </span><span>Sometimes a supporting role can be said to be a foil, a character designed to bring out qualities in another character by contrast. </span>All the characters in a drama are interdependent and help to characterize each other.<span>Because of time constraints and the lack of narrators or room for exposition in dramatic texts, playwrights use shortcuts like stereotypes to convey character. Everyone involved, including the audience, consciously or unconsciously relies on stereotypes, or assumptions about various social roles, to understand characters. </span><span>In the United States today, casting—or typecasting—usually relies on an actor's social identity, from gender and race to occupation, region, age, and values. </span>Sometimes playwrights, directors, and actors overturn or modify expectations or conventions of characterization in order to surprise the audience.</span>
PLOT AND STRUCTURE
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