Quick questions on Dialogue and subtext explained: O-Level Drama

Dramatic dialogue does several jobs at once, far beyond giving information. It reveals character, through what a person says and especially how they say it, including their idiolect, their distinctive way of speaking. It advances the plot, because characters act, decide and react in and through speech. It shows relationships and status, through who speaks most, who interrupts, who controls or yields the conversation.

To read subtext, look for the gap between what a character says and what the situation, their objective and their behaviour suggest they feel. Clues include lines that seem too calm for the situation, evasions and changes of subject, what is conspicuously not said, and contradictions between words and actions. The character's objective and motivation guide the reading, because subtext usually carries the want the character cannot or will not state openly. A skilled reader treats the surface line as a clue to the hidden meaning rather than the meaning itself.

Subtext is realised through delivery and the body. The same words can carry opposite meanings depending on tone, pace, pauses, stress and volume, so an actor chooses delivery that signals the real meaning beneath a neutral line. The body adds gesture, posture and reaction, and the gap between what is said and what is done is itself eloquent: a character who says "I am fine" while turning away tells the audience the opposite. Pauses and reactions let the audience feel the hidden feeling.

Define subtext in drama. [3 marks]

Name three functions that dialogue performs in a play. [3 marks]

Why is drama often more powerful when characters do not say what they really mean? [4 marks]