ABSTRACT
The idea that our lives are fundamentally dramatic is a notion central to Western philosophy and literature. The stage, the play, the theater, and the drama are enduring cultural legacies of Greek civilization, informing our understanding of life in all its complexities. To the ancient Greeks, the term drama indicated a performance involving the acting out of a plot. The contemporary use of the term is somewhat more comprehensive, also referring to a set of events having the unity and progression of a play that typically leads to some kind of a climax, be it a disaster or catastrophe (tragedy) or a consummation in the form of lovers coming together (romantic comedy) or former injustices being avenged.
