Exposition of characters in Shaws 'Pygmalion‪'‬

In a drama an exposition is the “opening part of a story or a plot in which [the reader is] introduced to the characters and their situation, often by reference to preceding events.”1 The exposition can as well give “essential information about the plot and the events which are about to come”2. Furthermore the exposition in a drama can provide the reader or the viewer with “information about what already has happened.”3 It does not have to give detailed information about past events; it should rather focus on events that are important for the development of the plot. 4 Thus, the exposition can additionally be seen as a foreshadowing. It is, in a way, a substitute for a prologue, as William Shakespeare for example gives in some of his plays, for instance in Rome and Juliet. In this drama by Shakespeare the initial situation is explained to the audience by the prologue. The Chorus tells the audience in the Prologue:

“Two households, both alike in dignity (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene), From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean”.5

In addition the chorus provides the reader or the viewer a foreshadowing on the actions which are about to happen in the play. The prologue goes on:

“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love And the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage— The which, if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.”6

So, in a way, the prologue in Romeo and Juliet replaces some of the exposition, since certain background information of the story, the quarrel between the two families, is given to the audience. The prologue in Romeo and Juliet furthermore gives the audience an introduction to the actions that are about to happen in the play, the love of Romeo and Juliet and their tragic death.