Art is subdivided into sections: one of them is drama. The dramatic art depends upon concepts of beauty and terror. All things on stage are suspended between the tension of beauty and terror. Tragedy is on the more terrible side, but has beauty behind it, giving it a reason to tell a story. Comedy is more on the beautiful side, but the terrible aspect is what makes us laugh. Now we have Romance, Thriller, Horror, Western, Science-Fiction. Our dramatic art has grown heads.
In reality, a terrible thing is only terrible. It has no beauty in it. In drama, all terrible things must have some beauty in them, and all beautiful things must have some terror. The beauty of a terrible thing is what makes us interested in hearing its story. Likewise, the terror of a beautiful thing is what makes us interested in hearing its story. A terrible character will not be appreciated without a touch of beauty. And a beautiful character will not be paid attention to unless there is some element in their life that is unknown.
Drama is, at its base, an event in language. It tells a story, and a story is an event in language. Even when the drama breaks off from using the conventional form of telling a story, the assemblage of images tells a message, and a message is an event in language, as well.
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