What is a dramatic question in a play

he Question at Issue in a writing assignment deals with the thesis and how the focus of that thesis is maintained throughout the paper. In a play, the Question at Issue is called the Major Dramatic Question (MDQ).
Subject
Humanities

School
Saint Leo University

Question Description
Part 1

The Question at Issue in a writing assignment deals with the thesis and how the focus of that thesis is maintained throughout the paper. In a play, the Question at Issue is called the Major Dramatic Question (MDQ). This is the question the play was written to answer. Consider your favorite film or play. What is the MDQ? Does the play begin or end with the MDQ? How does the playwright or screenwriter keep the MDQ in focus in the middle of the piece? How does the use of an MDQ shape your enjoyment and understanding of the story? Can there be more than one MDQ is a play? (Just a clue—probably not. You can be distracted by an event or obstacle, but that does mean that the obstacle is the MDQ. If I am in New York and have business to transact in Los Angeles, I might visit in Saint Louis along the way if I am driving. My "purpose" in taking the trip was not to stop in Missouri--it was just added entertainment along the way. Or, to put it another way, the MDQ in a play is like the thesis in a research paper. All the events in the play are like the evidence you would include in the paper to support your thesis. The paper isn’t “about” the evidence, the evidence is included to ‘support” the thesis. Try thinking about your favorite movie or play in this way. If you suppose that it has more than one MDQ, there is probably a structure underpinning it which you are not seeing. If you can find the underlying structure, that will help you unify the events in the film, and you will probably see that all the events included are meant to serve a single purpose.