Dramatis personæ is a phrase used to refer collectively, in the form of a list, to the main characters in a dramatic work —- commonly employed in various forms of theater, and also on screen. Typically, off-stage characters are not considered part of the dramatis personæ. It is said to have been recorded in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 since 1730, and is also evident in international use. However, the term is closely associated with the works of William Shakespeare and appears in the original publication of the First Folio

First Folio

Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....

, published in 1623.

It is customary to give a cast list, which also has next to each character name the name of the actor or actress playing the part; an alternate type lists the names of the actors who played the parts originally. In order not to give away vital parts of the plot some names may be altered, for example mixed up with another name. Some minor characters may be listed just as the actors who perform the parts.

Other uses

In a wider sense, the term can be applied to any situation in which people or characters play a role, or appear to do so-—such as a metaphor, a drama, or a court case. It may also be facetiously applied in a situation where members of a group appear to play predictable roles, often for comic effect.

Literary critic Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp was a Russian and Soviet formalist scholar who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements.- Biography :...

 in his book, Morphology of the Folktale uses the term dramatis personæ when referring to the character roles of fairy tales, from his analysis of the Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 tales of Alexander Afanasiev.

It is also sometimes used in anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 to denote the roles people assume when performing a social ritual, as used by Clifford Geertz

Clifford Geertz

Clifford James Geertz was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology, and who was considered "for three decades...the single most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States." He served until...

 in his study of Balinese ritual.

Literature

Outside the theatre medium, some novels also have a dramatis personæ at the beginning or end. This is most common in books with very large casts of characters.

For example, the opening pages of Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing...

's Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is a 1997 bestselling non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer. It details the author's presence at Mount Everest during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster when eight climbers were killed and several others were stranded by a 'rogue storm'...

contain a dramatis personæ. A critical approach to the text may indicate that Krakauer, despite his prior vocation as a journalist, wished the text to be read less as a travelogue and more as a drama.

Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa

Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...

, the Anglo

Anglo

Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England or the English people, as in the terms Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-American, Anglo-Celtic, Anglo-African and Anglo-Indian. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in The Americas, Australia and...

-Portuguese

Portuguese people

The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 writer, created about 80 pen names he called heteronyms

Heteronym (literature)

The literary concept of heteronym, invented by Portuguese writer and poet Fernando Pessoa, refers to one or more imaginary character created by a writer to write in different styles...

 or dramatis personæ interrelated in a «drama in people».

Sociology & cultural studies

The term is used to describe the multiple identifications one may adopt in an attempt to emphasize the expression of one's own individualism. An individuality is never obtained, as this process of establishing dramatis personæ creates a postmodern 'persona' which 'wears many hats', each different hat worn for a different group or surroundings. A logic of identity and individuality is replaced by a more 'superficial, tactile logic of identification where individuals become more mask-like personæ with mutable selves.' This self can no longer be theorized or based solely on an individual's job or productive function. The term was used by Karl Marx throughout his magnum opus Capital, where the capitalist and worker are introduced as dramatis personae in human history.