Dramatis personae

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.^{[citation needed]}

Literary critic Vladimir Propp in his book Morphology of the Folktale uses the term dramatis personae when referring to the character roles of fairy tales, from his analysis of the Russian tales of Alexander Afanasiev.^[2]

It is also sometimes used in anthropology to denote the roles people assume when performing a social ritual, as used by Clifford Geertz in his study of Balinese ritual.^[3]

Outside the theatre medium, some novels also have a dramatis personae at the beginning or end. This is most common in books with very large casts of characters, as well as children's books and speculative fiction.^{[citation needed]}

For example, the opening pages of Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air contain a dramatis personae.

Other examples include Worldwar: In the Balance by Harry Turtledove, and The Horus Heresy by various authors.^{[citation needed]} Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth begins with a dramatis personae.

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

• Actor