The word “melodrama” immediately made me think of a book or movie that has a vast variety of emotions based on certain aspects of the book that happen. A phrase that I would think went along with a melodrama is something that would keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole story and words that pop into my mind when I think of melodrama are sexy, spectacular and definitely very emotional.
The definition of melodrama in the Merriam-Webster dictionary online states that it is a “drama in which many exciting events happen and the characters have very strong or exaggerated emotions; a situation or series of events in which people have very strong or exaggerated emotions.” My pre-conceived notions of the term melodrama were pretty accurate to the actual definition of it except for the fact that I never knew how “exaggerated” the emotions of characters in a melodrama are.
The most melodramatic aspect of Lady Audley’s Secret based on the online definition is that each character constantly faced different emotions, both “strong” and “exaggerated” based on the different “exciting events” that continue to draw us into the story more and more. The slow start of the book may have made us perceive this book differently and in a bad way, but the pace has picked up and we’re all waiting for this mystery to be solved and secret to come out. The more emotions shown in this book also make the book much more interesting and we are becoming more engrossed in this melodrama.
A modern-day melodrama that I really enjoyed was Marley and Me. This movie had an insane amount of thrilling events leading to “strong emotions” that really drew the audience to the movie. I had never seen so many people in my life go from extremely happy to balling their eyes out, both men and woman, while watching this movie at the theatre.