This paper traces the historical development of melodrama in the theatre and discusses its influence on twentieth century drama. Melodrama is a responsible literary mode based on romance and allegory, and its deliberate exaggeration of external actions represents figuratively the interior or psychological dimensions of imagination. Good melodrama portrays life experienced at its moral and emotional peak and arranges action into one of these basic patterns: love-threat-survival or love-threat-demise-repose. The paper discusses the specific use of melodrama in dramatically significant plays by Tennessee Williams, Luigi Pirandello, Anton Chekhov, Bertolt Brecht, and other modern playwrights. (MAI)