Final answer:
Melodrama is a form of theatre popular with the middle-class masses in the 19th century. It featured music, stock characters, and had a happy ending.
Step-by-step explanation:
Melodrama is a form of theatre that was critically viewed as inferior to classical tragedy but was popular with the middle-class masses.
Melodramas reached their height of popularity in the 19th century and were characterized by the use of music to heighten emotions, moral simplicity with stock characters representing good and evil, and special effects. Melodramas typically followed a straightforward plotline and had a happy ending.