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Greek Tragedy

Greek Tragedy. Background, History, and Traditions. Origins – the Pantheon. Gods and goddesses were important to Greek daily life, as well as the theater. Hera (Juno) wife of Zeus, goddess of women, marriage, childbirth (Lotus staff). Zeus (Jupiter) King of the gods Lightning bolt.

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Greek Tragedy

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  1. Greek Tragedy Background, History, and Traditions

  2. Origins – the Pantheon • Gods and goddesses were important to Greek daily life, as well as the theater

  3. Hera (Juno) • wife of Zeus, goddess of women, marriage, childbirth (Lotus staff) • Zeus (Jupiter) • King of the gods • Lightning bolt

  4. Ares (Mars) • God of war • Helm, spear • Poseidon (Neptune) • God of the sea • Trident

  5. Athena (Minerva) • Goddess of Wisdom • Helm, shield • Hermes (Mercury) • Messenger of the gods • Winged helm, shoes, caudecus

  6. Hades (Pluto) • God of underworld • Cerberus • Dionysus (Bacchus) • God of wine, celebration • Grapes, cup

  7. Aphrodite (Venus) • Goddess of love • Apple, dove • Apollo (Apollo) • God of sun, music • Lute, bow and arrow

  8. Origins of the Greek Theater • Grew out of worship of Dionysus • Thespis added the first actor to act out the adventures of Dionysus • 534 B.C. – City Dionysian Festival instituted in Athens • Competition for writers of tragedies • Brought drama under state control and patronage • 490-429 B.C. – Golden Age of Greece • Greek drama reached its height • Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides

  9. Religion and Greek Drama • Drama is an attempt to beautify and enrich religion with poetry, music, dancing, and acting • Altar of Dionysus stood in center of theater • Plays performed at only two religious festivals in March and January • Mixed religion with love of fun and spectacle • All of Athens attended

  10. Religion and Greek Drama • Each playwright presented a series of three tragedies followed by a satyr play (comedy) • Plots taken from familiar stories and myths • Audience interested in variations of stories • Tried to invest old stories with new meanings

  11. Music, Dancing, and the Chorus • Greek drama a combination of poetic drama with music and dancing (opera) • Some passages spoken, others sung • Dancing used bodily motion to interpret the emotions of the words and music (ballet) • The Chorus • Twelve to fifteen members • Represented a group of old women or men

  12. Music, Dancing, and the Chorus • Functions of the Chorus • Transition between acts • Reminder of past events • Foretell the future • Reflect public opinion • Serve as a kind of proxy for audience • Give author a chance to comment • Provide occasion for great lyric poetry • Take part in play’s action

  13. The Greek Theater • Large open-air ampitheatre • Semicircular, seating built into the side of a hill • Stage was orchestra-level circular place

  14. The Greek Theater

  15. The Greek Theater • Raised stage and skene (prop house) added later, as well as balconies • Later plays had mechanical devices to fly in the gods to save the day (deus ex machina)

  16. The Greek Theater

  17. Audience and Actors • Audience was almost entire male population of the city • Plays went on all day without intermission • Audience was noisy, intelligent, stopped bad plays • Actors used masks to play a variety of parts • Effective rhetorical delivery of lines was of import – not realism of the dialogue

  18. Audience and Actors • Female parts played by boys – women were usually portrayed as bold • Characters were more typical than individual • No representation of violence on stage • Chorus remains on the stage throughout the play

  19. The Unities • Time (one day) • Place (one setting) • Action (one central plot) • Presence of chorus, absence of curtain almost forced the Unities • Accounts for simplicity, directness, and symmetry of Greek tragedy • Made for unity of plot and mood

  20. Greek Tragedy (according to Aristotle) • Imitation of a single, unified action that is serious, complete, probable, and of a certain magnitude. • Concerns the fall of a man whose character is good, believable, and consistent. • The fall is caused in part by some error or frailty in the protagonist, not a vice or depravity

  21. Greek Tragedy (according to Aristotle) • Language is embellished with each kind of artistic ornament. • Tragedy is presented in the form of action, not narrative. • Arouses in the audience the emotions of pity or terror resulting in a catharsis of these emotions • A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions (especially pity or fear) that restores the spirit

  22. The Tragic Hero • Believes in own freedom • Makes choices when faced with dilemmas • Has faith and courage to accept outcomes • Supreme pride (hubris) seems almost a reflection of arrogance • Gives hero a unique power and dignity • Capacity for suffering • Suffers because he believes in his cause • Both guilty and guiltless • Justifies actions, but is not convinced of justness • No fear of death

  23. The Tragic Hero • A sense of commitment • Sense of inevitability that moves him to a resolution • Vigorous protest • Objects with vehemence, logic, and pain against situation – rails against fate, gods, weakness • Transfiguration – refined by suffering • Learns from agony, awareness lies in deeper understanding of human condition, mans place in the universe • Impact – audience also learns about man’s condition

  24. Motifs in Oedipus the King • Sight/Blindness • Graves/Tombs • Suicide • Exile • Fates • Sanity/Insanity

  25. Themes in Oedipus the King • Ignoring the truth leads to one’s downfall • Limits of free will (tied into fate) • Consequences of excessive hubris • Self-realization/Catharsis

  26. Symbols in Oedipus the King • Objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstractions (ideas or concepts) • Oedipus means “swollen foot” • Receives his name from the fact that he was left in the mountains with his ankles pinned together – leaves him with a vivid scar • Symbolizes how fate has marked him and set him apart • Also symbolizes how his movements have been constrained since birth (by Apollo’s prophecy to Laius)

  27. Symbols in Oedipus the King • The Three-way Crossroads • Jocasta says that Laius was slain at a place where three roads meet • Symbolizes the crucial moment (long before the events of the play) when Oedipus began to fulfill the dreadful prophecy that he would murder his father and marry his mother • (Ugh! Who pays for that wedding?) • A crossroads is a place where a choice has to be made • Usually symbolize moments where decisions will have important consequences • Different choices, however, are still possible

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