Greek Theater and Tragedy

1. Greek Theater and Tragedy Aristotle & Oedipus Rex, Sophocles

2. Greek Theater • How did Greek drama begin? • It grew from religious celebrations in honor of the god Dionysus. • Writers introduced plots involving characters of dramatic importance • Most Greek Tragedies are concerned with the conflicts between men and the gods. • What are some of the conventions of Greek Drama? • Actors wore large, carved masks, no female performers

3. Ruins at Epidarus • skene • proskenion • Parados • Parados • Orchestra / • altar to Dionysus • Theatron

4. Ruins at Epidarus: Diagram (text, pg. 939)

5. What was the purpose of these plays? • Tragedy was performed in Athens at the 3 annual festivals of Dionysus. • Greek Drama grew from religious celebrations and never lost its religious significance. • Attendance at these performances was a civic and religious obligation as well as a source of entertainment. • The religious function of drama was to enable its viewers to experience a CATHARSIS: feelings of pity and terror (or fear); purgation of emotions.

6. What are the terms commonly associated with Greek Tragedy? • Hamartia = “tragic flaw” (moral or intellectual)which is instrumental in bringing about the character’s downfall. • Hubris = insolence of man who has been especially fortunate; sinful pride; the tragic flaw. • Nemesis = just punishment for wrongdoing. • Catharsis = feelings of pity and fear; audience reaction to the tragedy. • Tragic Irony = statement or situation that means to the something to the character in contrast to what is discovered to be true. • Deus Ex Machina = (literally, the god in the machine) technical device in Gr. Theater consists of a god suspended from a metal crane; used for unraveling in a miraculous way the unsolved problems of the tragedy. • Can you think of TV shows or movies that use this device today?

7. What are Aristotle’s requirements for Tragedy? • Tragedy must have serious action • It is dramatic • It should be long enough to show a character passing gradually from happiness to misery. • It should represent one complete action with the incidents so closely integrated that nothing can be deleted without destroying the unity of the whole. • The protagonist should be virtuous, come from a high estate and fall due to an error/flaw in his character (moral weakness which is marked by reversals (peripety) and discoveries (change from ignorance to knowledge)

8. Plots of Tragedy • Plots are either simple or complex. • The action, as 1 continuous whole is simple when the change in the hero’s fortunes takes place withoutperipety or discovery. • The action is complex when it involves one or the other or both. • PERIPETY: the change from 1 state of things within the play to its opposite. • DISCOVERY: a change from ignorance to knowledge and thus to either love or hate, in the personages marked for either good or evil fortune.

9. Tragic Hero/Heroic Qualities • The protagonist should merit our interest • The tragic hero should not be perfect, yet he must be capable of understanding his circumstances. • In the face of an inescapable fate, the tragic hero must react with dignity. • The tragic hero must defend a noble cause • The world of the tragic play is turbulent. • A belief in his own freedom • A supreme pride • Capacity for suffering • A sense of commitment • Vigorous protest • Transfiguration • Impact

10. The Tragic Hero • According to Aristotle: • An essentially good person who, through some weakness of character or error in judgment brings doom upon himself

11. Requirements for a Tragic Hero • Tragic events happen to a person of great magnitude (come from a high estate). • Must discover the truth of his wrong choice and accept responsibility for his own actions • His error or flaw is marked by reversals and discoveries

12. Tragic Hero Continued • Choice that brought about failure must have been made to bring about results opposite to what really happens • Must be a more admirable man in defeat than he was before; must gain stature through the way he meets catastrophe • Moves the audience to pity

13. Oedipus • Meets Aristotle’s definition of the perfect Greek tragedy. • The chorus set the atmosphere of the play with their songs which comment upon the action of the play • The divisions of the play: prologue, parodos, first scene, first stasimon, second scene, second stasimon, third scene, third stasimon, fourth scene, fourth stasimon. Fifth scene, kommos.

14. Sophocles: Oedipus Rex • Oedipus Rex is a discussion of the conflict between faith and doubt. Oedipus represents any of us who wrestle with our own problems of faith and doubt; he represents all our hopes and our fears. • Sophocles wanted Oedipus to teach that man’s confidence in his own ability is an illusion if he abandons the idea of a higher power. • This play seeks truth about the cosmos. Every detail of Oedipus Rex is contrived so as to reinforce the conception of order disturbed and order restored. • Knowledge comes through suffering. • It was not going to happen because it was foretold. It was foretold because it was going to happen. Character is Fate. • The chorus set the atmosphere of the play with their songs which comment upon the action of the play • The divisions of the play: prologue, parodos, first scene, first stasimon, second scene, second stasimon, third scene, third stasimon, fourth scene, fourth stasimon. Fifth scene, kommos.

15. Characters Characters of the Exposition Thebes Corinth Lais & JocastaPolybus & Merope • Oedipus • Jocasta • Creon • Chorus • Herdsman • Teiresias • Priest of Zeus • Messenger • 2nd Messenger • Mute Persons The Cast in Oedipus Rex