Ancient Greece and Greek Tragedy

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Ancient Greece and Greek Tragedy
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According to Aristotles Poetics drama (tragic
writing) should include

• Plot- the arrangement of scenes
• Character- keep true, herobrave, no noble
  villains, stay true to the character within the
  work of literature also
• Theme- must have a purpose, not just to entertain
• Language- elevated speech
• Music- behind the Greek chanting, true to theme
• Spectacle- wows the senses, extravagant

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Other elements necessary for tragedy (according
to Aristotle)

• Hamarteia- tragic flaw, thematically linked
• Parapeteria- turning point
• Anagnoresis- recognition, lead character must
  realize he/she was wrong
• Pathos- pain from empathy, the audience must feel
  it
• Catharsis- release

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Masks

• Masks were used instead of costume changes since
  only 3 actors played all of the roles
• Masks had exaggerated facial expressions to show
  emotion
• They also acted as megaphones

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Structure of the Greek Play

• The basic structure of a Greek tragedy is fairly
  simple. After a prologue spoken by one or more
  characters, the chorus enters, singing and
  dancing. Scenes then alternate between spoken
  sections (dialogue between characters and between
  characters and chorus) and sung sections (during
  which the chorus danced). Here are the basic
  parts of a Greek Tragedy

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• a. Prologue Spoken by one or two characters
  before the chorus appears. The prologue usually
  gives the mythological background necessary for
  understanding the events of the play.
• b. Parodos This is the song sung by the chorus
  as it first enters the orchestra and dances.
• c. First Episode This is the first of many
  "episodes" when the characters and chorus talk.
• d. First Stasimon At the end of each episode,
  the other characters usually leave the stage and
  the chorus dances and sings a stasimon, or choral
  ode. The ode usually reflects on the things said
  and done in the episodes, and puts it into some
  kind of larger mythological framework.
• For the rest of the play, there is alternation
  between episodes and stasima, until the final
  scene, called the...
• e. Exodos At the end of play, the chorus exits
  singing a processional song which usually offers
  words of wisdom related to the actions and
  outcome of the play.

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ELEMENTS OF TRAGEDY

• Tragedy arouses pity and fear in the audience so
  that we may be purged, or cleansed, of these
  unsettling emotions.
• A tragedy arouses the twin emotions, pity and
  fear, only if it presents a certain type of hero
  or heroine who is neither completely good nor
  completely bad.

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WHAT IS A TRAGIC HERO?

• The tragic hero should be someone highly
  renowned and prosperous
• The hero has a tragic flaw.
• The tragic hero is on some level responsible for
  his or her own downfall.

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• By the end of the play, the tragic hero comes to
  recognize his or her own error and to accept its
  tragic consequences (anagnoresis).
• The hero does not curse fate or the gods. The
  hero is humbled and enlightened by the tragedy.
• The audience feels pity because the hero is a
  suffering human being who is flawed like us.

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GREEK DRAMA NOTES

• Greek drama grew out of ancient religious rituals
  honoring Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility.

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• During these celebrations, plays were put on for
  the public.
• The tragedies were serious treatments of
  religious and mythic questions.
• All the actors were men, and the choruses were
  well-trained boys.
• By switching masks, each actor could play several
  roles.

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ONE MESSED UP FAMILY TREE!
MARRIED
SIBLINGS
JOCASTA
LAIOS
CREON
SON
SON
OEDIPUS
UNCLE
MARRIED
ENGAGED
SIBLINGS
ISMENE
ANTIGONE
POLYNEICES
ETEOCLES
KILL EACH OTHER IN BATTLE
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SOPHOCLES The Playwright
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Although Sophocles died more than 24 centuries
ago, he continues to live today in his plays as
one of the historys greatest writers. Only
seven of his 123 dramas survive intact. His
themes---justice, pride, obstinacy, flawed
humanity, and the struggle between destiny and
free will---are as timely today as they were in
his own time.
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• He was born a mile northwest of Athens in 496
  B.C. in a town called Colonus.
• He was a child of advantage, enjoying the
  comforts of the privileged and receiving an
  education that undergirded his natural talents.
• He studied poetry, dance, philosophy,
  mathematics, astronomy, law, athletics, and
  military tactics.
• He was a man of the people kindly, generous, and
  popular.
• Sophocles died about year 405.

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Women in Ancient Greece

• 5th century BC only adult Greek males were
  citizens
• Foreigners, women, children, and slaves all
  inferior
• Women always under the guardianship of a male
• Although many plays show powerful and clever
  women, this was not representative of the Greek
  society

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More on Women in Ancient Greece

• Around age 14 women entered an arranged marriage
  with an older man for the purpose of creating
  legitimate children
• Separate womens quarters in the homes
• Women did not attend dinner parties or appear at
  many public events with spouse
• Society expected men to have sexual relationships
  outside of marriage
• The word adultery was solely defined as a woman
  cheating on her husband
• It was a crime against her husband because he
  would not be able to claim her children as
  legitimately his heirs

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More on Women in Ancient Greece

• Rape was a crime against the womans father or
  husband since it diminished her value as his
  property
• ThereforeMedeas situation of her husband
  leaving her for a younger princess was not
  unusual. What makes the play unique is Medeas
  refusal to meekly accept her fate and that the
  chorus of Corinthian women champion Medeas
  cause. Euripides dares to question the treatment
  of women in Greek society.

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Euripides
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About Euripides

• Born about 480 B.C., somewhere in the vicinity of
  Athens, Euripides, the son of Mnesarchides, was
  destined from the beginning to be a misunderstood
  poet.
• He was a pacifist, a free thinker, and a
  humanitarian in an age when such qualities were
  increasingly overshadowed by intolerance and
  violence.

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More on Euripides

• Always a lover of truth, Euripides forced his
  characters to confront personal issues, not just
  questions of State
• - In the classic, Medea, he takes a penetrating
  look at the frenzied jealousy of a woman who has
  lost the interest of her middle-aged husband.

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Who is Jason?

• Jason was the son of King Aeson of Iolcus and
  rightful heir to the throne.
• He returned to his home to claim the throne from
  his uncle, who sent him on the quest for the
  Golden Fleece to get rid of him.
• Jason created an all-star hero team to help him
  on the quest. They encounter many obstacles along
  the way. Jason always gets help from the men with
  him or gods/goddesses and shows no ability to
  escape scrapes using his own physical or mental
  abilities. He also gets delayed due to his
  inability to control his lust for women.
• He arrives in Colchis where the king is unwilling
  to give up the Golden Fleece.

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Jasons quest continues

• Unable to kill Jason (Greek hospitality laws
  prevent it) the king of Colchis gives Jason a
  task of yoking his oxen, plowing a field, and
  harvesting a crop- all in one day- in order to
  get the Fleece.
• Hera (indebted to Jason for an earlier favor)
  intervenes to help him tame the oxen. She also
  sends Cupid to make Medea, the princess, fall in
  love with Jason.
• Medea, a sorceress, uses her powers to help Jason
  complete the task and get the Golden Fleece.
• Jason takes Medea home with him, vowing to love
  her forever. When arriving home, his uncle still
  refuses to give up the throne.
• Medea tricks Jasons cousins in to killing their
  father, currently the king, so that Jason can
  claim the throne.
• Euripides begins his play Medea with Jason being
  offered marriage to a local princess (Medea is a
  foreigner) and him abandoning his wife.

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So why does Euripides use Jason, a very unheroic
character, in his play?

• The play focuses on his wife. Therefore, the fact
  that Jason is not your typical hero works to the
  playwrights advantage. The women in his life
  have done much to advance him. Now he must pay
  for his actions. Jason ends up living his life as
  a miserable old man and has a very unheroic
  death.