Antigone Background Notes

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Antigone Background Notes
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I. Origin of Tragedy

• A. Religious festivals in the spring to honor
  Dionysus

Dionysus (Bacchus), god of wine and revelry
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• B. Thespis, Father of Drama (thespians)
• 1. introduced the first actor and dialogue
• C. Sophocles
• 1. added third actor
• 2. fixed number of the Chorus to 15
• 3. introduced painted scenery
• 4. made each play of a trilogy separate in
  nature (each play could stand alone)
• Oedipus Rex
• Oedipus on Colunus
• Antigone

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Sophocles
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II. Structure of Theatre

• A. theatron seeing place where the audience
  sat
• B. orchestra circular dancing place where
  actors and Chorus performed
• C. thymele altar to Dionysus in center of the
  orchestra
• D. skene building used as dressing room
• E. proskenion façade of skene building which
  served as backdrop
• F. parados entrance to the theatre used by
  Chorus

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Greek Theatre
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III. Actors and Acting

• A. The playwright took the leading role
• B. All male performers (played female roles too)
• C. Never more than 3 actors (changed characters)
• 1. Costumes and Masks
• 1. long, flowing robes (colored symbolically)
• 2. high boots with raised soles
• 3. large masks made of wood, linen, cork
• a. identified age, gender, emotion
• b. exaggerated features (eyes, open mouth)

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The Chorus

• A. Music and Dance
• 1. music flute, lyre, drums
• 2. dance expressive rhythmic movements
• B. Function of the Chorus
• 1. sets overall mood and expresses theme
• 2. adds beauty through song and dance
• 3. gives background information
• 4. divides action and offers reflection on
  events
• 5. questions, advises, expresses opinion
  (usually through Chorus leader)
• 6. Meant to be a representation of society

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V. Conventions of Greek Theatre

• A. Aristotles Unities
• 1. action (simple plot)
• 2. time (single day)
• 3. place (one scene throughout)
• B. The Messenger (sentry)
• 1. tells news happening away from the scene
• 2. reports acts of violence not allowed to be
  seen
• C. Limitations of the Theatre
• 1. the Chorus is constantly on the stage
• 2. no intermission
• 3. no lighting, no curtains

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VI. Important Terms

• 1. tragedy an imitation of a serious action
  which will arouse pity and fear in the viewer
• 2. tragic hero a character, usually of noble
  birth, neither totally good nor totally evil,
  whose downfall is brought about by some weakness
  and error in judgment (a tragic flaw)

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• 3. hamartia a tragic flaw, weakness of
  character or error in judgment which causes the
  downfall of the hero (tragic flaw)
• hubris the tragic flaw of exaggerated
  self-pride. Hubris was a crime in classical
  Athens.
• 5. catharsis the purging or release of
  emotions the audience feels
• 6. deus ex machina a person or god that
  intervenes in the action

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• FATE the will or principle or determining cause
  by which things in general are believed to come
  to be as they are or events to happen as they do
   destiny
• The Greeks believed that everything happened for
  a reason and that the path they led in life, was
  prescribed for them by the Gods and that there
  was no escaping their fate or destiny.

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• IRONY a pretense of ignorance and of willingness
  to learn from another assumed in order to make
  the other's false conceptions conspicuous by
  adroit questioning
• DRAMATIC IRONY incongruity between a situation
  developed in a drama and the accompanying words
  or actions that is understood by the audience but
  not by the characters in the play called also
  dramatic irony tragic irony

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Dramatist Born Wrote
Aeschylus 524 B.C. Seven Against Thebes
Sophocles 496 B.C. Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
Euripides 480 B.C. Medea
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• Sophocles (496- 406 B.C.E.)
• He wrote 123 or more plays during the course of
  his life
• For almost 50 years, he was the dominant
  competitor in the dramatic competitions of
  ancient Athens that took place during the
  religious festivals of the Lenaea and the
  Dionysia.
• His first victory was in 468 BC, although
  scholars are no longer certain that this was the
  first time that he competed.

Sophocles (496- 406 B.C.E.)
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Sophocles influenced the development of the
drama, most importantly by adding a third
character and thereby reducing the importance of
the chorus in the presentation of the plot. He
also developed his characters to a greater extent
than earlier playwrights such as Aeschylus.
Sophocles (496- 406 B.C.E.)
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• Only seven of his tragedies have survived into
  modern times with their text completely known.
• The most famous of these are the three tragedies
  concerning Oedipus and Antigone these are often
  known as the Theban plays or The Oedipus Cycle,
  (Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus,
  Antigone) although they were not originally
  written or performed as a single trilogy.

Sophocles (496- 406 B.C.E.)
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VII. The Original Dysfunctional Family
King Menoeceus
King Laius
Jocasta
Creon
Eurydice
King Oedipus
Jocasta
Megareus
Haemon
Eteocles
Polyneices
Ismene
Antigone
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• King Laius and Jocasta have a son, Oedipus. The
  Oracle predicts Oedipus will grow up and kill his
  father, so Laius drops Oedipus over a cliff into
  the ocean.

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• Baby Oedipus is rescued by a shepherd. He grows
  up and hits the road. Meets the Sphinx. Answers
  the Sphinxs riddle. Sphinx kills herself.
• Do you know the Sphinxs riddle?

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• Oedipus argues with and kills a man on the road
  who, unbeknownst to Oedipus, is his father Laius.
  Oedipus continues and when he reaches Thebes, he
  is rewarded for killing the Sphinx that has been
  plaguing their town (no one has been able to come
  and go since the Sphinx has been guarding the
  road). Oedipus is given the newly widowed queen
  to marry. Look back at the family tree

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• Oedipus and his wife have four children.
  Eventually, a new plague strikes Thebes and the
  Oracle is consulted again. The soothsayer,
  Teiresias, tells them that Thebes is suffering
  because of Oedipus and Jocastas crime against
  nature.

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• Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus takes her
  brooch and blinds himself. He is exiled from
  Thebes, and Antigone and Ismene, his daughters,
  dutifully lead their father through the lands
  during his exile.

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• A civil war breaks out about who will be the new
  ruler of Thebes. Eteocles and Polyneices fight
  to be heir to the throne. They kill each other
  and their Uncle Creon steps up. He believes one
  was the rightful heir (the oldest son) and other
  was a traitor to the state for challenging him.
  Creon refuses a proper burial for the traitor
  and this makes Antigone angry she believes BOTH
  her brothers deserve a proper burial.

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Remember your mythology?

• Why was a proper burial so important to the
  Greeks?

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You need to get to Hades!

• Once a person has died, s/he must pay the
  ferryman, Charon, to take him/her across the
  River Styx to the Underworld. Otherwise, the
  soul will not be able to rest.

Michelangelos Last Judgment