Name that tune?????
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four day extravaganza
sacrifice and drama competitions
early spring—tied to re-birth of spirit of
vegetation
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dithyramb—choral lyrics and revels
chorus—15-50 people, commentary in lyric
form—revelation of feelings
actors—Thespis the first
Aesychlus added a second
Sophocles a third
only male, use of highly decorated masks
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PROLOGUE—
exposition and set up the plot
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PARADOS—
entrance of chorus through arches—parade—
ode
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EPISODES—
building of the plot
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STASIMONS—
odes in one place
ode—strophe, antistrophe: dancing directions
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EPILOGUE—
resolution, dénouement
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EXODUS—
chorus has the final word
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tragedy—
IMITATION OF A SERIOUS COMPLETE
ACTION
A DRAMA
AROUSES FEAR AND PITY FOR THE
CATHARSIS OF THE EMOTIONS
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concept of unity—
 one action
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one time
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one place
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PLOT: series of incidents—Greeks used wellknown stories
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use of IRONY—dramatic, verbal, situational
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concept of PERIPETY— reversal of fortune or
luck
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concept of DISCOVERY—from ignorance to
knowledge
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TRAGIC HERO: not too virtuous, but virtuous
man whose fall comes about because of an
unwise decision—hamartia: missing the mark,
the tragic flaw
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CHARACTERS: moral, appropriate, realistic,
consistent
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THOUGHT: ideas, general truth—large issues
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DICTION: lofty, no slang—
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MELODY: accompaniment
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SPECTACLE: stage appearance; horror occurs
offstage and audience sees only the responses to
the violence
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The playwright—Sophocles: 5th c. BC
Athens—political expansionism and social
optimism; Protagoras—“man is the measure of
all things”—contrasted with the role of the gods
in the Iliad
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The cycle—
composed over a period of thirty years
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order of writing was Antigone, Oedipus the King,
and Oedipus at Colonus.
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The chronological plot order is Oedipus the King,
Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.
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The trilogy asks life’s basic questions:
Oedipus the King—who am I? Quest for
identity; nature of innocence and guilt; nature of
moral responsibility; human will v. fate; abuse of
power
Oedipus at Colonus—death and
redemption
Antigone—the individual v. the state;
the abuse of power