University of Winchester
Modern Liberal Arts
Semester 1, 2014
Monday 9.30am
Medecroft 107
LA 1005 Ancient Canonic Tragedy
Content:The subject matter of this module is built around examples of ancient Classical Tragedy; it is
intended to co-ordinate various ideas about the nature of culture and human experience. The
principal assumption shared by all the classical authors and commentators on tragedy was of
an art-form that served its audiences by portraying the ethical dimensions of social life – as
conducted within the context of a Greek city-state. In practice, this entailed that the plays
might only be presented once in a competition held during the Festival of Dionysus at
Athens, and each play would be combined with two others so that the three plays taken
together were expected to offer a complete working through of whatever truths were being
featured. The lives of heroes, kings, and gods were typically employed to emblematize the
various dilemmas faced by the demos (those men who could vote), and it is assumed that
there would in nearly all cases be some contemporary pertinence to the narratives being
staged beyond the immediate religious context of the festival.
The following plays and texts are primary resources for this study:For the classical background assumed by all of these texts, Hesiod’s Theogeny provides a
guide to the mythologies assumed by most authors, while Homer’s Odyssey, and particularly
his Iliad, are major sources of further reference (Virgil’s Aeneid – a much more urbane
foundational narrative of empire - will be found helpful for later classical studies, but scant
reference to it will be made here).
For the dramatists themselves, the study sequence is Aeschylus – Agamemnon (the first play
in the most celebrated set: the Oresteia) and Seven against Thebes; Sophocles – Oedipus
Rex and Antigone; Euripedes – The Bachae; and a link play through to Shakespeare and the
second year module on tragedy – Seneca – Trojan Women – this is best taken further by
reference to Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
(Although we do not have a corresponding Aristotelian text on comedy, Aristophanes’ play,
The Clouds, is one source of insight, and from the Roman world, Petronius’ Satyricon – in
which Tremalchio’s memorable dinner is notoriously featured in a 1960’s film by Fellini –
The Satyricon.)
In terms of understanding the religious and political context for these works there are two
principal texts: Plato – The Republic (books II and III), and Aristotle’s – Poetics together
with his Nicomachean Ethics (books II-V). (Deeper level classical sources are Aristotle’s
Rhetoric, Topics and Politics – these will be referenced in various lectures)
Nearly all of the above are available as e-texts and seminar study will be guided by these
on-line resources from time to time. In addition, selected copies of other translations,
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adaptations, or short sections to be considered in detail will be provided as and when
needed.
Various secondary texts are also featured each week, but for a general overview of the tragic
as such – one that is relevant for each of the three modules in the tragedy series – Terry
Eagleton’s Sweet Violence is highly recommended (Eagleton, T. (2003) Sweet Violence: the
idea of the tragic Oxford: Blackwell). Also of lasting relevance to your work on this degree
is Nietzsche’s famous essay, Nietzsche, F. (1995) The Birth of Tragedy New York: Dover.
(This may be supplemented by a prospective commentary for this course by Hall, E. (2004)
Dionysus Since 69: Greek tragedy at the dawn of the third millennium Oxford: Oxford
University Press.)
For other general perspectives on this study, see:Anton, P. (1995) The Greek World London: Routledge
Arnot, P. (1971) The Ancient Greek and Roman Theatre New York: Random House
Barker, E. (2009) Entering the Argon: dissent and authority in Homer, historiography, and
tragedy Oxford: Oxford University Press
Barthes, R. (1994) The Semiotic Challenge Berkeley: University of California Press – review
his summary of early rhetoric
Beistegui, M. de & Sparks, S. eds. (1999) Philosophy and Tragedy London: Routledge
Bowlby, R. (2009) Freudian Mythologies: Greek tragedy and modern identities Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Bremmer, J. (1993) The Early Greek Concept of the Soul Princeton: Princeton University
Press
Bremmer, J. (1994) Greek Religion Oxford: Oxford University Press
Dollimore, J. (2001) Death, Desire, and Loss in Western Culture London: Routledge
Eco, U. (2002) Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages New Haven: Yale University Press –
particularly the Introduction and the first two chapters
Easterling, P. E. (1997) The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press (if the revised version is not available).
Goldhill, S. (2007) How To Stage Greek Tragedy Today Chicago: University of Chicago
Press
Grassi, E. (2001) Rhetoric as Philosophy: the Humanist tradition Carbondale: Sothern
University Press
Hammond, P. (2009) The Strangeness of Tragedy Oxford: Oxford University Press
Janko, R. (1984) Aristotle on Comedy: towards a reconstruction of Poetics II London:
Duckworth
Jones, P. & Sidwell, K. (eds) (1997) World of Rome: introduction to Roman culture
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Ley, G. (2006) A Short Introduction to the Ancient Greek Theatre Chicago: University of
Chicago Press
Nagy, G. (2013) The Ancient Greek hero in 24 Hours Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press
Nuttall, A. D. (1996) Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure? Oxford: Clarendon Press
Oberhelm, S. & Pedrick, V. (2006) The Soul of Tragedy: essays on Athenian drama Chicago:
University of Chicago Press
Sidnell, M. (1991) Sources of Dramatic Theory; 1 Plato to Congreve Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
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Silk, M. S. (1996) Tragedy and the Tragic: Greek theatre and beyond Oxford: Clarendon
Press
Walton, J. M. & McDonald, M. (2007) The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman
Theatre Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
White, N. (2002) Individual and Conflict in Greek Ethics Oxford: Clarendon
Teaching:Most of the key texts will be tackled by a division of the module into one or two-week
blocks, with an initial discussion of context and an overview of the text being followed by the
interrogation of selected components.
Learning Outcomes:1. Demonstrate engagement with texts and ideas relevant to the Ancient Greek tradition
of tragedy.
2. Demonstrate reflection on experiences and the wider contexts in which they take
place.
3. Communicate experiences of texts and ideas as appropriate.
4. Show knowledge and understanding of specialist terminology.
5. Demonstrate requisite research skills in gathering, summarizing, and presenting
evidence including proficiency in referencing and academic conventions.
Assessment:Two essays (approximately 1750 words). The first is tutor-set, as given below, and is due in
week 6, 27th. Oct. The second assignment takes a different form. You have two choices of
title, given below, with the assignment due in week (1), 12th. Jan. As a third alternative for
this assignment, you may negotiate a title with me which features one of the set texts in its
entirety.
Assignment 1: Considering only these technical terms from Aristotle - technê, episteme, and
archai - indicate which one you consider to be most relevant to the analysis of ancient
tragedy?
Assignment 2 – answer one of the following:
First title: Provide an explanation for the significance of the following statement in
relation to one text covered in this module:
We take delight in viewing the most accurate possible images of objects which
in themselves cause distress when we see them (e.g. the shapes of the lowest
species of animal, and corpses).
Aristotle: Poetics; Bekker 1448b.
Second title: As above, but now with a different quotation:
Tragedy is not an imitation of persons, but of actions and of life. Well-being
and ill-being reside in action, and the goal of life is an activity, not a quality;
people possess certain qualities in accordance with their character, but they
achieve well-being or its opposite on the basis of how they fare.
Aristotle: Poetics; Bekker 1450a.
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Weekly pattern of lectures:1. Lecture: Introduction – what is the tragic?
Plato and Aristotle
Theme: Greek tragedy within its own culture, and in subsequent Western culture.
Principal texts referenced: Plato – Republic (Books II and III); Aristotle –
Nicomachean Ethics (Books II-V) – Poetics (his initial classification of types of
writing and his preliminary observations on tragedy).
Additional reading:
Bauman, Z. (1999) Culture as Praxis London: Sage
Sommerstein, A. H. (2002) Greek Drama and Dramatists London: Routledge
Sperber, D. (1996) Explaining Culture: a naturalistic approach Oxford: Blackwell
(chapters 1 – 4)
2. Lecture: the Greek Theatre as the site of metaphor
Theme: early staging and the chorus – the political dimensions of Greek tragedy.
Principal texts referenced:Aeschylus – Agememnon, Seven against Thebes; Plato – The Republic, Book III,
Aristotle – Poetics
Additional reading:Aeschylus (1995) The Oresteia trans. Michael Ewans, London: Dent
Goldhill, S. (1992) Aeschylus: The Oresteia Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Green, J. (1996) Theatre in Ancient Greek Society London: Routledge
Hall, E. (1989) Inventing the Barbarian: Greek self-definition through tragedy
Oxford: Clarendon Press
Macintosh, F. et al. eds. (2005) Agamemnon in Performance, 458BC to AD2004
Oxford: Oxford University Press
McLeish, K. (2003) A Guide to Greek Theatre and Drama London: Methuen
Publius Papinius, S. (2004) The Thebaid: Seven Against Thebes Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University (translation of the Roman author)
Rush, R. (1992) Greek Tragic Theatre London: Routledge
Wiles, D. (2000) Greek Theatre Performance: an introduction Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Wiles, D. (1997) Tragedy in Athens: performance space and theatrical meaning
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. Lecture: the analysis of tragedy
Theme: the basics according to Aristotle
Principal text referenced: Aristotle, Poetics
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Additional reading:Eagleton, T. (2003) Sweet Violence: the idea of the tragic Oxford: Blackwell; the
Introduction, and chapter: ‘A Theory in Ruins’
Hitunen, A. (2002) Aristotle in Hollywood: the anatomy of successful storytelling
Bristol: Intellect Books
Williams, R. (1966) Modern Tragedy London: Chatto and Windus; just chapter 1,
‘Tragedy and the Tradition’.
4.
Lecture: Aristotle’s perfect illustration
Theme: on classifying the components of a successful dramatic text
Principal texts referenced: Aristotle – Poetics; Sophocles – Oedipus Rex
Additional reading:
Goff, B. & Simpson, M. (2007) Crossroads in the Black Aegean: Oedipus, Antigone,
and dramas of the African diaspora Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kitto, H. (1958) Sophocles: dramatist and philosopher Oxford: Oxford University
Press
Long, A. (1968) Language and Thought in Sophocles: a study of abstract nouns and
poetic technique London: Athlone Press
Goldhill, S. (2012) Sophocles and the Language of Tragedy Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Harris, W. V. (2001) Restraining Rage: the ideology of anger control in classical
antiquity Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press
Hitunen, A. (2002) Aristotle in Hollywood: the anatomy of successful storytelling
Bristol: Intellect Books
Pasolini, P. (2007) Oedipus Rex DVD: Tartan Videos
Seale, D. (1982) Vision and Stagecraft in Sophocles London: Croom Helm
McCoy, M. (2013) Wounded heroes: vulnerability as a virtue in Ancient Greek
literature and philosophy Oxford: Oxford University Press
Rudnytsky, P. (1987) Freud and Oedipus New York: Columbia University Press
5. Lecture: How tragedy works – the cultural significance of the best kinds of plot.
Themes: psychological and cultural spaces
Principal texts referenced: Selections from Plato The Republic Book III, X,
Aristotle’s Poetics, Rhetoric, and Posterior Analytics
Additional reading:Harris, W. V. (2001) Restraining Rage: the ideology of anger control in classical
antiquity Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press
Rorty, A. O. ed. (1996) Essays on Aristotle’s Rhetoric Berkeley: University of
California Press
Stanford, W. B. (1983) Greek Tragedy and the Emotions: an introductory study
London: Routledge & Kegan Page
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An important issue to grasp is that at this time when Aristotle was teaching there were
two competing interpretations of ‘rhetoric’ – of which only one is now commonly
recognised, i.e., rhetoric is an instrumental art of presentation – or ‘spin’ to use a
contemporary term – deployed to ‘engineer’ mass consent. However, in both Plato
and Aristotle careful readings reveal that a distinction is implicitly made between
‘real’ rhetoric and this instrumental application. So, while the usual account of
Aristotle’s Poetics accepts the dramatic under the heading of ‘style’, and tragedy – as
a form of rhetoric – is considered a failed form of rational argument that has,
nevertheless, some use when dealing with the crowd, some of the Roman authors,
Horace, and Quintilian recognise rhetoric’s doubled meaning, but Cicero, in
particular, offers an interpretation of rhetoric which is taken up in the late Seventeenth
Century by Vico – to become a final flowering of Italian Humanism before
Cartesianism sweeps the field and scientific rationality becomes the assumed
norm/ideal of deliberative and judicial thinking. We will consider some initial aspects
of this imbroglio. And so, apart from the two references to Cicero and Grassi’s book,
the following – part of the re-visioning of rhetoric that began in the 1950s – should be
understood as being offered here by way of contrast …
Barthes, R. (1994) The Semiotic Challenge Berkeley: University of California Press –
review his summary of early rhetoric
Chandler, D. (2007) Semiotics: the basics London: Routledge
Grassi, E. (2001) Rhetoric as Philosophy: the Humanist tradition Carbondale:
Southern Illinois University
Schleifer, R. (1987) A. J. Greimas and the nature of meaning: linguistics, semiotics,
and discourse theory London: Croom Helm – (in Greimas’ studies it is possible to
find echoes of Aristotle’s Square of Oppositions)
Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (1998) Relevance: communication and cognition 2nd. editn.
Oxford: Blackwell – an alternative to semiotics
Steel, C. (2005) Reading Cicero: genre and performance in Late Republican Rome
London: Duckworth
Steel, C. ed. (2013) The Cambridge Companion to Cicero Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
6. Lecture: women’s place – dying for the old world order
Themes: His-stories and Her-stories.
Principal texts referenced: Plato The Republic, Book X, selections from Sophocles –
Antigone, Euripedes – Medea (the National Theatre has recently staged a version of
this which was filmed)
Additional reading:
Barber, S. (2000) Cello Concerto, Op. 22. Medea (suite) Naxos CD
Enterline, L. (2000) The Rhetoric of the Body from Ovid to Shakespeare Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Euripedes (2002) Medea London: Methuen
Fo, D. (1981) Female Parts: one women plays London: Pluto Press
Foley, H. P. (2001) Female Acts in Greek Tragedy Princeton, NJ,
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Griffiths, E. (2005) Medea London: Routledge
Heaney, S. (2005) The Burial at Thebes: Sophocles’ Antigone London: Faber
Lochhead, L. (2000) Theatrebabel’s Medea London: Nick Hern
Mee, E. & Foley, H. (2011) Antigone on the Contemporary Stage Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Pasolini, P. (2011) Medea London: British Film Institute DVD
Robert, W. (2010) Trials: of Antigone and Jesus New York: Fordham University
Press
Rouse, W. H. D. ed. (1961) ‘Shakespeare’s Ovid’: being Arthur Golding’s translation
of the Metamorphosis London: Centaur
Seneca (2014) Medea Oxford: Oxford University Press
Slote, M. (2011) The Impossibility of Perfection: Aristotle’s feminism, and the
complexities of ethics Oxford: Oxford University Press
Taylor, A. B. (2000) Shakespeare’s Ovid: the Metamorphosis in the plays and poems
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Wolf, C. (1998) Medea: a modern re-telling London: Virago
Princeton Book Co. (2000) VHS Jean-Georges Noverre’s Medea
7. Lecture: the private and public figures.
Themes: Homeric nobility and Platonic worth
Principal texts referenced: Aristotle – The Poetics, Nicomachean Ethics (how the
individual should best live), Politics (how the law-giver should work for the good of
the community), Homer – Iliad, Plato – Phaedo
Additional reading:
Allen, P. (1997) The Conception of Woman: the Aristotelian revolution, 750 BC to
AD 1250 Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans
Barnes, J. ed. (1995) The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Bevir, M. (2010) The State as Cultural Practice Oxford: Oxford University Press
Curzer, H. (2012) Aristotle and the Virtues Oxford: Oxford University Press
Ferrari, G. (1987) Listening to the Circadas: a study of Plato’s Phaedrus
Hardie, W. (1980) Aristotle’s Ethical Theory Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kenny, A. (1978) Aristotelian Ethics: a study of the relationship between the
Eudemonian and Nicomachean ethics of Aristotle Oxford: Clarendon Press
Lorenz, H. (2006) The Brute Within: appetitive desire in Plato and Aristotle Oxford:
Clarendon Press
Miller, F. (1997) Nature, Justice and Rights in Aristotle’s Politics Oxford: Clarendon
Press
Moss, J. (2012) Aristotle on the Apparent Good: perception, phantasia, thought, and
desire Oxford: Oxford University Press
Pieper, J. (1964) Love and Inspiration: a study of Plato’s Phaedrus London: Faber
Plato – The Republic, Book I
Polansky, R. ed. (2014) The Cambridge Companion to the Nicomachean ethics
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Price, A. (1990) Love and Friendship in Plato and Aristotle Oxford: Clarendon Press
Segal, E. ed. (1983) Oxford Readings in Greek Tragedy Oxford: Oxford University
Press
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Shields, C. ed. (2012) The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle Oxford: Oxford University
Press
White, N. (2002) Individual and Conflict in Greek Ethics Oxford: Clarendon
8. Lecture: Singing to the Gods
Themes: the changing nature of the chorus, and depicting the voices of the gods.
Principal texts referenced: Aristotle – The Poetics, Aeschylus – Prometheus Bound,
Euripedes – The Bachae
Additional reading:
Bowen, J. (1969) Disorderly Women London: Methuen
Carter, D. ed. (2011) Why Athens? A reappraisal of tragic politics Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Croall, J. (2002) Peter Hall’s Bachai: the National Theatre at work London: Royal
national Theatre
Davis, D. (1995) Scenes of Madness: a psychiatrist at the theatre London: Routledge
Fischer-Lichte, E. (2014) Dionysus Resurrected: performances of Euripedes’ The
Bachae in a globalizing world Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell
Gaskell, I., Conway, D. & Kemel, S. (1998) Nietzsche, Philosophy and the Arts
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Goldhill, S. (2007) How to Stage Greek Tragedy Today Chicago: Chicago University
Press
Goldhill, S. (2012) Sophocles and the Language of Tragedy Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Ley, G. (2006) The Theatricality of Greek Tragedy: playing space and chorus
Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Mendelsohn, D. (2002) Gender and the City in Euripedes’ Political Plays Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Nietzsche, F. (1995) The Birth of Tragedy New York: Dover
Redmont, J. (1991) Violence in Drama Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Swift, A. (2010) The Hidden Chorus: echoes of genre in tragic lyric Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Tartt, D. (1993) The Secret History London: Penguin
Wiles, D. (1997) Tragedy in Athens: performance space and theatrical meaning
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
9. Lecture: the Dionysian principle in culture.
Themes: cultural metaphors and figurations
Principal texts referenced: Selections from Nietzsche, F. (1995) The Birth of Tragedy
New York: Dover, Rancière, J. (2013) Aisthesis: scenes from the aesthetic regime of
Art New York: Verso, chapters 1 and 6 (but in relation to the later, Roman version of
classical tragedy see Chapter 5).
Additional reading:
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Ansell-Pearson, K. (1997) Viroid Life: perspectives on Nietzsche and the transhuman
condition London: Routledge
Hall, E. (2004) Dionysus Since 69: Greek tragedy at the dawn of the third millennium
Oxford: Oxford University Press
Harvey, D. (2000) Spaces of Hope Berkeley: University of California Press
Bowlby, R. (2009) Freudian Mythologies: Greek tragedy and modern identities
Oxford: Oxford University Press
Nietzsche, F. (1995) The Birth of Tragedy New York: Dover
Sheldrake, P. (2001) Spaces for the Sacred: place, memory, and identity London:
SCM Press
Wolin, S. (2006) Politics and Vision: continuity and innovation in Western political
thought Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press – see the chapter on Nietzsche
(Apart from Rancière’s perspective, you may find the following a possible topic for
case study)
Bracken, L. (1997) Guy Debord: Revolutionary Venice, CA: Feral House
Coveley, M. (2006) Psychogeography Harpendon: Pocket Essentials
Debord, G. (1983) The Society of the Spectacle Detroit: Black & Red
Plant, S. (1992) The Most Radical Gesture: the Situationist International in a
postmodern age London: Routledge
Sadler, S. (1999) The Situationist City Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
10. Lecture: After the Greeks
Theme: Roman interest in classical tragedy and other forms
Principal texts referenced: selections from Seneca – Trojan Women, Eagleton –
Sweet Violence
Additional reading:
Beacham, R. (1995) The Roman Theatre and its Audience London: Routledge
Gentil, B. (1979) Theatrical Performance in the Ancient World: Hellenistic and early
Roman theatre Amsterdam: Gieben
Hughes, T. (1969 Seneca’s Oedipus London: Faber & Faber
Kahn, C. (1997) Roman Shakespeare: warriors, wounds, and women London:
Routledge
Laurence, R. (2011) The City in the Roman West, c 250BC – cAD250 Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Littlewood, C. (2003) Self-representation and Illusion in Senecan Tragedy Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Seth, B. (2000) The Argument of the Action: essays on Greek poetry and philosophy
Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Sørensen, V. (1984) Seneca: the humanist at the court of Nero London: Cannongate
Staley, G. A. (2009) Seneca and the Idea of Tragedy Oxford: Oxford University Press
Steel, C. (2005) Reading Cicero: genre and performance in late Republican Rome
London: Duckworth
Seneca (1968) The Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: essays and letters of Seneca New
York: Norton
Wiles, D. (1991) The Masks of Menander: sign and meaning in Greek and Roman
performance Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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11. Lecture: Other times, other places
Theme: selected contemporary versions of Greek tragedy
Principal texts referenced: Anouilh’s Antigone, Cocteau’s The Infernal Machine,
Gide’s Oedipus
Additional reading:
Gillespie, C. & Hardwick, L. (2007) Classics in Post-Colonial Worlds Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Hurst, I. (2006) Victorian Women Writers: the feminine of Homer Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Nuttall, A. D. (1996) Why Does Tragedy Give Pleasure? Oxford: Clarendon Press
McDonald, M. (2003) The Living Art of Greek Tragedy Bloomington: Indiana
University Press
Oberhelm, S. & Pedrick, V. (2006) The Soul of Tragedy: essays on Athenian drama
Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Riley, K. (2008) The Reception and Performance of Euripides’ Herakles: reasoning
madness Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. Lecture: The Senecan heritage
Themes Elizabethan theatre
Principal texts referenced: selections from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Webster’s
Duchess of Malfi, Marlowe’s Faust.
Additional reading:
Cain, T., Lamont, C. & Batchelor, J. eds. (1997) Shakespearian Continuities
Basingstoke: Macmillan
Helms, L. (1997) Seneca by Candlelight and Other Stories of Renaissance Drama
Philadelphia: Pennsylvania University Press
Ker, J. (2009) The Deaths of Seneca Oxford: Oxford University Press
Lucas, F. (1969) Seneca and Elizabethan Tragedy New York: Haskell House
McDonald, M. (2003) The Living Art of Greek Tragedy Bloomington: Indiana
University Press
McDonald, M. & Walton, J. M. (2002) Amid Our Troubles: Irish versions of Greek
tragedy London: Methuen
Miola, R. (1992) Shakespeare and Classical Tragedy: the influence of Seneca Oxford:
Clarendon Press
Neill, M. (1998) Issues of Death: mortality and identity in English Renaissance Tragedy
Oxford: Clarendon
Staley, G. (2009) Seneca and the Idea of Tragedy Oxford: Oxford University Press
Solga, K. (2009) Violence Against Women in Early Modern Performance Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan
Resources in addition to, or as alternatives to, your memory stick:10 | P a g e
Aeschylus- Seven Against Thebes,
http://www.theoi.com/Text/AeschylusSeven.html
http://classics.mit.edu/Aeschylus/seventhebes.html
Sophocles – Oedipus Rex and Antigone
http://www.ancient-mythology.com/greek/oedipus_rex.php
http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/oedipus.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_the_King
YouTube – 1968 film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAgvdfyAiJw
And Antigone
http://classics.mit.edu/Sophocles/antigone.html
http://www.temple.edu/classics/antigone/index.html
YouTube – part 1 of 11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGT24uYPb2Y
Euripedes – The Bachae,
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35173
https://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/euripides/euripides.htm
Seneca – Trojan Women.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/SenecaTroades.html
Link text through to the second year module: Shakespeare – Macbeth.
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/full.html
http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/playmenu.php?WorkID=macbeth
Aristotle – The Poetics
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.html
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Aristot.+Poet.+1449a
Aristotle – Rhetoric
http://rhetoric.eserver.org/aristotle/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/
Cicero
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero
http://sites.la.utexas.edu/cicero/
http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/browse-Cicero.html
A sustained argument based on his life in relation to the equilibrium theory of tragedy:
http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/5062/
Horace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/331
http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Horacehome.htm
http://www.authorama.com/works-of-horace-1.html
Quintillian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintilian
https://www.msu.edu/user/lewisbr4/980/rhetrric.html
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Quintilian/Institutio_Oratoria/3A*.html
A fairly contemporary American case
http://www.worcester.edu/Currents/Archives/Volume_1_Number_2/CurrentsV1N2BourelleP
28.pdf
An educational case: http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Quintilian.html
Aristophanes – the Clouds
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/clouds.html
Petronius – the Satyricon
http://www.igibud.com/petron/petron.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064940/
Additional context resources:These secondary texts should be understood to carry an implicit health warning. Although
they may be found helpful, they may also be confusing since they are likely to have been
developed as answers to agendas that are not our own. On Tragedy in general the Wikipedia
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entry gives a good start that is comprehensive with lots of additional links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy
YouTube - General overview of Greek tragedy – part 2 of 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmBDfl9YJY4
Aristotle on Tragedy
The version of The Poetics that has come down to us is focussed primarily on tragedy – it is
known that originally there was a matching text dealing with comedy but this has now been
lost – it featured as a discovery in the film based on Umberto Eco’s book of the same name:
The Name of the Rose. As a crash course for the first few weeks, look at the first three or
four pages of the Wikipedia entry on Aristotle’s Poetics. Apart from giving a clear, initial
summary it also introduces you to the key terms that continue to be referenced in critical
work even today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetics_(Aristotle)
An Internet PDF and other internet sources:
http://cuip.uchicago.edu/~ldernbach/msw/xhgkaristrag.pdf
http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html
http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/aristotletragedy.html
http://www.paredes.us/tragedy.html
YouTube summary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBcbM_yQWAY
Aristotle on Sophocles
http://ancienthistory.about.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1086857com/library/weekly/aa111897b.htm
Additional sample of Ancient, canonical tragedy: Sophocles
Oedipus as Colonus where the themes of balance, stability, and reconciliation are now
brought to the fore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcfBYR9ezvE
And some comments on Sophocles himself
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/sophocles/p/Sophocles.htm
http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc1.htm
http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Sophocles
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/sophocles/
An initial critique
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http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/oedipus-trilogy/critical-essays/ritualtranscendence.html
http://www.theatredatabase.com/ancient/sophocles_001.html
Freud on Oedipus – the Oedipus Complex – his most well-known psychoanalytic discovery.
(There are, however, many instances where psychoanalysts have had recourse to
Greek/Roman mythology to provide figurations for the processes which they conjecture
pattern psychic life. Another interesting line of study would be to find out about Hermes and
Jung’s extensive use of this figure to explain the journey to the unconscious, etc.)
http://www.freudpage.info/oedipus_rex.html
http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/sophocles/a/OedipusRex.htm
http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us/oedipusthewreck/complex.htm
An initial critique
http://uriel.hubpages.com/hub/Antigone-Literary-Analysis
Kitto’s book on Greek Tragedy
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BHtT6Oozv2YC&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=tra
gedy+and+utopia&ots=Duf6OOQTSM&sig=t2KDU3qW_tCiKV3wVBc5KYz5to#v=onepage&q=tragedy%20and%20utopia&f=false
On Aristotle and Greek Tragedy
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=uTesAAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA13&dq=t
ragedy&ots=_LPj_LwoC5&sig=D_yIlB0YIr38nP9-egjksQoFHU#v=onepage&q=tragedy&f=false
Stanley Cavell’s text on the subject
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tTZoEbnTyoUC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=tra
gedy&ots=8UPqeGn3ms&sig=4C1t2k3VqeZtHA-DmPZe9a7rrE#v=onepage&q=tragedy&f=false
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