EQ: How can I gain insight into Greek tragedy and such
concepts as fate, hubris, and dramatic irony / How does
Greek drama compare to our modern theater?
 A story written to be performed by actors. Like a short
story or novel, a drama focuses on characters in
conflict.
 However, unlike fiction, a drama presents its action
through dialogue, the conversation and speeches of
the characters.
 The origins of Greek drama are thought to have
developed out of a form of religious, ritual worship
 Thespis (from whose name comes the term ‘thespian’) is
supposed to be the man responsible in giving the first
speaking role to someone.
 The plot is the ordered sequence of events that make up
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the play. A play is often divided into larger units, called
acts, which are then divided into smaller units called
scenes.
These divisions were unknown to the Greeks and Romans,
but beginning in Elizabethan Era, these division were
formed.
The characters are people who participate in the action of
the play and are portrayed onstage by actors.
Dialogue is the conversation and speeches of the character
Stage directions are notes included in the play to describe
the sets, costumes, lighting, scenery, sound effects, and
props. These indicate where a scene takes place, how it
should look and sound, and two the actors should move
and deliver their lines.
 A tragedy is a play that shows the downfall or death of
the main character, or tragic hero. In ancient Greek
tragedy, the hero is always a noble or outstanding
person, such as the title character in Sophocles’
Oedipus the King. The word "tragedy" comes from the
Greek "tragoida," meaning "goat song," the song that
accompanied sacrifices to the gods
 The tragic hero’s downfall is caused by a tragic flaw: a
mistake or unwise decision. Sometimes, this is the
result of an innate character weakness, such as
excessive pride, called hubris. However, the error may
instead result in ignorance.
Dramatic conventions are literary devices that break the
illusion of reality. In practice called the suspension of
disbelief, the audience agrees to accept these conventions
while watching-or reading- a play.
 Soliloquy- a speech in which a character is along on stage
revealing private thoughts and feelings to the audience
(understood that the characters on stage do not hear)
 Aside- a brief remark delivered by a character to express
private thoughts while other characters are on stage
(understood that the characters on stage do not hear)
 Monologue – speech presented by a single character often
to express thoughts aloud to other characters/audience
 The transition from one scene or act to another might
involve a considerable passage of time in the plot.
 A prologue presents the background and describes the
conflict
 Then, the chorus, or group of dancers, enters and sings
a parodos, or opening song
 Choral songs, called odes, separate scenes. The odes
are divided into alternating parts called strophe and
antistrophe.
 Unlike the actors, non-professionals who had a talent for
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singing and dancing and were trained by the poet in
preparation for the performance.
Standard number of members of a chorus was twelve but
was raised to fifteen by Sophocles.
The chorus, like the actors, wore costumes and masks.
The first function of a tragic chorus was to chant an
entrance song called a parodos as they marched into the
orchestra.
Once the chorus had taken its position in the orchestra, its
duties were twofold. It engaged in dialogue with characters
through its leader, the Coryphaeus, who alone spoke the
lines of dialogue assigned to the chorus.
The tragic chorus's most important function was to sing
and dance choral songs called stasima (singular =
stasimon).
 The unity of action: a play should have one main
action that it follows, with no or few subplots.
 The unity of place: a play should cover a single physical
space and should not attempt to compress geography,
nor should the stage represent more than one place.
 The unity of time: the action in a play should take
place over no more than 24 hours.
 The quest for identity
 The nature of innocence and guilt
 The nature of moral responsibility
 Human will versus fate
 The abuse of power
Tragedies:
 Aeschylus- 525-456 B.C.- 80 plays, 7 extant
 Euripides- 480-406 B.C.- 90 plays, 19 extant
 Sophocles- 495-406 B.C.- 100 plus plays, 7 extant (won
24 awards)
 Emphasis on individual characters
 Complex characters, psychologically well-motivated
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characters subjected to crisis leading to suffering and
self-recognition - including a higher law above man
Exposition carefully motivated
Scenes suspenseful climactic
Action clear and logical
Poetry clear and beautiful
Few elaborate visual effects
Theme emphasized: the choices of people
A riddle….
“What goes on 4 legs in the morning, 2 at midday, and 3 in
the evening?”
 The 3 plays are about King Oedipus of Thebes and his
family.
 These were not written to be performed at a single
festival.
 Instead, he composed them over a 36-year period—
beginning with Antigone, which is the 3rd and last part
of the story.
 “Oedipus Rex: The Height of Greek Tragedy”
 King Laius of Thebes learned from an oracle that he
was destined to have a song who would kill his own
father and marry his mother. When the king’s wife,
Jocasta, had a son, Laius pinned the baby’s feet
together and ordered a servant to leave him on a
mountain to die.
 Instead, the servant gave the baby to a shepherd, who
have him to the king and queen of Corinth. They
named the child Oedipus (“swollen food”) because of
his wounded feet.
 The oracle : as a young man, Oedipus learned from the
oracle at Delphi that he was fated to kill his father and
marry his mother. Horrified, he fled Corinth to avoid
fulfilling the prophecy. During his travels, he
encounters a chariot that tries to run him over.
Enraged, he kills the man and the passenger and
continues on his way.
 The riddle of the sphinx- Oedipus arrived outside Thebes,
where a monster called The Sphinx was terrorizing the city.
The sphinx had a woman’s head, lion’s body, serpent’s tail,
and eagle’s wings. She refused to let travelers enter the city
unless they could answer her riddle: “What goes on 4 legs
in the morning, 2 at midday, and 3 in the evening?” No one
had solved her riddle, and she had eaten those who failed.
 When the Thebans learned King Laius had been killed,
they had no time to find his murder. The propriety was the
sphinx. The Queen’s brother offered her hand in marriage
to whoever could solve the riddle. Oedipus encounters the
sphinx and gives the correct answer: “Man, who crawls in
infancy, walks upright in his prime, and leans on a cane in
old age.” In reward, he marries the Queen, becoming the
new King.
 A new prophecy: Oedipus had ruled Thebes for almost
20 years when the city was struck with a plague.
Sophocles began his tragedy when Oedipus consults
the oracle and learns that the plague will not end until
Laius’ murderer is exiled from the city.
 This play takes place after the death of Oedipus and
dramatizes a fateful struggle between Oedipus’s
daughter Antigone and his successor as the ruler of
Thebes, King Creon.
 This play explores the timeless conflict: the clash
between individual conscience and established
authority, or the law of the state.
 This covers the middle part of the story—the death
and redemption of Oedipus in exile and old age.
 This play was written when the playwright was 90
years old, but it does not reflect any decline in
Sophocles’ poetic powers.
 The play maintains a tight dramatic framework.
 All the action takes place in a single location and
involves a small number of characters interacting with
the central figure Oedipus who remains on stage for
nearly the entire play.
 The chorus, which serves as a nameless onlooker and
represents the gives voice to the audience’s questions
and beliefs, is used as a collective “actor” within the
drama.
 Prologue: opening scene
 Parodos: the first of the Chorus’s lyric songs or choral
odes
 A regular alternation of scenes in dialogue and choral
odes, and finally the exodos (concluding scene.)
 Strophe Antistrophe
 Although the words are powerful, it is what is left
unsaid that is often more powerful.
 Practically every line contains a possible double
meaning or ambiguity
 This verbal irony serves to reinforce the dramatic irony
of the play, as the main character and even the chorus
only gradually come to grips with what is evident to
the audience at the very start.
 It is the razor-sharp irony is the element that
spellbinds audience.
 Synecdoche
 Metaphor
 Simile
 Antithesis
 Rhyming couplet
 Mythological allusions
 Promulgation
 Interdict
 Hephaestus
 Ares
 Zeus
 Do you know of other films where the plot revolves
around good intentions leading to catastrophe or
around actions resulting in unexpected outcome?
 Consider The Lord of the Rings trilogy; think of the
characters and how they act in avoidable ignorance or
consider the extent to which no human being can
make a better decision, given the information
available.
Examine the painting. How does the artist choose to create dramatic effects? For
instance, not the nuances of light and shadow, mood, composition of the
figures, and illusion of depth. Compare the Caravaggio with the Gentileschi.
What are both artists doing with color and light? Similarities? Differences?
-Describe and explain the significance of at least 3 examples-
 Select a specific scene (from Oedipus)
 Note the action in the scene
 Examine the ways that the dialogue “depicts” the
action
 Write an informational/explanatory essay in response
to the following prompt: How does the dialogue in the
scene that you selected contribute to the visual
representation of the action and, by extension, to the
plays theme?
EQ: What are the characteristics of the Greek tragic hero and
how can this understanding help me to better understand the
tragedy of Antigone?
 1. POSITION. The hero is royal or noble with great power,
usually a king. He is a good, respected man who acts out of good
intentions. He has much to lose.
 2. TRAGIC FLAW (hamartia). In spite of his good intentions,
the hero makes a tragic error which causes his reversal. The
error usually stems from a character flaw, usually pride.
 3. REVERSAL (catastrophe). Because of his tragic error, the
hero suffers a downfall from his happy, envied position to
suffering and misery.
 4. RECOGNITION (catharsis). The hero realizes that his own
flaw or error has caused his reversal. This recognition always
occurs too late for the hero to prevent or escape his reversal.