Antigone and
Greek Drama
Notes
Greek Drama
Greek drama --honors
Dionysos, the god of
wine and fertility.
 Thespis (thespians)
transformed hymns sung
to gods into songs that
told the story of a
famous hero.
 Based on myths.

Types of Greek Plays
Tragedies were serious
treatments of religious
and mythic questions.
 Satyr plays (named for
wood demons) were
comic and even unruly
treatments of the same
themes.

The Theater
The theater was a semicircular (like football
stadium).
 Actors amplified voices
through mouthpieces in
their masks.

Greek Theater (cont.)
All actors men, and
the choruses were
well-trained boys.
 By switching masks,
each actor could play
several roles.

Sophocles
Sophocles -- generally
considered the best of
the ancient Greek
playwrights.
 His plays always contain
a moral lesson, usually a
caution against pride
and religious
indifference.

Sophocles’ Innovations
Sophocles added a
third actor to the
original two.
 He introduced
painted sets.
 He expanded the
size of the chorus to
fifteen.

Sophocles’ “Theban” Plays

These three plays tell
the story of Oedipus
of Thebes and his
family.
 Oedipus the King
 Oedipus at
Colonus
 Antigone
Antigone Background
Since Greek audiences knew
the story, suspense came
from their knowledge of
things the characters did not
know: dramatic irony.
 The audience pitied these
characters.

Oedipus Myth

See handout.
Theme of Antigone
Conflict in Antigone—individual
conscience at odds with established
authority—is eternally relevant.
 When we know that those in power are
morally wrong, do we break their laws,
or do we collaborate with them by
obeying?

Tragedy


According to Aristotle, tragedy
arouses pity and fear in the
audience so that we may be
cleansed of these unsettling
emotions.
This idea is known as
catharsis, a pleasurable sense
of emotional release.
Tragic Hero
This character is not completely
good or bad.
 His/her misfortune is brought
about by some error or frailty,
which is the tragic flaw (hamartia)
 The flaw is often hubris:
arrogance caused by excessive
pride.

Tragic Hero (cont.)
The hero’s fall
must be from a
tremendous height.
 Because of the
tragic flaw, the
hero is responsible
on some level for
his or her downfall.

Tragic Hero (cont.)
The hero comes to
recognize his error
and accept the
consequences.
 He is not angry; he
is humbled and
enlightened.

Tragic Hero (cont.)
The audience, though,
feels that the hero’s
punishment exceeds
his crime.
 We see that the hero
is flawed like us, and
fear for ourselves
because he failed.

Greek Theater Format




Plays opened with a Prologue that
presented the background to situate
the conflict.
The entering chorus sang a parodos,
or opening song.
The chorus’s song, an ode, divided
scenes and served the same
purpose as a curtain does.
Chorus also provides summary or
commentary and sets the mood.
The Chorus


During the odes, a
leader, called the
choragos, might
exchange thoughts with
the group in a dialogue.
During that recital, the
group would rotate left to
right, singing the strophe.
The Chorus (cont.)
The chorus would move
the opposite direction
during the antistrophe.
 At the end, there was a
paean (song of thanks to
Dionysos) and an exodos
(final exiting scene).
