Comparative Coursework
Tragedy: Ancient and Contemporary
“Tragedy”
• What does the word “tragedy” mean to you?
• What do you think the basic “ingredients” of
tragedy might be?
• On what are you basing your answers?
Etymology of “tragedy”
In Engish, late 14c., "play or other serious literary work with
an unhappy ending," from Old French tragedie (14c.), from
Latin tragedia "a tragedy," from Greek tragodia "a dramatic
poem or play in formal language and having an unhappy
resolution," apparently literally "goat song," from tragos
"goat" + oide "song".
The connection may be via satyric drama, from which tragedy
later developed, in which actors or singers were dressed in
goatskins to represent satyrs. But many other theories have
been made (including "singer who competes for a goat as a
prize"), and even the "goat" connection is at times
questioned. Meaning "any unhappy event, disaster" is from c.
1500.
Plot Summaries
• The summaries describe one play by each of the
following: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
• These are the only tragedians, some of whose
complete plays are still extant.
• Much of what we “know” about tragedy is based
on the plays the “big three” left behind.
• We also have records, in which we find
comments on other playwrights and plays, and a
number of fragments.
• Aeschylus: 525/24 (?) – 456/55
• Sophocles: 496 (?) – 406/05
• Euripides: 480 (485/84?) BCE – 407/6 BCE
• Add 1 for the century: Aeschylus, late sixth century to
early fifth; Sophocles and Euripides fifth century.
• As numbers go down, we get closer to CE (common
era; birth of Christ); the lower the number, the later in
the century we are (e.g. 496 = early 5th century; 408 =
late fifth century)
• Read the summaries
• Based on these three summaries, what would
you say some of the generic features of
classical tragedy are?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Religion
Politics
Justice
Law
War/conflict
Loyalty
Duty
Gender
Myth
Happy/sad endings?
Class
• How well do these summaries fit Aristotle’s
model?
• Aristotle: 385-322
Aristotelian Tragedy
• A genre that ends in the fall (often, but not always, the death) of the
protagonist (heroic main character).
• Protagonist should be someone of noble standing (e.g., royalty; ruling
politician), whom the audience would admire.
• The fall is caused by the protagonist’s extreme arrogance (hubris).
• Themes of violence and revenge, order and disorder
• Presents one continuous course action that is serious and complete, and
which leads to the bodily or mental purification (catharsis) of the
audience by exciting in them pity and fear
• Involves a reversal of fortune (the peripeteia).
• The peripeteia leads to a moment of recognition (anagnorisis), in which
the protagonist understands their hubris.
• Aristotle says that the language of Tragedy should be pleasurable.
• Renaissance readers of Aristotle interpreted from the Poetics three
principles (“the three unities”):
– Unity of time: Tragic action should occur over no more than a twenty-four
hour-period
– Unity of place: Tragic action should occur in a single location
– Unity of action: one main action, and therefore plot, which we follow
through the protagonist; no subplots.
HW
Print and/or download the following copy of
Aeschylus’ The Eumenides:
• http://classics.mit.edu/Aeschylus/eumendides.ht
ml
• Links and Word file posted to my wesbite:
olibelas.weebly.com
• Google “Eumenides text MIT”
• Either hardcopy or e-reader is fine, but bring a
version of the play with you.
Attic Tragedy: Historical Context
• List the themes/issues that ancient tendencies
tend to address (based on the three we have
considered in summary-form)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Religion
Politics
Justice
Law
War/conflict
Loyalty
Duty
Gender
Myth
Happy/sad endings?
Class
Incest/unnatural relations
Family
Attic Tragedy: Historical Context
• Attic = of/from Athens
• At this time, Greece is not a unified country as we know it today;
the geographical area we think of as Greece was made up of city
states
• Fifth century Greece characterized by alliances, quarrels,
battles/wars, especially by conflicts between Athens and Sparta
• Tragedy emerges in a competitive context: performed for prizes at
festivals of Dionysus
• Paula Debnar (2005: 5) suggests that there are two main categories
of tragedy:
– 1) the plays clearly refer to political events of fifth-century Athens, but
place these in a mythological past
– 2) the plays do not overtly refer to current events, but place
mythological stories/characters in the present day
• People often see the timelines of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides (collectively, 525-405/6)
as marking the birth, rise, and fall of tragedy.
• There is a temptation also to see this course of
tragedy as roughly mirroring the rise and fall of
Athens (defeated in 404)
• Problem with this: this is based on the tragedies
still extant, not all tragedies written in ancient
times
War and Politics
• The Peloponnesian Wars:
– First Peloponnesian War: 460-446 BCE
– Thirty Years’ Peace: Never complete end to
hostilities; war begins again…
– Second Peloponnesian War: 431-404 BCE
– Leaders in the wars are Sparta and Athens; wars
are over political influence/strength; economic
strength/trade; geopolitical control
– Sparta defeats Athens, 404
• During the Thirty Years’ Peace, rule of Greece was
shared between Sparta and Athens
• Sparta was the leading hoplite (land-based/foot
soldier) power
• Athens led the naval powers
• All-out war begins 431
• By 413, Athens looks set for defeat; Sophocles is
part of a council of elders appointed to govern
the city
• Athens falls to Sparta in 404
Tragedy & Democracy
• In the early fifth century (490s), Persia, ruled by King Darius,
defeated many Greek states
• Sparta and Athens resisted
• Athens continues to clash with Persia into the fifth century
• Darius introduces democracy to many Greek states
• In Athens, 462/62, a man named Ephialtes reformed the Areopagus
(the highest judicial and legal body in Athens)
• Power was taken away from the aristocratic ruling body and handed
to the people (demos)
• The transition was not easy – Ephialtes was murdered around a
year after the reforms – but by mid fifth century, democracy had
taken root.
• However, at the time of the reforms, Athens seemed as if it might
fall into civil war
Women & Tragedy
Athenian women:
• Citizens due to fathers/husbands
• Daughters of citizens could marry citizens and their sons would
have citizen status
• Were involved in religious festivals/rituals
• Few legal rights (e.g. couldn’t inherit; could be called to court, but
could not serve on juries)
• Women had fewer rights than metics (foreign residents) and some
slaves – no political rights
• Little economic independence for wealthy women; however, poorer
women may have been forced to work
• Women from wealthy families in many ways excluded from public
sphere (agora) (e.g. often didn’t do own shopping)
• Given this, women in Attic tragedy are fascinating…
• Review the summaries
• In what ways might these stories echo the
cultural scene of fifth century Athens? (You
can think either in broad themes, or in terms
of specifics)
• If you were to update one
of the stories, how would
you go about it?
• Think about where you
would set it and why?
• What position would your
characters occupy, and
why?
• Which events/issues
would you want it to
reflect/echo?
E.g. The Trojan Women
• Set in a multinational
corporation, just after a
take-over
• Who gets to keep their
job?
• Who will be
“redeployed”?
The Eumenides, by Aeschylus
• What is a
prologue?
• What is the
purpose of a
prologue?
• Why use a
prologue?
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Year 13: September 2015
•
•
•
•
Seating plan
Fill out front of exercise books
Inside front cover: AS grade; A Level target grade
Homework
– Review plot summaries of Aeschylus’ The Eumenides
and Euripides’ Orestes
– Download Euripides’ Orestes from
olibelas.weebly.com and read by Mon. 21 September
• Structure of Year 13
• In pairs, remind yourselves of the basic plot of
The Eumenides
• What is the central problem?
• What are the main arguments?
• How is the problem to be decided/solved?
• How does the drama reflect the
social/political context of ancient Greece?
Week 2: The Eumenides
2.1) Language: understanding, interpretation,
analysis
What are the main difficulties presented
by the language of the play?
- Discuss for a minute
- Note the main difficulties
The main difficulties?
• Vocabulary: unfamiliar/antiquated lexis
• Syntax/grammar/word order: Familiar and
new words arranged in “unusual” ways
• Historical/cultural references: meanings –
connotative and denotative – “hidden” by
unfamiliar “pop” culture
What can we do to tackle these difficulties?
Don’t let the text scare you
• Easy to say. However…
• It’s important to remember that understanding of most of our
words’ meanings is developed not through memorizing
dictionary-like definitions.
• Much of our linguistic understanding is normative; that is, we
obey the “rules” of use, without ever being explicitly taught
the “rules.”
• This means that when we encounter words, phrases, and
sentences for which we have no rules, they fail to mean.
• Part of the game here will be to memorize some facts about
the play – historical facts, mythical aspects, new lexical
meanings, etc.
• But part of the game will also to be developing coping
strategies.
Vocabulary
• Break the word down (are there elements that are familiar,
and which might offer clues, even if the final form of the
word is new?)
– rites
ritual
• Ask yourself if the word itself is new, or rather the
context/way in which it is being used
– E.g. the way we use the word “doom” now and the way it is
used in the play; meaning of “blood-guilty”
• Look the word up: no shame in expanding our vocabularies
– E.g. “fane” and “blazon” are relatively specialist/antiquated
words, which probably don’t have many clues for readers today
Historical/Cultural References
• Familiarize yourself with/periodically revise the historical notes
• Read the plot summaries more than once (remember, once you are
familiar with the basic story, you can be selective as to which parts of the
play you scrutinize in detail)
• Spend a little time researching the myths that have been incorporated in
the play(s): remember, the playwrights were authors of the plays, not of
the (basic) stories
• Train yourself into a certain type of attention, where you work from the
“big” picture inwards:
– Look at plot outline
– Look at historical notes
– Train yourself to be on the lookout for, e.g., references to/presentations of:
• Democratic processes
• War/conflict
• Metaphors of naval/hoplite conflict/fighting
– Ask yourself where we might find contemporary resonance (e.g. with concerns
over law and order)
Syntax/Grammar/Word Order
• This becomes easier after a little bit of slow
practice:
• “O queen Athena, first from they last words |
Will I a great solicitude remove. | Not one
blood-guilty am I”
• O queen Athena, first I will remove a great
solicitude [concern/worry/anxiety]. I am not
[one who is] blood-guilty.
Language Game
• Write some straightforward sentences as you
would speak. Construct them either as past or
future:
– Yesterday, I went to the shops.
– Tomorrow, I will go to the shops.
• Re-arrange them à la Greek tragedy.
• Look up “fancy” alternatives for your verb
and/or noun choices.
Orestes’ & Athena’s conversation
• What is the general thrust of the speeches?
• Are there any significant patterns in either
speech?
• What is the problem for Athena?
Writing: Analyzing & Summarizing
• It can be hard to analyze literary language
when we don’t have a question/title focussing
our attention.
• However, there are certain points of language
that will “jump out” at us irrespective of a
focussing title/question.
Consider the significance of the this
quotation?
ORESTES
Yea, for in her combined two stains of sin.
LEADER
How? speak this clearly to the judges' mind.
ORESTES
Slaying her husband, she did slay my sire.
We can explain the “logic” of Orestes’ claim,
and thereby offer some form of analysis:
- Agamemnon was one man with multiple roles
- He was a husband, a king, and a father
- “sire” does a double duty, reminding us of its
etymological connection to both
nobility/seniority/authority (those worthy of
respect; those who received knighthoods) and
to fathers.
Take this model and finish it off:
Orestes claims that in his mother, Clytemnestra, there are
“combined two stains of sin,” because, “[s]laying her husband,
she did slay my sire.” There is a clever logic at work here:
Agamemnon was one man with many roles – husband, father,
king – and so the implication here is that Clytemnestra may, as
it were, have killed one person, but more than one man: a
“husband” and a “sire.” But “sire” does a double duty here, as
it is etymologically linked both to fathers and fathering, and to
nobility, seniority, and authoritative figures worthy of respect.
It thus suggests that the privileged status Orestes accords
Agamemnon is linked to his status as king and his position as
father.
(116 words)
Once we have a focus/topic/question, we can extend our analyses
even further, because we then have a “so what?” to return at the end
of each paragraph/section:
Orestes claims that in his mother, Clytemnestra, there are “combined
two stains of sin,” because, “[s]laying her husband, she did slay my
sire.” There is a clever logic at work here: Agamemnon was one man
with many roles – husband, father, king – and so the implication here is
that Clytemnestra may, as it were, have killed one person, but more
than one man: a “husband” and a “sire.” But “sire” does a double duty
here, as it is etymologically linked both to fathers and fathering, and to
nobility, seniority, and authoritative figures worthy of respect. It thus
suggests that the privileged status Orestes accords Agamemnon is
linked to his status as king and his position as father. Patriarchy is
therefore doubly reinforced by Orestes’ attitude towards his dead
father, as kings are fathers and rulers of their people, just as the
paterfamilias is the father and ruler of his home. It is interesting to
note that in the trial scene, Aeschylus stages a challenge to
patriarchal rule, but only in order for its justness to be upheld.
(176 words)
• Think about the focus you might like to take,
were you to write about this play.
• Find 3-4 quotes (brief is good) that are linked,
either to each other through language patterns
(e.g. blood/“blood-guilt”) or thematically (e.g.
they tell us something about class/power/gender
etc.)
• Write them down.
• Analyze in note form.
• “Write up analysis,” using model as a guide.
But when the thirsty dust sucks up man's blood
Once shed in death, he shall arise no more.
• http://www.ancientliterature.com/greece_euripides_alcestis.html
Coursework tasks/questions
• In tragedy, “[t]he convergence between
spectacle, verbal imagery, and mythical
genealogy is such that it is often impossible to
separate them” (Saïd 2008). Discuss.
• Antigone (film):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bSnnuf
Ox80&list=PLjAYlUiAhOZ5xJhxtxojqCKFnZs5lzCh
• http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/staff/resourc
es/background/bg18/home.html