Αρχαίου Ελληνικού Δράματος
Αρχαίου Ελληνικού Δράματος
Ancient Greek literature slowly developed through
religious rites back in 1200 BC. At that period of time
Greece habited many tribes, of which a cult who lived in
the area of Thrace stimulated the development of theatre
drama. This cult worshiped a god by the name of Dionysus,
who was the god of fertility and procreation. The cult
practiced ritual celebrations which included alcoholic
intoxications and human and animal sacrifices. Other
rituals consisted of emotional portrayals which created
different mental states. The Greeks found this ritual
symbolic as they believed that it created catharsis.
Catharsis is a purifying or figurative cleansing of the
emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as
an effect of tragic drama on its audience. Hence people
would come to see theatre as a way of releasing emotional
release or purification.
During the next six centuries this tribe spread further in Greece,
which allowed its rituals to be further witnessed and appreciated
by many other people. This spread of the Dionysus culture
provoked the cult’s rites to become mainstream and symbolic.
It is also known that the dithyramb which was a ‘choric hymn’, also
had a major role in the rituals of this cult. It was first only a
religious ceremony, performed by a leader, a band and dancers
(some mythological half human and half goats). Shortly before
500BC, the Dithyramb became a great part of the many festivities
and competitions that occurred in Greece and soon after a
generation it attracted many poets into its art and form. It hence
became an opportunity for people to present their poetic skills,
and this slowly created epic poetry through which stories were
told. They were also inspired by Greek mythology and the
dithyramb slowly evolved into stories in play form – hence creating
drama.
TRAGEDY
COMEDY
Tragedy was initially formed in Athens during the 4th to 5th century. This was due to the development of radical
ideas. In the previous centuries, the Greek were controlled by their religion in how they should think and
behave. On the other hand in the 4th and 5th century new and different ideas were formed such as democracy,
philosophy, science, mathematics and art. This period of time gave recognition to major philosophers such as
Aristotle and Plato, with also other mathematicians and historians. There was therefore a huge growth in the
way people thought especially after years of religion overpowering them. At this moment of time people hence
started to question how nature actually worked and it was these tragedies which enabled playwrights to answer
these questions.
Here are some
examples of the
questions that
many people
asked
themselves:
Oedipus Rex –
the arrogance
of not
accepting
ones destiny.
The Dithyramb had developed into new forms between 600
and 500 BC, of which Tragedy was significant due to its effect
and the many strategies behind its existence. This is due to the
fact that tragedies were produced to teach religious lessons
and to hence portray to its audience the right and wrong paths
to life. It is also not true that Tragedies were plays with a bad
ending but were viewed as a form of ritual purification and
therefore created catharsis.
Usually, tragedies depicted the life journeys of people who
happened to be on collision courses with society due to
themselves or even fate. The tragic protagonist usually refused
to comply to fate and hence opposed to believing that their
lives were destined to consist of the opportunities and
circumstances that fate had in line for them. These people
were portrayed to have a main fault by the name of hubris (a
greek and english word meaning false or overweening
arrogance).
Oedipus Rex – the arrogance of not accepting ones destiny.
Agamemnon – the arrogance for assuming the right to kill.
This therefore provoked the audience to believe that they the
protagonist's collision with society was ultimately inevitable.
DID YOU KNOW:
That Hubris
means – a false or
overwhelming
arrogance.
Agamemnon – the
arrogance for
assuming the right to
kill.
1.Prologue, which described the
situation and set the scene
2. Parados, an ode sung by the chorus as
it made its entrance
3. Five dramatic scenes, each followed by
a Komos, an exchange of laments by
the chorus and the protagonist
4. Exodus, the climax and conclusion
Before 484 BC, drama was seen to consist of a
trilogy of dithyrambs and a satyr play, which was
presented in a more choral attire rather than the
dramatic effects that drama’s now consist of.
However, in 484 BC the playwright Aeschylus
changed the dithyramb into drama by
introducing an antagonist (second actor), props
and scenery. Being a tragic playwright,
Aeschylus’ plays were based on the idea of
hubris which had many effects on the audience.
For instance, through these many centuries,
historians and dramatists, psychologists and
crime writers all claim that Aeschylus like any
other tragic playwright tried to portray the fact
that the cause of evil and suffering is usually due
to human arrogance; hubris. Themes of patricide
and matricide were also the key reasons to
unpleasant situations such as the parting of a
family, which could be witnessed in the work of
Aeschylus. Aeschylus died in during the
beginning of the Periclean age, in 456 BC , during
which playwrights such as Sophocles started to
write some of the world’s most successful and
recommendable plays.
Euripides’ plays were not
about Gods or royal people,
but were about real people.
He portrayed peasants along
princes and gave them equal
feelings. He also showed the
realities of war and criticised
religion.
Sophocles was one of the most influential writers of
Ancient Greece. He comes from a wealthy family and
grew up in a small village called Colonus Hippius. The
village, Colonus, later became a setting for Sophocles
plays, and he used this setting to sometimes inspire his
plays. He was the most awarded writer in the dramatic
competitions of ancient Athens.
According to ‘The Oxford Companion to English Literature’
Sophocles “Sophocles has not the epic grandeur of
Aeschylus or Euripidies radical fire, but he is excellent at
drawing character and evoking pathos.”
He did many innovative things in his plays, traditionally a play at that time
had twelve members in the chorus but Sophocles gave the chorus more depth
and added three more members, to make it a total of fifteen in the chorus. He
also introduced a third character or actor to the performance. Alongside his
adaptions to the number of performers, he also put emphasis on drama
between humans rather than between humans and gods. Moreover, his
contribution also included the fact that he gave full detail to the dialogue in
his plays in comparison to the choral parts and he insured that scenery was
carefully painted and properly arranged. Sophocles’ language was also known
to be quite harsh and involved but grand and majestic. His way of writing
therefore contrasted to the phraseology of Aeschylus and the common diction
of Euripides.
Sophocles' Oedipus Rex is probably the
most famous tragedy ever written. He
introduced the play in Athens around 430
B.C. at the Great Dionysia which was a
religious and cultural festival held in
honour of the god Dionysus, and he won
second prize.
Sophocles lived and worked in a time
where culture was given great
significance, not only in the history of
Athens but also in the sense of western
democratic culture. During Sophocles' life,
a culture based on the strength of
language and writing were important
features in Athens, it was known as the
Golden Age of Athens.
THE LANGUAGE OF SOPHOCLES
•Greek diction is considered to be catergorised in three parts:
1) The “austere style” which is rough and archaic
2) The “flowery style” which has a soft and flowing attractiveness.
3) “Middle style” which is the in between, combining smoothness with power and grace and dignity.”
It is considered that Sophocles’ language is “Middle style” and it has once been said that “Indeed, there is no Greek
poet whose works exhibit in greater perfection the peculiar characteristics of the "middle style" -- the
combination of supreme beauty of form with masculine strength and energy. The pre-eminence of Sophocles in
these two points was universally recognized by the ancients”.
•
Sophocles language was also described by Aristophanes to be so sweet and he hence named Sophocles as “The
Bee” as he said that his lips were “smeared with honey”.
•
“The various images, metaphors, epithets, and circumlocutions, in which the older poet luxuriated, are introduced
by him only with a very sparing hand.”
Tragedy is the “imitation
of an action” according
to “the law of probability
or necessity.”
In short Aristotle considers the plot to be the soul of a
tragedy, with character in second place. The goal of
tragedy is not suffering but the knowledge that issues
from it, as the denouement issues from a plot.
"Most important of all," Aristotle says,
"is the structure of the incidents. For
tragedy is an imitation not of men but
of an action and of life, and life
consists in action, and its end is a
mode of action, not a quality . . . ." .
Aristotle indicates that the medium of tragedy is drama, not narrative; tragedy “shows” rather than
“tells.” According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history because history
simply relates what has happened while tragedy dramatizes what may happen, “what is possibile
according to the law of probability or necessity.” History thus deals with the particular, and tragedy
with the universal. Events that have happened may be due to accident or coincidence; they may be
particular to a specific situation and not be part of a clear cause-and-effect chain. Therefore they have
little relevance for others. Tragedy, however, is rooted in the fundamental order of the universe; it
creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at any time or place because that
is the way the world operates. Tragedy therefore arouses not only pity but also fear, because the
audience can envision themselves within this cause-and-effect chain.