Greek Philosophies
Greek Theatre
Tragedy and Comedy
Structure of Greek Drama
FOUR PHILOSOPHIES OF GREEK LIFE
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Moderation—one should never take anything to excess,
including feelings.
 Fate—belief in pre-destination.
 Divine Intervention— the gods play an active role in the
outcome of actions. They will help or hurt you in life.
 Hospitality—always be polite as a host or guest. A guest’s
first allegiance is to one’s host.
TAKE ME OUT TO THE… THEATER
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6th Century B.C.
 Plays based on religion and myths
were performed by a Chorus, a
group of actors who would tell the
stories
5th Century B.C.
 Thespis introduced the use of a
single actor on stage
 Drama, from the Greek word
doing, rather than telling
Greek theaters are among
the most spectacular
 Four greatest writers
buildings that survive from
Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.)
ancient times
Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)
In cities, such as Athens,
Euripides (480-406 B.C.)
people flocked to the
Aristophanes (448-385 B.C.)
drama competitions
 Favorite Subjects: Trojan War,
Performed during the
Oedipus, Odysseus, Achilles,
spring festival of
Agamemnon, and the Greek gods
Dionysus, the god of wine
and goddesses
and fertility
TRAGEDY VS. COMEDY
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Tragedy—A play in which the main character is brought to
ruin or suffers a great sorrow.
In Greek Tragedy, the main character is a person of dignified
or heroic stature.
He or she may be a victim of outside forces (fate or divine
intervention) but usually a characters downfall is partly
caused by hamartia, a flaw or error in judgment, often called
the tragic flaw.
According to Greek philosopher Aristotle, the purpose of
tragedy is catharsis which is a purifying or figurative
cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, as an effect
of tragic drama on its audience.
ELEMENTS OF GREEK DRAMA (PART 1)
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En Medias Res—the story begins at the
middle of the plot, and the exposition is
told through flashback .
Chorus— provided background
information; gave advice to the characters;
voice of reason; comic relief;
foreshadowing; pointed out beauty/poetry
of language; echoed the themes of the play.
Characterization —the methods a writer
uses to develop the personality of the
character.
 Direct characterization is stated by the
author.
 Indirect characterization requires the
audience make an inference based on
the character’s appearance, words,
thoughts, actions and comments by
other characters.
ELEMENTS OF GREEK DRAMA (PART 2)
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Idiom—a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is
different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words.
 Oedipus accuses Creon of planning to “Stab him in the back”
Hamartia—a character’s tragic flaw, which is an important element of
tragedy.
Hubris—excessive pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of
contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence,
accomplishments or capabilities, especially when the person is in a
position of power.
Flashback—an interruption in the plot of a literary work to relate a
scene from an earlier time. Sophocles uses this technique to give the
audience background information which is important since the play is
told in media res.
Foreshadowing—The clues used by the author to prepare the audience
for that will happen later in the plot, or reveal details about the outcome
of the main character’s fate. This helps to create suspense.
ELEMENTS OF
GREEK DRAMA (PART 3)
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Deus Ex Machina—”God out of machine.” it was a
crane that allowed god to appear out of nowhere.
These flying actors played gods who appeared to
resolve the conflict in the play.
Epithet—A descriptive word or phrase
accompanying or occurring in place of a name and
having entered common usage. It can be described
as a glorified nickname.
Dramatic Irony— when the audience or a
character knows something that the main character
is unaware.
Revelation—prior to the climax of the plot,
information is revealed that leads to the tragic
hero’s demise.
Symbolism—when an object or idea represents
something else. In Oedipus blindness represents
inner vision.
Personification—assigning human traits to nonhuman things. Oedipus says “O triple roads… all
once more”
THEMES OF OEDIPUS REX
 The
consequences of seeking information
 The
power of words and language
 Corruption
 Blindness
of the nation or individual
to the truth
 Fate
versus free will
 The
Rule of 3