Odd one out?
Volunteering = great grades!
Some comments now, rest read privately.
Who will type up from the test:
– questions about texts 10 Oed and Lear?
– comments about characters? :
• Lear 2, 3, 4 / 5+6
• Oedipus 4, 5
– theme and imagery stuff 7, 8 (Oed and Lear)?
– sim/diffs Oed 9?
– Best definitions and info from Oed 3 and 6?
LO: We are learning how to notice and
discuss the dramatic structure and purpose
of tragedy, in the context of Ancient Greek
theatre.
SC: be able to list elements of tragedy and
those in Oedipus, give an opinion about the
purpose of those elements in affecting the
audience in Oedipus.
Tragedy!
• In teams, make a list - what do you need
in a drama to call it tragedy?
• What’s it for?
• How does Oedipus fit this?
Concepts change over time – Tragedy?
Ancient Greece
Aristotle’s Poetics
Protagonist’s disastrous
acts
Bad judgement (hamartia)
Pride v Gods = hubris
Prot recog hub + ham
= anagnorisis
Latin Drama
Middle Ages
e.g. Seneca
Simplified + Christianity
Parades of horror
Noble man falling from
high glory
Classical gods Roman
God punishes wicked and
rewards good
Wheel of fortune
Focus on duty
Limited plot, place and
time = unities.
Political
Calamitous outcome =
catastrophe
Rhetorical style
+ Audience emotional
response = catharsis
Princes trusting earthly
power = punished by G
Rennaissance
Romantic
change + contradictions
Not just royal prot =
political
Sub-genre revenge
Display and horror from
Latin drama
Christian morals –
Protestant – indiv relat.
with God
But often set in pagan
times
Wheel of fortune
But man is individual own power and
responsibility
Now
global/nihilism/conflict
Germans e.g. Goethe
– world of imagination
frees us from binds of
society + hierarchies
of religion and power.
Prot = sensitive individ
striving for self-expres
World does not recog
validity of personal
feeling and vision
Early 20th C “tragic flaw”
– character criticism and
start of psychology (A.C.
Bradley)
Later 20th/21st C “tragedy
of the common man”.
Life is pointless (nihilism)
– godless (secular)?
Capitalism, social class,
global politics
Sensibility not royal
blood makes you a
tragic prot
Man destroying the world.
Romantic re-interps of
Shakes
Global politics.
Faust/Hedda Gabler etc
Tragedy of failing to act.
Public figures making
private mistakes?
Tragedy Homework
Everyone find one example of a tragic
story/hero from a different author (not s or WS)
for each period and bullet point tragic elements
that fit the concept of tragedy in that period.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ancient Greek drama (e.g. Euripides)
Rennaisance drama (e.g. Marlow)
Modern drama (e.g. Samuel Beckett)
Real life – Tiger Woods? Wayne Rooney?
Extensions: Can have extra from same
playwright (Sophocles or Shakespeare) but
EQ to reflect on/for Fri 24th
“Although Classical Tragedy causes
catharsis in the audience, it nevertheless
keeps us at a distance from the
protagonist’s real suffering.”
Discuss this statement with reference to
King Lear, in the light of your reading of
Oedipus.
Once upon a
long, long, time
ago…
…in a land
actually not that
far away…
…the birthplace
of democracy and
cheap holidays…
And theatre as
we know it…
Someone famous
was about to put
their foot in it…
Dramatic Structure – function of sections?
Prologos (sets out problem) Priest + O, +C.
Parados Chorus enter + STAY ON STAGE
Episode 1 (Act) scenes 1 O+CH, 2 O+T
[+ CH]
Stasimon 1 (Choric Ode) hunted +hidden?
Episode 2 sc 1 C+CH, 2 O+C, 3 J+O.
[+ CH]
Stasimon 2 CH to Z law, pride, godly help?
Episode 3 sc 1 J + Gs, 2 MC + C, 3 O+J
[+ CH]
Stasimon 3 CH Short - Yay, find out tom! Ta!
Episode 4 one scene only - SH+M+O
[+ CH]
Stasimon 4 CH lament – happiness to misery.
Episode 5 sc 1 MR, 2 O-Is!, C+O, C+O+kids [+ CH]
Exodos – final CH speech (lessons) and exit.
Who, what, where, when, how, why?
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=TRAGI
C+MASKS&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
Let’s Perform
So, to perform our tragic drama, we need:
• An audience
• A round stage with platform at the front
• Professional main character actors
• Large masks so we can tell which one they are
• A chorus of amateurs
• Chorus masks, so they don’t just look like mates
• Costumes for everyone
• Tissues, wine, comedy to pick us up afterwards..
LO: We are learning how to notice and
discuss the dramatic structure and purpose
of tragedy, in the context of Ancient Greek
theatre.
SC: be able to list elements of tragedy and
those in Oedipus, give an opinion about the
purpose of those elements in affecting the
audience in Oedipus.