Greek
Tragedy
Important Points to Remember
Four Qualities of Greek Drama:
1. Greek dramas were performed for special occasions--particularly
religious festivals.
Athens had four festivals worshipping Dionysus, known as
Bacchus by the Romans, who was the god of wine, fertility, and rebirth.
Four Qualities of Greek Drama:
1. Greek dramas were performed for special occasions--particularly
religious festivals.
Athens had four festivals worshipping Dionysus, known as
Bacchus by the Romans, who was the god of wine, fertility, and rebirth.
2. Greek dramas were competitive, and there were prizes awarded to the
winning playwright. Ironically, Sophocles’ Oedipus, the play that
Aristotle identified as the perfect example of a tragedy, apparently didn't
win in 430 BC. It came in 2nd.
3. Greek plays were choral. A chorus of men, varying in number from
three to fifty, sang in interaction with the actors, who were known as
thespians.
4. Greek plays were closely associated with religion, and thus were
based on myth or history.
Structure of Greek Tragedy:
1.
2.
Late point of attack
Violence and death offstage
3.
4.
5.
Frequent use of messengers to relate information
Usually continuous time of action
Usually single place
6.
Stories based on myth or history, but varied
interpretations of events
Focus is on psychological and ethical attributes of
characters, rather than physical and sociological.
7.
Sections of Greek Tragedy:
*
Prologue, which describes the situation and sets the
scene (exposition)
*
Parados, an ode sung by the chorus as it makes its
entrance
*
Five dramatic scenes (episodes), each followed by
choral odes, an exchange of laments by the chorus and
the protagonist
*
Exodus, the climax and conclusion
Functions of the Chorus:
1.
an agent: gives advice, asks, takes part
2.
establishes ethical framework, sets up standard by which
action will be judged
3.
4.
ideal spectator - reacts as playwright hopes audience
would
sets mood and heightens dramatic effects
5.
adds movement, spectacle, song, and dance
6.
rhythmical function - pauses / paces the action so that
the audience can reflect.
The
Theban
Trilogy
Laius and Jocasta were king and
queen of Thebes, a town in Greece.
One day, they had a baby boy.
An oracle prophesied that the
boy would grow up and kill his father
and marry his mother.
To thwart the prophecy, Laius
and Jocasta decided to kill their
baby. In those days, it was usual to
leave an unwanted or defective
baby in the wilderness. Laius and
Jocasta did this. To be extra-sure,
they pierced his little feet and tied
them together.
A kindly shepherd found
the baby. He gave the baby to
a friend, who took it to Corinth,
another town. (Corinth
reappears in the New
Testament.) The king and
queen of Corinth couldn't have
a baby of their own. So they
adopted the foundling.
Nobody ever told little Oedipus that his
mother was never pregnant. One day, after
he had grown up, a drunk mentioned his
being adopted. Oedipus questioned his
parents, but they denied it.
Oedipus visited various oracles to find out
whether he was really adopted. All the
oracles told him instead that he would kill his
father and marry his mother.
To thwart the oracles, Oedipus left
Corinth permanently. (Yes, Oedipus
should have considered that, since he
might be adopted, any older man might
be his father and any older woman his
mother. But this is a folk tale.)
Traveling the roads, Oedipus got into a traffic
squabble at a place where three roads meet.
In one version, there was a dispute over rightof-way on a bridge.
In those days, high rank got to go first,
Oedipus identified himself as heir to the
throne of Corinth, and for some reason
(again, don't worry about it) Laius's people
simply attacked instead of explaining that he
was king of Thebes. Some versions say that
the rude Laius drove over Oedipus's sore
foot, making him lose his temper.
Some versions say that the rude Laius drove
over Oedipus's sore foot, making him lose his
temper. Anyway, he killed a stranger who
(unknown to him) -- and who, of course, was
King Laius.
In this folk-tale
within a folk-tale,
Oedipus solved
the Riddle of the
Sphinx.
"What animal
has four legs in
the morning, two
legs at noon,
and three legs in
the evening?"
Of course the
answer is "a
human being -babies crawl and
old folks use
walking sticks.")
Because Oedipus was the new hero,
he was made king.
Oedipus married Laius's widow,
Queen Jocasta. He ruled well, and
they had four children.