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Greek Drama
The essentials to understanding
and appreciating Oedipus the
King.
Ceremonious
• Humans have always been ceremonious
creatures.
• What ceremonies do we have in modern
life?
• It is all drama, all a play that resonates
with us.
Ancient Greeks
• Polytheistic
• Dionysus – god of wine and vegetation.
Every year the Greeks celebrated him by
dressing in goat skins (like satyrs) and
dancing.
• in poetic language they would tell of the
god’s triumphs or sufferings.
• A choral hymn called a dithyramb was
sung.
Dithyramb
• a wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of
writing
• (ancient Greece) a passionate hymn
(usually in honor of Dionysus)
• According to Aristotle, the dithyramb was
the origin of the Ancient Greek theatre
This celebration evolved
• A permanent theatre was needed.
• “The famous theatre of Dionysus in Athens
was begun about 500 B.C.”
It was built at the foot of the Acropolis – center of Greek Culture and near the
Current temple of Dionysus.
The orchestra
• This is also called the dancing floor.
• In it, the chorus (you will meet them in the
book), a group of 10-15 people, sang and
danced.
• In the center of the orchestra, there is an
altar to the god where a flute player stood.
Strophe /Anti-Strophe
• This is the chorus moving across the stage
as they establish the plot.
• Strophe means they are going from right
to left
• Anti- Strophe is they are going from left to
Right.
• Listen to what they say! They are laying
the ground work for the action.
Seating
• It was like a large half of a football
stadium.
• The people sat in tiers around the stage.
• They were built into hillsides, so one seat
was above another.
Magical Acoustic Properties
• Even a matchstick dropping on stage
could be heard by all 20,000 viewers.
• All Greek people went to the theatre – the
Greek state paid for poor people to attend.
• The sound was a problem for one Greek
theatre in a wooded setting. All the
audience could hear were crickets who
were on the stage and chirping.
The Plays and players
• Actors wore platform shoes to appear
taller.
• Only males acted, no females.
• The Chorus wore colorful, draped
costumes.
• Broad gestures to emphasize speeches.
• Facial masks were used to indicate strong
emotion.
The plays
• Tragedy! Three plays together as a
tragedy, and then a fourth play which was
a comedy in praise of the god Dionysus.
• Oedipus the King is the first in a series of
three and contains a classic Tragic Figure.
Qualities of a Greek Tragic Hero
• The protagonist of the play.
• Of noble birth or hold an important social
position
• Virtuous
• Desires to do good deeds
• He seems better than the other
characters, but FATE interrupts his ability
to be good.
Greeks
• Learning from others’ mistakes is an
important part of Greek tragedy.
Aspects of a Greek Tragedy
• crisis of feeling - painful or harmful experience
that may upset or depress the audience.
• catharsis/purgation - the audience cleanses
their emotions. For example, they may feel
uplifted and/or get a new sense of spiritual
understanding or tragic pleasure.
Watch for these…
• reversal/peripeteia - the hero/heroine
goes through a significant change in
fortune for the worse. Reversal may
happen after a discovery (anagnorisis,)or
a recognition of something previously not
known to the hero/heroine.
ANAGNORISIS
• Anagnorisis is a moment in a play or other work when a
character makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis
originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only
of a person but also of what that person stood for. It was
the hero's sudden awareness of a real situation, the
realization of things as they stood, and finally, the hero's
insight into a relationship with an often antagonistic
character.
Catastrophe
• In a complex catastrophe, the main character undergoes
a change of fortune, sometimes by means of a
discovery, and sometimes without. The qualifications of
this change are that it be probable and necessary: in
order to be probable, it must be the natural result or
effect of the foregoing actions, i.e. it must spring from the
subject itself, or take its rise from the incidents, and not
be introduced merely to serve a turn.
Role of Harmartia
• Remember our Hubris study?
• Remember what Harmartia is?
• Look for it in Oedipus!
Imagery
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Sickness and pollution
The ship of state
Blindness vs. sight
Light vs. Darkness
The Tragedy of Oedipus
• Oedipus – poor guy.
• When his biological father (Laius) and
mother (Jocasta) ask the Oracle at Delphi
about their future, the Oracle tells them
that they will have a son who will kill his
father and marry with his mother.
• UGH! So, sure enough, they have a son
which they then give to a shepherd to
“dispose” of.
So…
• The shepherd can’t do it, so he gives the
baby to another shepherd who gives it to a
barren king and queen in a foreign land.
• They raise him as their own, not telling him
of his origins.
• Oedipus grows up and he hears from
some drunk guy that he was adopted. So,
he goes to the Oracle at Delphi and asks
about it.
The Oracle is so literal!
• The Oracle tells him that he will kill his
father and marry his mother.
• Oedipus, being a good guy, finds this
unacceptable, so he leaves what he
believes to be his native land and real
mother and father, never to return.
• In his journey, he gets in a fight with a
fellow at the crossroads and kills him.
Thebes
• Oedipus comes upon the city of Thebes
which is in danger because a Sphinx won’t
let anyone in or out until someone solves
her riddle.
• Oedipus solves it.
• They are so overjoyed that he saved their
city that they make him king and let him
marry their queen, who is on her own
since her husband mysteriously
disappeared.
Thebes is in trouble again
• Thebes is experiencing a plague.
Everyone is dying. The people go to
Oedipus to figure out what is wrong,
asking him to save them again.
• Through a series of questions and
soothsayers and finally the calling of the
shepherd, it is revealed that the original
prophesy came true.
• Oedipus killed his father and married his
mother.
He promised
• Jocasta, distraught, hangs herself.
• As he was trying to get to the bottom of
the plague situation, he pledged that he
would punish the person responsible for
the plague.
• So he blinds himself, and he and his
daughters banish themselves forever from
the city of Thebes.
Analysis
• Write and Define any words you don’t know – This
includes names of Greek Gods.
• Summarize your part.
• Answer these questions:
1.
What does your character want in this scene?
2. What does the character do to get it?
3. What adjective would best describe your character in this
scene. Why?
4. Write and explain one quote that best illustrates this
character in this scene.
Groups
• Pages 14-26 First Episode: Oedipus, Chorus, Tiresias
• Pages 27-46 Second Choral Ode and Episode: Chorus
(Strophe and AntiStrophe), Creon, Oedipus, Jocasta
• Pages 47-60: Third Choral Ode and Episode Chorus
(Strophe and AntiStrophe) Jocasta, Messenger, Oedipus
• Pages 60 – 71 Fourth Choral Ode and Episode, Fifth
Choral Ode, Epilogue: Chorus (Strophe and
AntiStrophe) Official, Oedipus, Shepherd, Messenger
• Pages 71-81 Choral Dialogue: Chorus, Oedipus, Creon