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Greek Tragedy
"tragedy"
Was a public genre from its earliest
beginnings at Athens
 refers primarily to tragic drama: a literary
composition written to be performed by
actors in which a central character called a
tragic protagonist or hero suffers some
serious misfortune
 the misfortune is logically connected with
the hero's actions.
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Tragedy stresses the vulnerability of
human beings whose suffering is brought
on by a combination of human and divine
actions.
TRAGIC HEROES ARE:
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BORN INTO NOBILITY:
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RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN FATE
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ENDOWED WITH A TRAGIC FLAW
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DOOMED TO MAKE A SERIOUS ERROR IN JUDGEMENT
EVENTUALLY, TRAGIC HEROES
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FALL FROM GREAT HEIGHTS OR HIGH ESTEEM
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REALIZE THEY HAVE MADE AN IRREVERSIBLE MISTAKE
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FACE AND ACCEPT DEATH WITH HONOR
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MEET A TRAGIC DEATH
FOR ALL TRAGIC HEROES
THE AUDIENCE IS AFFECTED BY PITY and/or FEAR
Other Traits of the Tragic Hero:
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Suffers more than he/she deserves.
Doomed from the start,
 But bears no responsibility for possessing
his/her flaw.
Noble in nature,
 But imperfect so that the audience can see
themselves in him/her.
Discovered his fate by his own actions,
 Not by things happening to him/her.
 Fate was also determined by his/her own
actions.
Sees and understands his/her doom
Story should arouse fear and empathy.
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Physically/spiritually wounded by his/her
experiences, often resulting in his death.
Ideally, should be a king or leader of men, so his
people experience his fall with him.
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Could also include a leader of a family.
Intelligent so he may learn from his mistakes.
Has a weakness; usually, it is pride.
Faced with a very serious decision.
Something goes wrong in his/her current life.
Suffering of the hero must have meaning.
Three Popular Greek
Playwrites
Aeschylus:
•(525 BC—456 BC; Greek: Αἰσχύλος)
•playwright of Ancient Greece.
•Earliest of the three Greek tragedians whose plays are not
entirely lost.
Bust of Aeschylus from the
Capitoline Museums, Rome
Sophocles
Euripides
Classical Drama:
Theater is derived from the Greek word theatron,
which contains the stem of the verb theasthai 'to
view as spectators'.
Drama is a Greek word meaning 'action', related to
the verb dran 'to do'. The author of a tragedy
was not just a writer of a script. When his work
was approved for presentation at the state
religious festival in honor of the god Dionysus
(the City Dionysia), the state assigned him
actors and a chorus.
Dionysus
The Greek Theater:
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Theatron:
 literally, "viewing-place“
 where spectators sat.
 usually part of hillside overlooking orchestra, and
 often wrapped around a large portion of orchestra
 see diagram in previous slide.
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Orchestra:
 literally, "dancing space"
 normally circular.
 level space where chorus would dance, sing, and
interact with the actors who were on the stage near
the skene.
Example of a Greek amphitheater.
Greek Tragedy
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Tragedy:
 Drama that recounts the downfall of a dignified, superior
character called the tragic hero.
 Involved in historically or socially significant events.
 Invokes both pity and fear in audiences.
 Pity: they feel sorry for the tragic hero.
 Fear: realization that hero’s struggles are a necessary
part of human life.
Archetypes:
 Frequently used characters or events
 Example: Simon, “The Christ Figure”
Motifs:
 Repeating elements that advance plot and illustrate theme.
 Example: LOTF- Objects of Power, Nature, Garden of Eden
Myths, Legends, Gods and
Goddesses:
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Myth:
 Traditional stories about gods and goddesses.
Legend:
 Stories about people believed to havce once
lived.
Gods and goddesses are often characters in
tragedies.
 Even when they’re not onstage, they influence
fate of characters
 Tragic hero’s downfall usually results from
offending the gods
 Usually speak through prophets.
Dramatic Irony: the Origin
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Dramatic Irony:
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When the audience knows more than the characters.
Example: defenseless, naïve woman enters dark
room in horror flick, and we are compelled to scream
“don’t go in there!!” at the TV, as if it will help her.
Because drama contained archetypes and
motifs, audience often knew how the play
was going to end, and what resulted was
dramatic irony.
Allusion:
In Greek theater, allusions are references
to gods and rituals.
 Characters in tragedies honor and fear
their deities.
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Characters struggle to have a good
relationship with them
Sophocles
Oedipus the King
 Oedipus at Colonus
 Antigone
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Oedipus the King:
The Myth
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Laius, King of Thebes is told in an oracle that his
son will kill him. With the agreement of his wife,
Jocasta, the baby’s feet are pinioned and the
baby was given to a slave to be exposed to
wolves and other wild beasts.
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The slave, who is a shepherd of Laius’ flocks,
takes pity on the baby, and instead of leaving it
to die, gives the baby boy to a fellow shepherd
from another kingdom, Corinth.
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The Corinthian shepherd gives the baby to the
childless King of Corinth, Polybus. Polybus and
his wife adopt the baby and give him the name
“Oedipus,” meaning “Swollen Feet” because of
the baby’s deformity.
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Eighteen years or so later, someone at a party
calls the young Oedipus a bastard, and Oedipus
is greatly disturbed.
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Oedipus leaves Corinth for Delphi to confirm his
parentage at the oracle of Apollo. The oracle,
however, instead gives him a horrific prediction:
he will kill his father and marry his mother.
The priestess of the oracle at
Delphi was known as the
Pythia. Apollo spoke through
his oracle, who had to be an
older woman of blameless life
chosen from among the
peasants of the area.
Temple of Apollo at Delphi
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Afraid that the oracle will come true, Oedipus
decides not to return to Corinth and heads for
the opposite direction, Thebes.
On a place where 3 roads meet, Oedipus meets
a man driving a wagon with a bunch of slaves.
The man is rude to Oedipus and orders him off
the road.
Oedipus is enraged and kills the man and his
slaves.
He continues his way to Thebes while one of the
slaves escapes the attack
A man on his way from Delphi to
Thebes.
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When Oedipus reaches Thebes, the kingdom is
being plagued by a monster---a sphinx:
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Creature with body of a lioness and the head of a
woman
Slaughters all who cannot solve her riddle:
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“What creature stands on four legs in the morning, two at
midday and three at sun down?”
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Oedipus replies “man,” solves the riddle of the
sphinx and liberates Thebes.
As a reward, he is offered the vacant position of
King of Thebes and marries the Queen, Jocasta.
Many years pass and Oedipus fathers four
children by Jocasta.
 Antigone
 Ismene
 Eteocles
 Polynices,
**ALL, of whom are featured in Antigone, by Sophocles.
A
plague besets Thebes, killing crops,
animals and children.
 Plagues are believed to be caused
by sin, and only the appropriate god
can reveal that sin.
 Oedipus, the King, promises to save
his city.
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Oedipus assigns his brother-in-law, Creon, to
consult the oracle at Delphi to determine the
cause of the plague.
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The oracle reveals that the plague is caused by an
unpunished murder---that of the former king, Laius.
Oedipus vows to let the murderer of the former
king pay for his crime. Oedipus then turns to
Teiresias, the blind but highly respected prophet
to name the murderer.
 Teiresias
hesitates at first, but after
several threats from Oedipus, names
Oedipus as the murderer.
 Oedipus is enraged, believing that
Teiresias and Creon have concocted
the story to dethrone him and seize
power for themselves.
Hearing that their quarrel was about the
oracle, Jocasta assures her husband that
oracles are nonsense.
 She goes on telling Oedipus how she and
Laius had a baby boy before whom the
oracle prophesied would kill its father.
 Then Jocasta tells Oedipus how the
innocent babe died and how Laius was
killed by robbers at a place where 3 roads
meet.
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 Suddenly,
Oedipus remembers
how he killed a man at such a
place before when he was on his
way to Thebes.
 Jocasta calls for the man who
escaped the attack which killed
Laius and several others.
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Before the lone survivor of the attack is
presented to Oedipus and Jocasta, a
messenger from Corinth arrives to tell
Oedipus that Polybus, his father, is dead
 Oedipus is now the new King of Corinth.
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Oedipus tells the messenger that he won’t
dare return to Corinth for fear of marrying
his mother.
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The messenger then reveals to Oedipus that the
queen of Corinth is not his real mother.
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At last, the survivor of the ambush arrives
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He explains how baby Oedipus was given to him by a
shepherd from Thebes. At that point, everything
becomes clear to Jocasta.
He turns to be the shepherd who was told to abandon
baby Oedipus, and the same guy who gave baby
Oedipus to a Corinthian(messenger).
Upon learning the truth, Oedipus rushes to
Jocasta, but Jocasta has already hanged
herself.
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Greatly agonized, Oedipus takes the pins from
Jocasta’s dress and pierces his eyes until he
gets blind.
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Creon becomes the new ruler of Thebes.
So what causes the curse to
King Laius and Jocasta??
Reason Laius and Jocasta were
punished by the Gods:
They tried to alter their fate after hearing
the Oracle at Delphi’s prophecy about
Oedipus.
 Instead of killing Oediups, they “gave him
away,” and since they allowed him to grow
up, they were given consequences by the
gods.
 So who’s to blame?? Fate? Laius and
Jocasta? The gods? Oedipus himself?
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Gee, you could argue that really well in a
paper…
http://www.teachtheteachers.org/projects/J
Zarro2/process2.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragic_hero
 “Classical Greek Drama.” Holt McDougal
Literature: World Literature. Ed. Janet
Allen. Evanston: Holt, 2010. 1064-1065.
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