Download Greek Drama: - School of Liberal Arts

Unit 2, Lecture 1: Greek
Drama:
Origins, Setting, Structure,
Themes and Theory
Origins of Athenian Prominence
•
•
Western Democracy, drama, and philosophy develop and flourish the “golden
age” of Athens (480-399)
The background of Athenian prominence as dramatic as the theater which
developed in it. (See Norton 4-7)
–
The two greatest city states were Athens and Sparta
•
•
–
Confidence and power of Athens greatly boosted by its leadership in turning back
invading armies of Persian empires
•
•
•
Sparta a totalitarian, militaristic state whose superior army led to control of much of the mainland.
Athens a “qualified” democracy whose naval power allowed it to dominate Aegean islands and much
Asia minor coastland
Defeating Darius 1 at Marathon (490 B.C)
Xerxes at great sea battle Salamis (480 BC)
Momentous nature of the Persian wars:
The Graeco-Persinan War was the most momentous conflict in European history for it made
Europe possible. It won for Eujropean civilization the opportunity to develop . . . its own
political institutions, free from the dictations of oriental kings. . . . The victory of little Hellas
against such odds stimulated the pride and lifted up the spirit of its people; out of very
gratitude they felt called upon to do unprecedented things.. . . Greece entered its gfolden
age. (Will Durant, The Life of Greece. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1966, p. 242)
Origins of Greek Drama
• Developed out of “dithyrambs”: choral and dance rituals
honoring the god Dionysus.
• Tradition says Thespis, the first playwright, added an
actor (hence “thespian”)
• This basic “floor plan” was maintained: Greek drama
maintains combination of masked actor(s) and singing
chorus
– Actors grow to two under Aeschylus and three under Sophocles.
– Spoken parts achieve dominance over choral singing
•
Ultimately tragic drama becomes the centerpiece of the
major Dionysian festival—the City Dionysia held in late
March or April.
The Festival Setting
• City Dionysia “a kind of cross between Inauguration day,
Super Bowl, the Oscars, and a religious holiday” (Source
unknown)
• Took place in late March or April: Drama became
centerpiece of various “contests.”
• “Archon” selected 3 tragic and 3 comic dramas and
chose wealthy citizens as producers
• Playwright chose chorus and acted in play himself.
–
–
–
–
Tragedians did 3 tragedies and a “satyr” play
The tragedies might be thematically linked
Comedies were performed throughout.
Prizes given
The Physical Setting
• Theater of Dionysus in use only once a year
• Unlike Broadway it WAS a worship center
• The “stage” was large circular “orchestra” in which the
altar to Dionysus is prominent
• Behind it is the “skene”
– Originally for costume changes
– Later used for dramatic purposes
– “Theatron is semicircle ampitheater set in the hillside. Like
modern stadia, it was divided into various sections.
– A section for each of the 15 tribes of Athens
– Women perhaps towards the rear or in a separate section, as
also “outsiders,” resident aliens.
Structure and Elements Greek
Drama (1)
•
Plot Structure 101:
–
–
–
–
–
•
Exposition – Introduction of Protagonist and conflict
Rising Action – Complication of plot
Climax –Culmination of plot; irreversible actions
Falling Action – fallout from climactic events
Resolution – final outcome of climax
Greek Drama, like all drama, exhibits these
patterns plus structural elements peculiar to it.
Structure and Elements of Greek
Drama (2) (With thanks to Helen Schwartz, L203)
• Dramatic Differences
• Dramatic Structure
–
–
–
–
–
Prologue
Parodos
First Episode
First “Stasimon”
Exodos
• Dramatic Elements
–
–
–
–
–
Chorus
Ritual of Supplication
Importance of oaths
Polis
Fear of Exile
Themes of Greek Drama
• Themes held in common
– Excess It is usually one tremendous urge---‘excess’ in the Greek
view of the matter—toward justice, truth, vengeance, selfsacrifice, or love, an excess of pride, egotism, constancy,
stubbornness or anger which drives them towards their doom”
(Lind xviii)
– “Hamartia” (Lind xviii)
– Self-knowledge arising out of conlict with forces (Lind x)
– Place of the gods
• “Differentiating” themes among the “big three”
– Aeschylus (525-456 BC): revenge and justice (Lind, xix-xx)
– Sophocles (497-406 BC) : hopeless but admirable struggle against
superior forces loneliness of decision; free will (xx)
– Euripides (481-406 BC): “psychological as well as social
problems,”; a “disturbing’ skepticism; in his works we also see
signs of sympathy with the outsider; luck is a bigger factor in his
plays than in his predecessors. (xx-xxi)
Theory of Greek Tragedy: Aristotle
• Defining Characteristics
–
–
–
–
It is an imitation or representation of life
Has action, not narration, and actions serious
Elevated diction ("embellished language")
leads audience to a catharsis, or "purging," ("release"
of the emotions of pity and fear)
– It includes (though low down on the scale of its
values) "spectacle"
– Character and thought are the basis of action
– The Plot is a combination of the actions and each one
is caused by previous action.
Theory of Tragedy (Cont.)
• Nature of Plot
– Its importance for tragedy lies in the actions which occur.
– There must be a beginning a middle and end, each part naturally
following a pattern.
– It involves a change of fortune for the protagonist
– A good plot must be a unity, not a series of episodes essentially
unconnected to each other.
– In a complex, as opposed to a simple plot the reversal of fortune
(peripeteia) will coincide with a recognition—an understanding
of who is friend, who is foe and the conditions which have gone
into producing the tragic situation. Recognition comes “too late”
for anything but the self-knowledge and understanding prized by
the Greeks. The very best plot is one in which the recognition
virtually coincides with the reversal of fortune (as in Oedipus).
Theory of Tragedy (concluded)
• Character and Audience
– Protagonist ought to be someone whose reversal of fortune can
excite pity and fear.
– Therefore, cannot be a wholly virtuous man because a tragic
reversal of fortune excites not pity but revulsion.
– Nor a wholly bad person because this does not excite pity.
– Pity comes from a person of stature neither wholly good nor bad
whose reversal is not deserved (or is at least much more than he
or she deserves).
– Fear comes from the fact that the person is someone with whom
we can identify—and therefore what happens to him haunts us
with the sense that it could also happen to us!
Summary:
• A tragedy is a drama in which a
protagonist, motivated by some “excess”
within his/her character, makes a tragic
misstep (hamartia) leading to a reversal of
fortune (peripeteia) and causing the
audience to experience a purging of the
emotions of pity an fear: pity because it
had to happen, fear because such an
experience might happen to anyone.