Download Greek Drama Background Notes

Greek Drama
Background Notes
What is Greek Drama?
Flourished between 550 – 220 BCE
 Originated as part of rituals honoring
Dionysus, god of wine and fertility.
 Thespis (thespians) transformed hymns
sung to gods into songs telling the stories
of famous heroes.

Why do we care?
Source of Western Theater
 Maintains a strong influence on
performance art through history (plays,
films, etc.)
 Maintains a sustained impact on western
culture as a whole

3 Types of Greek Drama
Tragedy: centered on the suffering of a
major character, ends in disaster.
 Comedy: revolves around mistakes or
blunders, yet all is resolved in the end
 Satyr Play (named for wood demons):
comic and unruly treatments of tragic
themes

The Theater
Shaped like a semi-circle
stadium
 Actors amplified their
voices through special
mouthpieces worn in
their masks
 All actors men, chorus
was well trained boys
 By switching masks,
each actor could play
multiple roles

Sophocles
Considered to be the
greatest of the ancient
Greek playwrights
 His plays always contain a
moral lesson – typically a
caution against pride and
religious indifference

Sophocles’s Innovations
Added a third
actor to the
original two
 Introduced
painted sets
 Expanded the
size of the chorus
to fifteen

The “Theban” Plays

Sophocles wrote three plays telling us the
story of Oedipus of Thebes and his family.
– Oedipus Rex
– Oedipus at Colonus
– Antigone
Antigone Background
Audience knew the story – suspense came
from the dramatic irony
 The audience pitied these characters

Oedipus Myth

See handout
Theme of Antigone
The conflict in Antigone – individual
conscience at odds with established
authority – is universal
 When we know those in power are morally
wrong, do we break their laws? Or, do we
obey, making us collaborators?

Tragedy
According to Aristotle: the function of a
tragedy is to arouse feelings of pity and
fear in the audience, so that we may be
cleansed of these feelings
 This concept is known as Catharsis –
emotional release, or purge

Tragic Hero
Tragic hero – experiences a reversal of
fortune/downfall
 This character is not all good or bad
 Downfall brought about by tragic flaw –
some sort or error or frailty

Tragic Hero (cont)
Often a tragic flaw is hubris – excessive
pride or arrogance
 Tragedy concludes with recognition and
reversal – the tragic hero understands
they are at difference with the world as
they understood it.

Greek Theater Format
Begins with a prologue – exposition that
presents the background, situates the
conflict
 Chorus – comments on and explains the
action of the play (serves as the collective
voice of humanity)
 Opening chorus sings a parados –
opening song

Greek Theater Format (cont)
Ode – chorus’s song that divides scenes,
and serves the same purpose as a curtain
 During the odes, the chorus leader
(choragos) mights exchange thoughts
with the group in a dialogue
 During that recital, the group would rotate
from right to left, singing the strophe
(twist, turn)

Greek Theater Format (cont)
During the antistrophe (turning back),
the chorus would go from left to right
 Play would conclude with a paean (thanks
to Dionysus) and an exodus (final exiting
scene)
