Download Greek drama

Greek drama
Golden Age of Greece was the
Golden Age of drama.
Greece is birthplace of drama.
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Athens
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City of greatest dramas
All existing plays come from Athens.
All city-states had theatres.
Tragedies
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Great Athenian playwrights
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Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Beginning of theatre
Royal funerals?
 Festivals to honor gods
 Stories told and retold
 Myths grew up around characters
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Festival to honor Dionysus
God of wine, fertility—everything delicious.
 Competitions held for physical and mental
skills
 Contests for recitations, vocal, and
instrumental music
 Prizes awarded.
 Natural to celebrate gods and heroes
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Songs
Delivered by a chorus.
No attempt to identify with the characters of
whom they sang.
To transform dramatic poetry into drama,
one member of the chorus had to speak
the words attributed to a god/hero.
Second speaker
dialogue
Role of chorus
Serve as nameless onlookers and
commentators
 Is at once a participant in and observer of
action
 Considered an on-stage audience
 Reaction of chorus designed to shape
audience’s reaction to action and
characters
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Chorus
Action is suspended while chorus
performs.
 Might narrate past events, try to interpret
current situations, speculate about future
 Modern commentators
 Usually think of gods, but are NOT
spokesmen for the gods
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Chorus
Usually friendly to principal characters
 Can be both humane and fallible
 Danced/performed rhythmical movements
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Language of chorus
All drama is written in verse, but meter of
actor’s speeches mimic everyday speech.
 Choral odes were more complex
rhythmically than dialogue (episodes).
 Variety of meters
 Lyrical nature (may have been sung)
 Metaphors/Figurative language
 Read odes as poems within the play. Song
in theatre—rap music.
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Thespis
Playwright who created the one actor
speaking in 534 BC.
 Significance of first actor cannot be
overemphasized.
 Actor can take parts; chorus members can
also take parts.
 Actor = hero; chorus=worshippers,
soldiers, subjects
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Themes of plays
Taken from Greek mythology and legends
 Stories were NOT original.
 Man at the center.
 Man’s feelings, relationship with gods,
preservation of human decency,
preservation of household.
 Fate/destiny
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Early plays
Music and dance were integral.
 Much like opera today.
 Action=mime
 Dances expressed actions and moods.
 Actors trained in both voice and
movement.
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Greek plays
Little action
 Words are more important than physical
action.
 Themes often violent, yet violence is never
shown onstage.
 Violence takes place offstage. Greek taste
forbade representation of death in view of
audience.
 Narration, discussion, speculation
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Tragedy
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Modern—plane crash, tornado.
Literary sense—serious drama featuring a noble,
courageous, dignified character (often royal)
who strives to achieve something and is
ultimately defeated.
Defeat may be brought about by forces beyond
his control (FATE) or by his own character flaw
(often hubris or ambition).
Character goes from happiness to agony.
Tragedy
Ends with defeat, death.
 Tragic hero is ennobled by his newly
gained self-knowledge and wisdom.
 End is one of great dignity as human spirit
prevails.
 Audience feels relief (catharsis).
 Audience identifies with hero—If tragedy
can happen to him……
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Structure of a tragedy
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Prologue—opening speech. Gives exposition.
Parados—Chorus makes entrance and gives its
perspective
Episodia (episodes)—characters engage in
dialogue/heated debates
Following each episode is a choral ode (stasimon)
in which chorus responds to and interprets
preceding dialogue.
Exodus—Last scene—resolution.
Physical theatre
Not a commercial venture.
 Not run for profit.
 Theatre retained its religious significance.
 Plays presented for entertainment, but
also as an act of worship.
 Right and duty of every citizen to attend.
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Theatre
Drama was a blend of worship and revel.
 Also occasion of great civic importance.
 Drama was a responsibility of state.
 Polis owned theatre; drama financed out
of public funds.
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Theatres
Theatres
Famous for acoustics
 Lack of scenery
 Could hold nearly 30,000 spectators
 Built into a hill with no roof
 Faced south to catch the warmth
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Theatre
Actors
Costumes were magnificent and costly.
 Costumes were padded and actors wore
elevated shoes—seemed larger than life.
 Large, wooden masks which expressed
major characters’ emotions.
 All male
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Masks
Masks
5th century BC
Time of spectacular energy and prosperity
 Time of harmony—political, religious and
personal
 Aeschylus lived in extraordinary times; he
was a product of a heroic age.
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Aeschylus
First important writer of Greek drama.
 Considered the “father of Greek tragedy.”
 First entered Dionysia (contest) in about
500 BC. First won in 484 BC thereafter he
won first prize 13 times.
 458 BC—his masterpiece—The Oresteia.
 Known to have written over 90 plays, only
7 survive.
 Contributed second actor. Allowed more
dialogue.
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Aeschylus
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Legend—Dionysus appeared to Aeschylus as a
boy and commanded him to write dramas.
Few facts—born to aristocratic parents, fought in
Persian War.
Aeschylus was 45 in 480 BC when Persians
defeated Athens and destroyed shrines of gods
on Acropolis.
Fought in Greek army that defeated Persians.
Oresteia—tale of Orestes
Three plays—”Agamemnon”,”The Libation
Bearers”, and “The Eumenides”
 Theme is justice.
 Uses story of House of Atreus to examine
how justice should be developed.
 Emphasizes that through suffering, one
gains wisdom
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Transition
Civilization of tribal institution of justice
must be transformed into a system of
communal justice.
 Next of kin had to avenge a family
member’s death system would eventually
destroy society.
 Need to move to a court of law to settle
disputes.
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