Download Background to Greek Tragedy

Background to Greek
Tragedy
AP English Language and Composition
Mr. Eugene
What is Tragedy?
Drama: A mimetic art form
Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious,
complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language
embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several
kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of
action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the
proper purgation of these emotions.
-- Aristotle, from Book VI of the Poetics
►  Imitation
Analysis of definition:
1.  Based on _____________ of action that is
_____________, _____________, and ______________
2.  Uses ________________ language
3.  Presented in _________________ form
4.  Effects _________________, through experience of
_______________ and _________________ in audience
History of Greek Tragedy: The roots
of dramatic performance
History of Greek Tragedy: The
Introduction of Dialogue
► Greek
►  Thespis
drama was originally in ___________
form and for ________________ purposes
► Religious dances were called
__________________, or goat songs
!  _______________ dances of abandonment
ending in _______________ of animal, usually
a goat
► Drama
transitioned from religious practice
to _____________ in the ______ century
BCE
(a director of a famous chorus)
!  Known as the first __________________
!  Stood on the sacrificial table and addressed
_________________________________
►  Aeschylus
! 
! 
! 
! 
(the Father of Tragedy)
Introduced second ________________
Diminished the importance of _______________
Made ___________________ the body of the drama
Made actors as impressive as possible by developing
____________________ and _____________________
of action is not a superficial pursuit, but
one grounded in the _____________ human need
to exercise the _____________ capacity of the
mind on the external world.
►  Mimesis often involved ______________ and the
wearing of ________________
►  Mimesis aims at ________________ and
________________
►  Consider these examples of artistic mimesis:
! 
! 
! 
! 
Cave painting
Hopi rain dance
Medieval joust
What others can you think of?
Sophocles: The happy playwright
►  Introduced
_________________________,
_______________________, and the play within
a trilogy as an ______________________ entity
►  Raised number of chorus from ____________
►  First tragedian to use ________________ music
►  Modified purpose of chorus:
! 
! 
! 
! 
! 
Represented the ____________________________
Set the mood for ___________________________
Follow the dramatic action closely
React to the dramatic action __________________
Separate _________________________, creating
rhythmic flow of ______________________ and
________________________
Euripedes
►  About
a dozen years younger than Sophocles
a wealthy family; able to devote himself to
drama
►  Produced blends of dramatic forms, especially
tragic-comedy
►  Continued innovations in music as lyrics become
less important resulting in:
►  From
!  Loose syntax
!  Polysyllabic vagueness
►  Nondramatic
prologue orients viewer to the point
in the myth at which action is to begin
Elements of Greek Tragedy: Action,
Perception, and its Outcome
► 
Internal: Tragic protagonist comes to
understand
1.  ____________________________________________
2.  ____________________________________________
3.  ____________________________________________
► 
External: Emotional tension increases to a
breaking point, arousing ___________________
_______________________ until, at moment of
reversal, audience experiences ______________
Elements of Greek Tragedy: Plot is
the Soul of Tragedy
► 
► 
► 
Action moves through ____________________ to
______________, resulting in _______________
Purpose of plot is to stage a _______________
working out of a single ________________
Plot must observe three unities:
1.  ____________________________________________
2.  ____________________________________________
3.  ____________________________________________
► 
► 
Plot was seldom invented; usually based on known
myths
Subject is downfall of _______________ figure
resulting in his ______________ or ____________
Audience, religious rite, and the
primitive psyche
► Audience
________________ experiences
tragic emotions in ________________
► Conclusion of tragedy _________________
these emotions from the psyche
► Dramatic form, in this sense, merges
_____________ and ______________ rite
► Dramatic art form is thus both inspired by
and intended to inspire ________________
(see handout on Jung) of _______________
Elements of Greek Tragedy: Plot
and the emergence of perception
► Action
of the play reveals how man is
brought to _________________ by a single
________________, or flaw in his character
► Perception emerges in the moment of
_____________________, reversal of action
► Reversal occurs simultaneously with the
moment of ______________________, or
recognition of the truth, producing a change
from ______________ to ______________