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GREEK
TRAGEDY
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INTRODUCTION TO GREEK DRAMA AND TRAGEDY.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In 511BC Cleisthenes overthrew the last tyrant of Athens and instituted a
form of democracy based on the ten tribes.
In 480BC the Greeks defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis which
started the Golden Age of Greece.
During this period great things were achieved in philosophy, architecture, art,
medicine and other areas
The Democratic system was a commitment to individual liberty but
constrained by laws and social responsibility.
However these rights did not extend to women and slaves.
This golden age was brought to an end by the disastrous Peloponnesian
Wars against Sparta from 431-404BC.
THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN ANCIENT ATHENS
Women were little more than the property of men and had no rights to vote
own property or to represent themselves in court. The word gynos or woman
roughly translates as under the yoke.
After 415BC citizenship was limited to free born sons of Athenian free men
who were married to daughters of Athenian free men. This made Athenian
women sought after.
Respectable women lived in separate quarters and did not socialise with their
husbands.
Hetairai or courtesans/mistresses had a better life – they could accompany
their men but their children could not get citizenship.
This is what made the status of Medea – a powerful barbaric foreign woman
(who was not prepared to take the submissive role) so shocking.
THE ROLE OF DIONYSUS
Plays were part of a religious festival in honour of the God Dionysus (God of
wine fertility and parties). Dionysus was associated with debauchery,
drunkenness and loss of self control – the wildness of human nature which
Athenians generally sought to keep under control. The whole festival may
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have been a way of letting it all out of their systems. In irreverent comedies
and dramatic tragedies they could say things and display emotions that were
unacceptable in everyday life.
GREEK THEATRE - AN INTRODUCTION.
Plays were entered in competitions and there were several each year. The
big one was the annual Great Dionysia held in Athens. Every male citizen
was expected to attend.
In each competition three playwrights each submitted three tragedies and
one comic satyr play. Each play took about an hour so the whole festival
took about three days. The performances were all in daylight.
The plays were judged and there was a prize.
Thousands of plays must have been written but only 33 have survived – 7 by
Aeschylus, 7 by Sophocles and 19 by Euripides.
THE HISTORY OF THE THEATRE
The festivals to Dionysus were introduced by Peisistratos in the month of
Elaphebolion (around late March). They were popular, and by 533 BC a
tragedies competition was a regular feature. The word tragodoi means “goat
singer” (why this is so is not known).
THE PLAYS
Greek tragedies were inevitably stories from Greek myth and had a religious
theme. These stories would have been well known to the audiences.
They correspond to the three unities:
1. Unity of place. They take place in the same spot – no need for scene
changing.
2. Unity of time. The action of the play is generally over in a day and
there are no substantive real time breaks between scenes.
3. Unity of action. There is only one story and no unrelated sub plots.
Greek tragedies were often very violent but it was rarely shown on stage but
reported.
All tragedies follow the same plan. They are about a great man or woman
who has excellent qualities. However one trait of his character is
overdeveloped. It is a trait that is admirable in moderation but in him
excessive. This one trait causes disaster for the character and all around him.
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Shakespearian tragedy follows the same plan. Macbeth suffers from
ambition, Hamlet indecision, Romeo hastiness, Othello jealousy and
Coriolanus stubbornness.
They are normally about the consequences of earlier actions and the reaction
of people to what are often insoluble problems.
Often they are about hamartia – a fatal flaw in an otherwise good person.
Greeks believed in moderation and seeing the other person’s point of view.
One tragic flaw is hubris, a combination of self confidence, pride and
arrogance.
This causes the person to turn from being a good person to a bad person.
(Peripeteia)
There is often the point of recognition (anagnorisis) when the person realises
what a fool they have been, but nevertheless events have gone so far that
they cannot be reversed. The final destruction is called nemesis.
Having watched the destruction of the hero the audience is left with a feeling
of catharsis - an emotion of pity and fear. They feel pity for the hero and fear
that that this could befall anyone. This emotion purges them of bad thoughts
and they become better people
The plays have a very clear moral message which everyone would have
understood.
Greek theatre would have seemed very formal and stylised compared with
today
THE THEATRE
The Theatre of Dionysus is in Athens. It was on the south-east slope of The
Acropolis. Originally the spectators would have sat on the slopes or
temporary wooden seats. In the middle of the fourth century BC it was rebuilt
with stone seats in a bowl shaped semi circular shape (Theatron) with
excellent acoustics.
In the front of the Theatron were special seats (prohedria) for the priest of
Dionysus the judges and other officials.
In the centre was a flat circular stage called an orchestra about 20m across.
The Chorus would have stood there There was an altar to Dionysus in the
middle called a thymele.
Leading off from the orchestra were pathways called Parados or eisedoi for
entry and exits for the actors.
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A horizontal aisle called the diazoma ran through the audience and made it
easy to get to your seat. It was divided into ten sections for each of the ten
tribes.
Behind the orchestra was a platform called a proskenion. This was the same
as a modern stage and the actors would stand on it. Behind the proskenion
was the skene originally a tent where the actors changed. Later it was a
wooden building some 10 metres long and 4 metres high. Even later it was
rebuilt in stone. It had a large central doorway and possibly smaller entrances.
Actors sometimes appeared on the second story or roof (episkenion) It was
also used as a backdrop of buildings and props could be stored there. It
might have cloth hangers with painted scenes called pinakes. The sounds of
violence and other things not meant to be seen on stage were heard from
there.
Originally it seated some 25,000 spectators. When it was rebuilt in stone it
seated 15,000. The structure was substantively rebuilt several times notably
by the emperor Nero in the first century AD and there is some dispute about
how much of what there is actually dates to the Golden Age.
The better preserved Theatre of Epidaurus is a better guide to what a classic
Greek theatre of the Golden Age actually looked like.
Greek theatres were huge by modern standards and the acting had to allow
for this.
THE ACTORS
Originally the plays were just songs on mythology. The first actor called
Thespis detached himself from the Chorus and started acting a part. It took
off from there.
There were only three speaking actors and they played different parts using
masks. You couldn’t see their faces and in any event most of the audience
were a long way away. All actors were men.
There were never more than three named characters on the stage at any one
time. Although all three might appear on the stage at once, the conversations
were generally between two rather than three.
The roles were the Protagonist who played the main part. Then there was
the Deuteragonist and the Tritagonist who shared the other roles.
Actors needed to be versatile and to talk loudly. The long speeches needed
great stamina and emotions could only be conveyed by grand gestures and
loud talking.
There were other actors who played non speaking parts such as Medea’s
children.
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THE CHORUS
There were about 12 to 15 members of the chorus, probably all men, and they
stayed on stage throughout. The leader was called the Coryphaeus and he
probably did the speaking. They formed a group of citizens (male or female)
and fulfilled the following functions:
1. They help to explain the play as it goes along and make moral points
2. They give a summing up of the end of the play.
3. They represent ordinary people in contrast to the heroes and demi
gods of the main parts. Their sympathy for the actors can change as
things go along.
4. In the absence of a curtain they show that an act has come to an end.
5. They give the main actors (especially if there is only one on stage)
someone to talk to and explain their point of view.
They danced to music. Music was provided by the Auletes who played a
flute (the aulos). He wore long robes and no mask. There was probably a
lyre player and some sort of drum and cymbals.
COSTUMES AND MASKS
The grotesque masks with gaping mouths belong to the later Hellenistic age
rather than the Classical. Masks of the time (Prosopa) covered the full head
and were made of linen covered with plaster. They would have had a full
head of hair and beard if appropriate.
All actors wore a full robe called a chiton sometimes with a heavier robe
called a himation on top. Soft boots were worn or they went bare foot. It
was the same for men and women so you only needed to change the mask.
SCENERY AND PROPS
The skene formed the backdrop to the play and there may have been painted
panels (skenographia) . As all scenes took place outside and in the same
place there wasn’t much need for scenery. Some props would have been
used – swords crowns cloaks etc but it would have been very sparse,
The Greeks used two mechanical devices.
The ekkyklema was a sort of wheeled platform. It was dragged on at the end
usually displayed with the dead bodies of the various murder and suicide
victims.
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The mechane was a crane device for lifting actors into the air. Medea
departs in one at the end.
THE AUDIENCE
The Priest of Dionysus was there along with the magistrate (archon) and the
judges – they got reserved seats at the front. Visiting ambassadors went
and women were allowed. Boys went with their slave tutors
The tickets was two obols (not a lot) but after the middle of the fifth century
the Theoric Fund paid for anyone who couldn’t afford it.
Each of the ten Athenian tribes got a block of seats and little bronze or lead
discs served as tickets.
You could take cushions rugs and refreshments or you could buy food there.
Audiences were less restrained than today and booing clapping and even
throwing food indicated what they thought of the play.
Clearly many Athenians loved the tragedies and took them seriously. In
413BC certain captives taken by Syracuse were allowed to go free if they
could recite passages from Euripides.
THE COMPETITION.
This took place in strict stages:
1. Would be competitors submitted their entries to a magistrate called the
archon.
2. Three were chosen each to submit three tragedies and a satyr.
3. Each playwright was given a choregos – a wealthy sponsor. The
chorygos had to pay for salaries, costumes the komos party and other
expenses. Generally it was a honour as it was proof of good character
in lawsuits. Doing well increased your status and political power.
However, some tried to save money with second hand costumes or
refused the honour which you could do it you could find a wealthier
man. In times of financial difficulties the duty could be shared. If the
performance was poor you could be mocked as a cheapskate in a
comedy next time around.
4. By this time the state appointed the actors and they were appointed by
lot.
5. The Boule, a council of 500 citizens, drew up a list of people thought
suitable to be judges from each of the ten tribes. The names were put
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in ten urns and one person per tribe was chosen in a lucky dip by the
archon. They had to swear an oath of impartiality. This way of
combining mass participation with an element of chance (with the Gods
deciding) was typical of Athenian democracy.
6. When the ceremony started public business ceased and the law-courts
were closed.
7. The proagon was a procession. The choregoi paraded with the
companies and each poet announced the theme of his plays.
8. The next day the statue of Dionysus was carried to the theatre on a
wooden ship with wheels accompanied by the Epheboi – the young
men of military age.
9. In the temple of Dionysus there were sacrifices of bulls.
10. All the different groups were distinguished by their dress.
a. The metics (Foreigners with special rights in Athens wore purple
and carried trays of offerings called skaphia.
b. The citizens wore ordinary clothes and carried leather wine bottles
and bread.
c. The choregoi were in gold and purple.
11. There were choral competitions and a komos or party. There was lots
of drinking and music.
12. Crowns were given out to citizens who had performed special duties to
the state.
13. Tribute was brought by representatives of the Delian League (City
states allied to Athens) and displayed.
14. Boys whose fathers had been killed in battle paraded and those who
had just reached manhood put on their hoplite armour.
15. Some citizens took the opportunity to free slaves.
16. The ten strategoi (generals) offered sacrifices.
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17. At the end each judge put his order of merit on a tablet. There were
three prizes – best poet, best chorygos and best actor.
18. Five of these tablets were chosen (the other five discarded) and the
decision based on those. This combined mass participation and the
will of the Gods.
19. In the early years you just got an ivy wreath but later on the best poet
got a bull with a bronze tripod for the best chorygos. At some stage
cash prizes were introduced.
20. There was an investigation by the archon at the end to check that it
had been judged fairly.
21. During the festival there was an element of role reversal (aischrologia)
in honour of Dionysus. The lower orders could jeer at the rich and
women could insult their male relatives.
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