Greek Theater

No, not geek theater. That’s Monty Python.

I. Greek Drama

A. Origins1. Religious festival for Dionysius2. Dithyramb: story or sacred song, often performed by chorus (“goat songs”)3. Held at the Acropolis – large, open air amphitheater4. Plays often drawn from Greek legends/myths

I. Greek Drama

B. The performance1. 2-3 main actors on stage2. Chorus – “narrator”

a. May offer expository info

b. Argue w/characterc. “Moral voice”d. Choragos: leader

of chorus3. All male actors

I. Greek Drama

C. Masks1. Exaggerated – show emotion from a distance2. Served to identify characters3. Amplify voices (?)

I. Greek Drama

D. The playwrights1. Aeschylus (524-456 BCE)

a. Won several drama competitionsb. Known for the Orestiac. Agamemnon-- king sacrifices

daughter (Iphigenia) to secure victory, is stabbed to death in bathtub by irate wife (Clytemnestra)

I. Greek Drama

D. The playwrights2. Sophocles (496-406 BCE)

a. Drama prize at 28b. Focus: individual and his strugglesc. Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus,

Antigone

I. Greek Drama

• The playwrights• 3. Euripedes (485-406 BCE)• a. Critiquing Greek culture and religion• b. Medea• 4. Aristophanes – (448-380 BCE)• a. COMEDY (finally)• b. Lysistrata– women of Athens and

Sparta attempt to end war by witholding certain activities from their husbands.

II. Elements of Tragedy

A. Aristotle -- Poetics1. Theory of tragedy2. Three unities:

a. Unity of time: all events take place in the span of one day

b. Unity of Place: all events take place in one central location

c. Unity of Action: all events focus on one plot line

II. Elements of Tragedy

B. The play1. Plot

a. Moves from happiness to sufferingb. Suffering results because humans

are “limited”

II. Elements of Tragedy

2. Protagonist: “tragic hero”a. Of noble birth/qualitiesb. Has “fatal flaw” – hamartia -- a virtue in excessc. Hubris – excessive pride

II. Elements of Tragedy

3. Fatal flaw leads to FALLa. Hero makes mistake, b. Suffers, and others suffer because of himc. Learns a lesson through failured. Sacrifices-- often self-sacrifice!

II. Elements of Tragedy

C. Audience:1. Suffers with hero, but ultimately feels

a. Pathos: deep emotion/passionb. Empathy: we relate because we see

our own potential failurec. Catharsis: cleansing, a release of

purifying emotion – a “good cry”