Monday, September 17th

For tomorrow, please make sure you’ve read

Oedipus Rex: Prologue - Ode 2 (pp. 3-47).

We’ll begin class by discussing your

questions, so please make notes in your text

As you begin reading, consider how the crisis

unfolds

How is Oedipus initially characterized?

Use your notes to guide your annotations

If you do not have a book, there is a copy

posted on my website.

Greek Theater and Tragedy:

An Introduction

An Introduction to Greek Theatre

*this is not in your notes… it’s a preview

Lecture OutlineI. Greek Theater

i. Role of theater in societyii. Conventions of Greek drama

▪ Staging▪ Actors▪ The chorus

II. Greek Tragedyi. Defining characteristicsii. Aristotle

▪ Theory of tragedy▪ Aristotelian unities

iii. Dramatic structureiv. The tragic herov. Sophocles

▪ Background▪ The Sophoclean Hero

III. OedipusIV. Antigone

In the grander scheme of

Greek literature…

Supposedly written toward

the mid to end of the 8th

century B.C. i.e. latter part

of the 700s B.C.

A few CENTURIES pass…

Focus on heroic exploits of

an individual, high

adventure, war, action, etc.

Heavy interaction with Gods

Focus on individual suffering, events

depicted are increasingly tragic, minimal

to no direct interaction with gods

i. Role of Theater in Society

Theater was a religious & civic occasion in 5th century B.C.

The plays (comedy, satyr, tragedy) were performed annually at festivals in honor of Dionysus, god of wine, revelry, and theater

were entered in a competition (between 3 playwrights) and voted on

Plots drawn from mythic or legendary events of the past

i. Role of Theater in Society

Funded by wealthy citizens (required

by the polis (city-state)

Theater tickets were free to citizens –

allowing everyone to participate

Greek theater was directed at moral

and political education of the

community

Poet/playwright's role was the

improvement of the polis

Tragedies, particularly, enabled the

audience to reflect on personal values

that might conflict with civic ideals

ii. Conventions of Greek Drama

Staging Performed at an open-air hillside

amphitheater

14,000-17,000 spectators

Performance space:

Theatron

“viewing place” of spectators

Parodos

“passage ways” used by the chorus to enter & exit

Orchestra

“dancing space”

location of the chorus during the play

Skene

“tent” i.e. the stage house/building/backdrop

ii. The theaterBelow: The Theater of Dionysus (at the Acropolis)

ii. The theater

A fully constructed

Greek theater

would have looked

like this

ii. Conventions of Greek Drama

The actors

3 or fewer actors on stage at

one time – all male

Wore imposing masks

“Personae” - Represented certain

conventional characters (e.g.

young man, king, old woman,

etc.)

Exaggerated mouthpieces helped

project sound and facial features

for those sitting far away

Focus is on the WORDS, not action

iii. Conventions of Greek Drama

The Chorus

~12-15 men

Sing & dance to music

Alternate monologue/dialogue w/ actors

May give characters advice

Reflect/represent attitudes of ordinary citizens; a communal voice

Comment on dramatic action

Reflect on important events/ideas

Present central themes & common sense

Choragos – head chorus leader

iii. Conventions of Greek Drama

The Chorus cont.

Stay physically near one another – when they moved, the moved TOGETHER

Keep in mind that the play is written (and sung) in Greek verse… so their movement is sometimes centered around this

Some interactions are structured in strophic pairs

Strophe = “turn”

Antistrophe = “turn against”

The chorus would dance across the stage while singing the strophe and then turn around and come back across during the antistrophe

The language in a strophic pair is usually more vivid/flowery than the actors’ lines

ii. Conventions of Greek Drama

The playComposition:

Plot is often drawn from traditional myth

Plays are written in verse (poetic form in original Greek language)

Conversations often interrupted by chorus

Structure:

Prologue – a preparatory scene at the beginning of play; contains dialogue which informs audience of the play’s circumstances (the exposition)

Párados – the first song sung by the Chorus after the Prologue; marks the entrance of the chorus

Episodes/Scenes – contain the action of the play (similar to modern “acts”); separated by danced choral songs or odes

Odes – summarize/comment upon the preceding action or speculate about its significance; further illuminate important concepts for the audience

Éxodos – the last scene; characters and chorus conclude the action and depart

II. Greek Tragedyi. Defining characteristics

ii. Aristotle

→ ideas on tragedy

→ the tragic hero

iii. Important Terms

iv. Dramatic Structure

v. Sophocles

→ background

→ the Sophoclean Hero

What is tragedy?

A tragedy is a drama which, according to Aristotle,

depicts the downfall of a basically good person

through some fatal error or misjudgment,

producing suffering and insight on the part of the

protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part

of the audience.

Some defining characteristics of

Greek tragedy…

➢Plots are based on Greek myths → the audience

would have been familiar with the “story” being

depicted, but playwrights sometimes added “twists”

➢deals with elevated issues such as justice, free will

and fate, public vs. private life, knowledge and

illusion, and ultimately human suffering

➢Consider that these are still modern issues!

➢Greek tragedies, including those of Sophocles,

almost always focus on conflict within a family & the

destruction of the family due to that conflict

Defining

characteristics

of tragedy cont.

➢ Plays often depict conflicting loyalties between

➢ city/state (polis)

➢ family/household (oikos)… not the yogurt)

➢ Murder, sex, natural disasters, suicide, and battles (i.e. events requiring direct “action”) all took place offstage; messengers then reported the results.

➢ The focus of the drama is largely on the verbal exchange between characters.

Aristotle

his work, Poetics, contains the classic

theory of tragedy (Poetics is an early

version of literary criticism)

TRAGEDY, according to Aristotle =

“the imitation of an action that is serious

and also as having magnitude, complete in

itself”

“a form of drama exciting the emotions of

pity and fear. Its action should be single

and complete, presenting a reversal of

fortune, involving persons of renowned and

of superior attainments… it should be

written in poetry embellished with every

kind of artistic expression”

Aristotle considered Oedipus Rex the

“perfect” tragedy

Aristotle continued

Why is it that people are drawn to watching

tragic heroes suffer horrible fates?

According to Aristotle…

Action of the play should arouse extreme pity and

fear in the audience - pathos – pity for the

protagonist and a sympathetic fear because he is like

us

First, the audience develops an emotional

attachment to the tragic hero;

Second, the audience fears what may befall the hero

Finally (after misfortune strikes) the audience pities

the suffering hero. Through these attachments the

individual members of the audience go through a

catharsis, the “relief” or “purging” (of pity and

fear); the viewer of a tragedy refines his or her

sense of difficult ethical issues through a vicarious

experience of such thorny problems.

Aristotle continued – “Unities”

Aristotelian “unities”

= the principles of a drama (a formula of sorts…) Aristotle believed that a good tragedy has the following elements:

Unity of place

The play should be in one location and should not span distance/geography (e.g. in Oedipus Rex, most of the actions takes place on the palace steps)

Unity of time

The play should take place over the course of one day (note that previous events can be recalled/discussed within the play, but the main/current action unfolds in one day)

Unity of action

All action must contribute to the main plot or a single plot (i.e. few digressions or subplots)

Important Greek Tragedy Terms:

Hamartia – an error in judgment (closely associated with or leads to the tragic flaw). Translates to “missing the mark”

Peripeteia –reversal of fortune/circumstances, a negative turning point; usually a move from power/success to misery and misfortune

Anagnorisis - the recognition by the tragic hero of some truth about his or her identity or erroneous actions (hamartia) that often accompanies the reversal of the situation in the plot, the peripeteia

Pathos - describes the powerful emotions of pity and fear aroused in the audience of a tragedy

Catharsis - the purging of the emotions of pity and fear that are aroused in the viewer of a tragedy

Aristotle’s Tragic Plot Structure – A rough sketch

III. Tragedy – The Tragic Hero

The hero/heroine…

cannot be either all good or all evil, but rather someone the audience can identify with

hero is often superior in status

makes the tragedy more intense and the fall more calamitous b/c it involves an entire nation or people

Suffers (and ultimately falls) because of an error in judgement (hamartia) due to a character flaw that causes the hero to ignore a divine warning or break a moral law

The hero will realize a horrible truth and that he is responsible for the tragic events (anagnorisis) - but it’s too late

Experiences a peripeteia: a reversal from power and success to misery and misfortune

iii. Sophocles

496 B.C – 406 B.C.

One of the 3 great tragedians of Athens (others = Aeschylus and Euripides). Their plays are the only ones preserved as a whole

Considered the most successful playwright by Athenians – won the Dionysian festival multiple times

Wrote 120 plays; ONLY 7 survive

Best known for his Theban plays

Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus

Plays contained a moral lesson and usually a warning against religious indifference.

The Sophoclean Hero

Sophocles’ plays concentrate on the INDIVIDUAL

Protagonist is isolated in some way

Tragedy will focus on difficulties of the individual amidst family conflict

the main character is usually faced with a crisis in which disaster can only be averted by a compromise that, in the protagonist’s view, would constitute betrayal of something that he or she holds to be supremely important.

Protagonist refuses to compromise… a flaw, perhaps?

Gods almost entirely absent from the plays – so characters must try to determine the will of the gods through omens, prophecies, etc. – this underscores the protagonist’s isolation

Oedipus Rex –

what to note as your read… Plot elements – consider how crisis unfolds, moment of

peripeteia, anagnorisis, etc.

Literary devices

Character development/Character foils – consider seemingly important statements and word choices

The structure of the play – scenes & accompanying odes, etc.

Conflicts and crisis – how is this developed?

The elements of a tragedy and a tragic hero – what is Oedipus’s flaw?

The following thematic elements and motifs; consider what point Sophocles is attempting to make:

Fate vs. Free Will

Truth/ignorance

Blindness/sight

Conflicting loyalties (state vs. family)

Identity

Plague/pollution/sickness/evil

Role of prophecy

Role of women, the chorus, messengers, etc.

Thank you, pop culture

The STRUCTURE

Prologue – consider what all prologues do… Why does Sophocles begin the play the way he does… and wheredoes he begin?

Párados – entrance of the chorus – the language spoken by the chorus is more complex and elevated. Strophe Antistrophe

Scene I (also referred to as an episode) Main “action” – the exchanges between characters

that further develops the crisis Note how characters are further developed in each

scene

Ode I (also referred to as a stasimon) Spoken by the chorus (recall the function of the

chorus!) will comment on the “action” from the preceding

scene & further dramatize the events unfolding Language is often more elevated in style; more

thematic

Oedipus Rex a note on the translation…

The Fitzgerald translation will use spellings that

are closer to the Greek form (for both characters

and places)

Iocaste = Jocasta

Phoibus = Phoebus = Apollo

REFER TO THE INDEX OF NAMES IN THE BACK OF THE

BOOK IF YOU ARE UNSURE!

Outside of the text, you might encounter other

terminology

Scene → episode

Ode → stasimon “stationary song”