Greek Theatre and Tragedy: An Introduction to Antigone

Greek Theatre and Tragedy: An Introduction to AntigoneOedipus 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
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:
*this is not in your notes… it’s a preview
Lecture Outline I. Greek Theater
i. Role of theater in society ii. Conventions of Greek drama
Staging Actors The chorus
Theory of tragedy Aristotelian unities
iii. Dramatic structure iv. The tragic hero v. Sophocles
Background The Sophoclean Hero
III. Oedipus IV. Antigone
Greek literature…
century B.C. i.e. latter part
of the 700s B.C.
A few CENTURIES pass…
an individual, high
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)
allowing everyone to participate
and political education of the
community
ii. Conventions of Greek Drama
Staging Performed at an open-air hillside
amphitheater
Orchestra
Skene
“tent” i.e. the stage house/building/backdrop
ii. The theater Below: The Theater of Dionysus (at the Acropolis)
ii. The theater
A fully constructed
The actors
one time – all male
etc.)
Focus is on the WORDS, not action
iii. Conventions of Greek Drama
The Chorus
~12-15 men
Comment on dramatic action
Reflect on important events/ideas
Choragos – head chorus leader
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 play Composition:
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 Tragedy i. Defining characteristics
ii. 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.
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
city/state (polis)
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
theory of tragedy (Poetics is an early
version of literary criticism)
TRAGEDY, according to Aristotle =
and also as having magnitude, complete in
itself”
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”
“perfect” tragedy
Aristotle continued
tragic heroes suffer horrible fates?
According to Aristotle…
fear in the audience - pathos – pity for the
protagonist and a sympathetic fear because he is like
us
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.
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
Identity
Plague/pollution/sickness/evil
Thank you, pop culture
The STRUCTURE
Prologue – consider what all prologues do… Why does Sophocles begin the play the way he does… and where does 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
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