GREEK TRAGEDY ANY TEXT IN COLOR MAY BE ON A TEST.

GREEK TRAGEDY

ANY TEXT IN COLOR MAY BE

ON A TEST

THEATER

Plays were written for a yearly festival in honor of the God Dionysus. These plays were either comedies or tragedies.

The Greek God of wine

GREEK FESTIVALS

Drama was a very important part of Greek festivals. Dramatic competitions were held to honor the god of Dionysus for the enjoyment of the Greeks, much like a party. However, these competitions also had a greater substance.

GREEK FESTIVALS

The ancient Greeks saw drama as a sort of social confessional. The plays taught the audience reverence for the gods, while teaching them to be respectful to their family and city-state.

ANCIENT GREEK THEATERS

Open-air structures. Often located in or near sanctuaries.

Theater located above temple of Apollo at Delphi

ANCIENT GREEK THEATERSCore of the theater was the orchestra or the “dancing place” of the Chorus. (Full/Half circles)

THE CHORUS#1 Tragic Chorus – consisted of fifteen people who could sing and dance. PURPOSE:

Chant an entrance song called a “parodos,” and take its place in the orchestra.

Engaged in dialogue with characters through its leader.

Wore costumes and masks (not as elaborate as the actors)

Most important function was to sing and dance choral songs .

STRUCTURE OF THE PLAY

Tragedies would alternate with scenes of dialogue and choral songs.

The chorus would comment in its song in a general way on what has been said and/or done in the preceding scene.

Choragos - Leader of the Chorus

STRUCTURE OF THE PLAYTragedies would begin with a prologue - an opening scene of expository (or explanatory) monologue.

1. Parados – opening song.2. First Scene3. Ode – song sung by Chorus that divided scenes.

A. strophe – rotated left to right

B. antistrophe– rotated right to left

5. paean – thanksgiving to Dionysus at the conclusion

6. exodus – final exiting scene

4. Alternate Scenes and Odes

PLAYWRIGHTS

Of the hundreds of dramas written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors have survived.

Aeschylus EuripidesSophocles

REGION

OEDIPUS MYTHLaius, ruler of Thebes, is told by the oracle of Apollo that his son will kill him. He and his wife, Jocasta, pinion their son’s feet and order a slave to abandon the baby on a mountainside. The slave takes pity on the baby, and instead of leaving it to die gives the boy to a nearby childless king, Polybus, and queen of Corinth who bring him up as their own. He is given the name "Oedipus," meaning “swollen foot” because of his deformity

CREON

HAEMON

THE FAMILY TREE

JOCASTALAIUS

OEDIPUS

(Polybus/ Merope RAISE HIM AS THEIR

SON)

Birth ParentsBrother and

Sister

ROADRAGE

The oracle at Delphi warns Oedipus that he will kill his father and marry his mother

Oedipus flees Corinth and heads for Thebes

Meeting at the crossroads

THE MYTH (continued)Laius, ruler of Thebes, is killed at a crossroads outside Thebes, (by Oedipus) and, as punishment, the gods plague the city with a Sphinx (a winged monster with the head of a woman and the body of a lion) who kills all who cross her path and are unable to answer her riddle. The riddle: what goes on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?

THE MYTH (continued)

ANSWER:

A man - who crawls when he is a baby, walks when he is a

young man, and limps with a cane when he is old.

THE MYTH (continued)Oedipus, who has traveled to Thebes in an attempt to escape the fate an oracle has predicted for him: that he will kill his father and marry his mother (remember that he thinks the king and queen of Corinth are his parents), is able to provide the Sphinx the answer.

Oedipus is seen as a savior of the city of Thebes, and his reward is to marry Jocosta.

Oedipus and Jocosta have a happy marriage and four children: Eteocles, Polyneices, Ismene and Antigone

THE FAMILY TREE

ISMENE

ETEOCLESPOLYNEICES

ANTIGONE

JOCASTALAIUSCREON

HAEMON

OEDIPUS(Polybus/ Merope RAISE HIM AS THEIR

SON)

Birth Parents

THE MYTH (continued)However, years later, tragedy strikes Thebes again when a blight strikes the city, killing both crops in the field and babies in their mothers' wombs.

The oracle at Apollo is asked to lift the blight. The oracle says that when Laius’ murderer is found and banished from Thebes, the blight will be lifted.

Oedipus speaks to the blind prophet Teiresias who accuses Oedipus himself of killing Laius.

Oedipus remembers the fate the oracle at Delphi predicted and the fact that he killed a man who fits Laius’ description,.

THE FAMILY TREE

ISMENE

ETEOCLESPOLYNEICES

ANTIGONE

JOCASTALAIUS CREON

HAEMON

OEDIPUS

(Polybus/ Merope)

REVIEW

THE MYTH (continued)The slave, who was told to abandon Oedipus on the mountainside, tells Oedipus that Polybus and Merope are not his parents. Oedipus is actually the son of Laius and Jocasta.

Oedipus realizes that he has killed his father and married his mother. He goes to find that Jocasta has killed herself. Oedipus takes the pins from her gown and gouges out his eyes, so that he can no longer look upon the misery he has caused.

THE END OF OEDIPUSCreon (Jocasta’s brother) takes over Thebes, and orders Oedipus to leave Thebes.Antigone leads him to Corinth where he dies years later.

LAIUS Jocasta Creon

HaemonOedipus

DILEMMA

Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other over who will rule Thebes.

Creon orders a full burial for Eteocles. He also issues an edict that the body of Polyneices not be buried but left to be scavenged by the birds.

Antigone has decided to defy her uncle and bury her brother’s body.

ANTIGONE begins …

ANTIGONE

WHAT IS ANTIGONE LIKE?

Courageous, innocent and doomed

FLAWS?

Stubbornness; Single-mindedness

All major characters in the play say something in favor of flexibility except her.

CREON vs. ANTIGONE

State Religion

Living

Individual, Family

Men Women

Dead

Community

CONFLICT

WHAT IS CREON LIKE?

Creon thinks everyone else has a bad motive.

Creon is a tyrant unwilling to hear any dissent.

Creon undervalues his own family.

Creon is too stubborn TOO long.

CREON’S FALL

Creon eventually relents only to realize it’s…

TOO LATE!