 Greek Philosophies  Greek Theater  Tragedy and Comedy  Structure of Greek Drama

 Moderation— one should never take anything to excess, including feelings.  Fate— belief in pre-destination.  Divine Intervention— the gods play an active role in the outcome of actions. They will help or hurt you in life.  Hospitality— always be polite as a host or guest. A guest’s first allegiance is to one’s host.

 Greek theaters are among the most spectacular buildings that survive from ancient times  In cities, such as Athens, people flocked to the drama competitions  Performed during the spring festival of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility 6 th Century B.C.  Plays based on religion and myths were performed by a Chorus, a group of actors who would tell the stories 5 th Century B.C.  Thespis introduced the use of a single actor on stage  Drama, from the Greek word doing, rather than telling  Four greatest writers Aeschylus ( B.C.) Sophocles ( B.C.) Euripides ( B.C.) Aristophanes ( B.C.)  Favorite Subjects: Trojan War, Oedipus, Odysseus, Achilles, Agamemnon, and the Greek gods and goddesses

 Tragedy —A play in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers a great sorrow.  In Greek Tragedy, the main character is a person of dignified or heroic stature.  He or she may be a victim of outside forces ( fate or divine intervention ) but usually a characters downfall is partly caused by hamartia, a flaw or error in judgment, often called the tragic flaw.  According to Greek philosopher Aristotle, the purpose of tragedy is catharsis which is a purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.

 En Medias Res —the story begins at the middle of the plot, and the exposition is told through flashback.  Chorus — provided background information; gave advice to the characters; voice of reason; comic relief; foreshadowing; pointed out beauty/poetry of language; echoed the themes of the play.  Characterization —the methods a writer uses to develop the personality of the character.  Direct characterization is stated by the author.  Indirect characterization requires the audience make an inference based on the character’s appearance, words, thoughts, actions and comments by other characters.

 Idiom —a phrase where the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words. Oedipus accuses Creon of planning to “Stab him in the back”  Hamartia —a character’s tragic flaw, which is an important element of tragedy.  Hubris —excessive pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities, especially when the person is in a position of power.  Flashback —an interruption in the plot of a literary work to relate a scene from an earlier time. Sophocles uses this technique to give the audience background information which is important since the play is told in media res.  Foreshadowing —The clues used by the author to prepare the audience for that will happen later in the plot, or reveal details about the outcome of the main character’s fate. This helps to create suspense.

 Deus Ex Machina —”God out of machine.” it was a crane that allowed god to appear out of nowhere. These flying actors played gods who appeared to resolve the conflict in the play.  Epithet —A descriptive word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It can be described as a glorified nickname.  Dramatic Irony — when the audience or a character knows something that the main character is unaware.  Revelation —prior to the climax of the plot, information is revealed that leads to the tragic hero’s demise.  Symbolism —when an object or idea represents something else. In Oedipus blindness represents inner vision.  Personification —assigning human traits to non- human things. Oedipus says “O triple roads… all once more”

 The consequences of seeking information  The power of words and language  Corruption of the nation or individual  Blindness to the truth  Fate versus free will  The Rule of 3