Background to Greek Tragedy AP English Language and Composition Mr. Eugene.

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Presentation transcript:

Background to Greek Tragedy AP English Language and Composition Mr. Eugene

What is Tragedy? Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions. -- Aristotle, from Book VI of the Poetics Analysis of definition: 1.Based on imitation of action that is serious, complete, and elevated 2.Uses embellished language 3.Presented in dramatic form 4.Effects purgation (catharsis), through experience of pity and fear in audience

Drama: A mimetic art form ► Imitation of action is not a superficial pursuit, but one grounded in the primitive human need to exercise the ordering capacity of the mind on the external world. ► Mimesis often involved dance and the wearing of costumes ► Mimesis aims at inspiration and autosuggestion ► Consider these examples of artistic mimesis:  Cave painting  Hopi rain dance  Medieval joust  What others can you think of?

History of Greek Tragedy: The roots of dramatic performance ► Greek drama was originally in dance form and for religious purposes ► Religious dances were called dithyrambs, or “ goat songs ”  leaping dances of abandonment ending in sacrifice of animal, usually a goat ► Drama transitioned from religious practice to art form in the 5th century BCE

The Greek Theater: Architecture and Staging A. Theatron F. Parados E. Proskenion D. Skene B. OrchestraC. Thymele

History of Greek Tragedy: The Introduction of Dialogue ► Thespis (a director of a famous chorus)  Known as the first actor  Stood on the sacrificial table and addressed the leader of the chorus ► Aeschylus (the Father of Tragedy)  Introduced second actor  Diminished the importance of the chorus  Made dialogue the body of the drama  Made actors as impressive as possible by developing cothurni and painted masks

Sophocles: The happy playwright ► Introduced second actor, scene (skene) painting, and the play within a trilogy as an independent entity ► Raised number of chorus from 12 to 15 ► First tragedian to use phrygian music ► Modified purpose of chorus:  Represented the common people  Set the mood for each episode  Follow the dramatic action closely  React to the dramatic action emotionally  Separate episodes, creating rhythmic flow of action and reflection

Euripedes ► About a dozen years younger than Sophocles ► From a wealthy family; able to devote himself to drama ► Produced blends of dramatic forms, especially tragic-comedy ► Continued innovations in music as lyrics become less important resulting in:  Loose syntax  Polysyllabic vagueness ► Nondramatic prologue orients viewer to the point in the myth at which action is to begin ► Extensive use of deus ex machina endings

Elements of Greek Tragedy: Plot is the “ Soul of Tragedy ” ► Action moves through emotion (pathos) to perception, resulting in purgation (catharsis) ► Purpose of plot is to stage a complete working out of a single motivation ► Plot must observe three unities: 1.Action – no subplots or diversions 2.Time – action occurs in the space of a single day 3.Place – no scene changes (messenger brings news of other events) ► Plot was seldom invented; usually based on known myths ► Subject is downfall of elevated figure resulting in his destruction or death

Elements of Greek Tragedy: Plot and the emergence of perception ► Action of the play reveals how man is brought to destruction by a single hamartia, or flaw in his character ► Perception emerges in the moment of peripeteia, or reversal of action ► Reversal occurs simultaneously with the moment of anagnorisis, or recognition of the truth, producing a change from ignorance to insight

Elements of Greek Tragedy: Action, Perception, and its Outcome ► Internal: Tragic protagonist comes to understand and acknowledge 1.his/her place in the universal scheme of things 2.the errors that have led to tragedy 3.the degree to which s/he is responsible for his/her destruction ► External: Emotional tension increases to a breaking point, arousing pity and fear, awe and wonder until, at moment of reversal, audience experiences purgation

Audience, religious rite, and the primitive psyche ► Audience vicariously experiences tragic emotions in extreme form ► Conclusion of tragedy purges these emotions from the psyche ► Dramatic form, in this sense, merges religious and psychological rite ► Dramatic art form is thus both inspired by and intended to inspire the primitive psyche (see handout on Jung) of the collective audience