1. Notes on Antigone by Sophocles and the Greek Theater
Dr. Gingrich
10th Honors English

2. Dionysus, Greek God of wine and song Bacchus in Roman
Dithyramb choral lyric
Tragoedia goat song
Actors often dressed as satyrs
Took place in a circular dancing place called an orchestra
The word choros means a “dance in a ring”
The chorus both sang and danced—the early Greek tragedies would resemble what we today call operas

4. Actors were known as hypokrites, original one actor, Sophocles added two more to make three actors
Greek theaters were in the open air and involved a competition2. Competitive -- prizes awarded
Actors and playwrights competed --Oedipus apparently didn't win
(was 2nd) B.C.
The were celebrations that usually took place in the spring in Late March/ early April
The Theater of Dionysus held about 12,000

5. Characteristics of Greek Theater
Structure of Greek Tragedy:
Late point of attack
Violence and death offstage (Sophocles's Ajax  is an exception)
Frequent use of messengers to relate information
Usually continuous time of action (except Aeschylus's Eumenides)
Usually single place (except Ajax)
Stories based on myth or history, but varied interpretations of events
Focus is on psychological and ethical attributes of characters, rather than physical and sociological.

6. But choral songs in tragedy are often divided into three sections:
strophe ("turning, circling")
antistrophe ("counter-turning, counter-circling") and
epode ("after-song").
So perhaps the chorus would dance one way around the orchestra ("dancing-floor") while singing the strophe, turn another way during the antistrophe, and then stand still during the epode.
Usually they would enter going west to east and exit going east to west

7. Had temples and public building built, including the Theatre of Dionysus (Dionysus) and the Parthenon
Athens was defeated in the Peloponnesian War in 404 B.C.
Greek society viewed gods in human terms - gods held grudges, etc., fought with each other - therefor their destiny (and those of humans) was uncertain
A strong concern for humanity - the founders of philosophy came from this period
Humans were elevated from animals, but harmony depended on a conjunction of human and divine forces. If disharmony, peace was endangered.
Drama therefore focused on human struggles, but with a "supernatural" element.

8. Characteristics of Sophocles' plays:
emphasis on individual characters
reduced role of chorus
complex characters, psychologically well-motivated
characters subjected to crisis leading to suffering and self-recognition - including a higher law above man
exposition carefully motivated
scenes suspensefully climactic
action clear and logical
poetry clear and beautiful
few elaborate visual effects
theme emphasized: the choices of people

9. Definition: Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of
hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature.
Aristotle says that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but he / she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition (anagnorisis--"knowing again" or "knowing back" or "knowing throughout" ) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle quite nicely terms this sort of recognition "a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate."

10. The Tragic Hero
The tragic hero is "a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake."
a) a great man: "one of those who stand in great repute and prosperity, like Oedipus and Thyestes: conspicuous men from families of that kind." The hero is neither a villain nor a model of perfection but is basically good and decent.
b) "mistake" (hamartia)[*]: This Greek word, which Aristotle uses only once in the Poetics, has also been translated as "flaw" or as "error." The great man falls through--though not entirely because of--some weakness of character, some moral blindness, or error. We should note that the gods also are in some sense responsible for the hero's fall.

11. Acting
Actors usually played more than one role
Men played all the parts
Stylized - used masks, choral declamation, etc.
Tragedy leaned toward idealization; comedy toward burlesque.
Other elements affecting 5th century Greek productions:
The chorus – tragedies

12. Functions of the chorus
1. an agent: gives advice, asks, takes part
2. establishes ethical framework, sets up standard by which action will be judged
3. ideal spectator - reacts as playwright hopes audience would
4. sets mood and heightens dramatic effects
5. adds movement, spectacle, song, and dance
6. rhythmical function - pauses / paces the action so that the audience can reflect.

13. Here is the structure of a typical tragedy (some tragedies have one more or one less episode and stasimon)3:
Prologue tells basically what will happen, also tells events that have happened before the plays action
Parodos A parodos is both the first entrance of the chorus into the orchestra and the choral ode that they sing and dance as they enter (which is usually the first choral song of the drama). First Episode most closely thought of as an act or a scene
First Stasimon stationary song sung after the chorus has taken up its position in the orchestra
Second Episode
Second Stasimon
Third Episode
Third Stasimon
Fourth Episode
Fourth Stasimon
Exodos –conclusion, “exit”, what we would today call an epilogue

14. Theatron where people sat
Orchestra circular dancing place where actors and chorus performed
Thyleme altar to Dionysus in center of orchestra
Skene building used as a dressing room
Proskenion façade of skene building which served as a backdrop
Parados entrance to the theater used by chorus (this is also the same word which is used as structure of drama itself)