1. AP English Language and Literature 3 rd Quarter Mr. Fenn Introduction to Drama

2. “To understand a drama requires the same mental operation as to understand an existence, a biography, a man. It is a putting back of the bird into the egg, of the plant into its seed, a reconstitution of the whole genesis of the being in question. Art is simply the bringing into relief of the obscure thought of nature; a simplification of the lines, a falling into place of groups otherwise invisible. The fire of inspiration brings out, as it were, designs traced beforehand in sympathetic ink. The mysterious grows clear, the confused plain; what is complicated becomes simple - what is accidental, necessary. In short, art reveals nature by interpreting its intentions and formulating its desires. Every ideal is the key of a long enigma. The great artist is the simplifier” (emphasis and breaks added). Henri-Frédéric Amiel, 1882

3. Elisabeth Woodbridge “All art, and hence all great drama, is in its nature both universal and personal, both general and selective. The painter cannot, for example paint every leaf of a tree, and if he did so his painting would certainly be more unsatisfactory to us than if he had worked with less minuteness. o His art lies in determining which of the impressions into which the infinitely complex total which we call “tree” may be resolved - which of these is to be preserved as essential, which may be rejected” (emphasis and breaks added). 1898

4. Drama From the Greek δρᾶμα (drama) which means “action” The drama masks represent tragedy and comedy

5. Drama Begins Egyptian drama, ca 2800-2400 BC, dramas about the dead pharaoh going to the underworld o Memphite Drama, recounting the story of Osiris and his son, Horus’, coronation o Abydos passion play concerns the story of Osiris – performed annually from 2500-550 BC Greece, ca 700 BC, many festivals honoring Dionysus, goddess of fertility o The art form of drama begins o “tragedy” comes from “goat” and “song” – the winner of the drama contest would win a goat (Robinson) Drama as Art Begins

6. Aristotle’s Definition of 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; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its katharsis of such emotions....

7. Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, 1. Plot 2. Characters 3. Diction 4. Thought 5. Spectacle 6. Melody.”

8. “imitation of an action” Mimesis o the medium of tragedy is drama, not narrative; tragedy “shows” rather than “tells.” “the law of probability or necessity.” o tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history because history simply relates what has happened while tragedy dramatizes what may happen, “what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity.” o History thus deals with the particular, and tragedy with the universal.

9. “The ideal, after all, is truer than the real; for the ideal is the eternal element in perishable things: it is their type, their sum, their raison d'etre, their formula in the book of the Creator, and therefore at once the most exact and the most condensed expression of them.” (Amiel)

10. cause-and-effect chain Events that have happened may be due to accident or coincidence; they may be particular to a specific situation and not be part of a clear cause-and-effect chain. Therefore they have little relevance for others. Tragedy, however, is rooted in the fundamental order of the universe; it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates. Tragedy therefore arouses not only pity but also fear, because the audience can envision themselves within this cause-and-effect chain

11. Aristotle believed that Sophocles was the perfect writer Only in Sophocles, the perfect writer, were united ideal beauty, clearness of construction and religious inspiration-- the three qualities which alone make tragedy great. (Bellinger)

12. The Three Unities Time o limits the supposed action to the duration, roughly, of a single day o Woodbridge states that it is “organic unity” not in terms of the entire play taking only a single day but that the “beginning, middle and end” occur during the “two hours allotted to the poet, and by the means at his command” (p. 17). Place o limits it to one general locality Action o limits it to a single set of incidents which are related as cause and effect, "having a beginning, a middle, and an end. (Bellinger)

13. Plot “first principle” o the most important feature of tragedy “the arrangement of the incidents”: o not the story itself but the way the incidents are presented to the audience, the structure of the play. Tragedies where the outcome depends on a tightly constructed cause-and-effect chain of actions are superior to those that depend primarily on the character and personality of the protagonist. (McManus)

14. Plots that meet this criterion will have the following qualities: Whole - with a beginning, middle, and end. Complete – unity of action (no deus ex machina, or outside coincidences) Of a certain magnitude – quant.: lengthy, complexity; qual.: seriousness, universal significance o Simple of complex – simple: only have a change of fortune (catastrophe) o Complex: have reversal of intention (peripeteia) and recognition (anagnorisis) connected with the catastrophe Peripeteia – character produces opposite effect than intended Anagnorisis – change from “ignorance to knowledge, producing love or hate between the persons destined for good or bad fortune”

15. Character In a perfect tragedy, character will support plot, o personal motivations will be intricately connected parts of the cause-and-effect chain of actions producing pity and fear in the audience. o The protagonist should be renowned and prosperous, so his change of fortune can be from good to bad. This change “should come about as the result, not of vice, but of some great error or frailty in a character.” Such a plot is most likely to generate pity and fear in the audience, for “pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a man like ourselves.” (McManus)

16. hamartia “tragic flaw” The meaning of the Greek word is closer to “mistake” than to “flaw” “the law or probability or necessity” In the ideal tragedy, claims Aristotle, the protagonist will mistakenly bring about his own downfall—not because he is sinful or morally weak, but because he does not know enough. The role of the hamartia in tragedy comes not from its moral status but from the inevitability of its consequences. Hence the peripeteia is really one or more self-destructive actions taken in blindness, leading to results diametrically opposed to those that were intended (often termed tragic irony), and the anagnorisis is the gaining of the essential knowledge that was previously lacking

17. Characters in tragedy should have the following qualities “good or fine.” o Aristotle relates this quality to moral purpose and says it is relative to class: “Even a woman may be good, and also a slave, though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless.” “fitness of character” (true to type) o e.g. valor is appropriate for a warrior but not for a woman. “true to life” (realistic) “true to life and yet more beautiful” (idealized, ennobled). “consistency” (true to themselves). o Once a character's personality and motivations are established, these should continue throughout the play. “necessary or probable.” o Characters must be logically constructed according to “the law of probability or necessity” that governs the actions of the play.

18. Thought found “where something is proved to be or not to be, or a general maxim is enunciated.” Aristotle says little about thought, and most of what he has to say is associated with how speeches should reveal character However, we may assume that this category would also include what we call the themes of a play. (McManus)

19. Diction “the expression of the meaning in words” which are proper and appropriate to the plot, characters, and end of the tragedy. “But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor;... it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances” (McManus)

20. Song or melody musical element of the chorus Aristotle argues that the Chorus should be fully integrated into the play like an actor choral odes should not be “mere interludes,” but should contribute to the unity of the plot (McManus)

21. Spectacle last, for it is least connected with literature “the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet.” superior poets rely on the inner structure of the play rather than spectacle to arouse pity and fear those who rely heavily on spectacle “create a sense, not of the terrible, but only of the monstrous” (McManus)

22. katharsis The end of the tragedy (purgation, cleansing) of the tragic emotions of pity and fear. The word means “purging” Aristotle seems to be employing a medical metaphor o tragedy arouses the emotions of pity and fear in order to purge away their excess, to reduce these passions to a healthy, balanced proportion. o Aristotle also talks of the “pleasure” that is proper to tragedy, apparently meaning the aesthetic pleasure one gets from contemplating the pity and fear that are aroused through an intricately constructed work of art (McManus)

23. Freytag’s Pyramid, 1863

25. Greek Tragedy Greek tragedy often leaves out the rising action and begins in the midst of the struggle (Woodbridge) Consisted of the following parts: o Prologue (described the situation and the setting, mythological background for the play) o Parados (an ode sung by the chorus) o Episode (the acted story) followed by a Stasimon (a choral ode, usually reflects on the previous episode, placing it into a larger mythological framework) o Exodus (climax and conclusion often with words of wisdom related to the play) (“Ancient Greek Theater”)

26. Shakespeare’s Drama 5 acts, each corresponding directly with Freytag’s Pyramid Structured plots Explored the human spirit, human condition

27. Works Cited Amiel, Henri-Frédéric. Amiel’s Journal: The Journal Intimé of Henri-Frédéric Amiel. Trans. Mrs. Humphrey Ward. A.L. Burt Company, Publishers, 1883. PDF file. “Ancient Greek Theater.” academic.reed.edu. Reed University, n.d. Web. 30 Dec. 2011. Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. S. H. Butcher. The Internet Classics Archive. Web Atomic and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 13 Sept. 2007. Web. 30 Dec. 2011. Bellinger, Martha Fletcher. A Short History of Drama. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1927. PDF file. McManus, Barbara. “Outline of Aristotle’s Theory of Tragedy in the POETICS.” cnr.edu. The College of New Rochelle, 1999. Web. 30 Dec. 2011. Robinson, Scott R. “Theater History.” cwu.edu. Scott R. Robinson, 2000-2010. Web. 30 Dec. 2011. Woodbridge, Elisabeth, PhD. The Drama: Its Law and Its Technique. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1898. PDF file.