Greek%20Tragedy%20and%20Comedy

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Greek Tragedy and Comedy

• by
• Filjor Broka

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Outline

• Greek Life
• Origins of Greek Theatre
• Performance in Greek Theatre
• Greek Tragedy
• Greek Comedy

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Greek Life - Politics

• Democratic form of government
• Strongly supported public debate and public
  speaking
• Political life was a daily occurrence
• Civic duty was a natural component of their
  personality

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Greek Life Social Aspects

• Loved life
• Loved to compete
• Strove for excellence and beauty in all things
• Took pride in their freedom

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Greek Life - Religion

• Polytheistic faith
• Fate was the controlling factor
• Worshipped their gods in diverse ways
• Gods often appeared as mortals, may have human
  attributes

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Origins Sources

• Extant plays and fragments
• Records of dramas (scattered)
• Commentaries (such as Aristotle)
• Archeological remains of buildings
• Visual art - primarily from vase painting
• Therefore, the conclusions we make are highly
  conjectural, but we can discuss the standard
  accepted views of Greek theatre.

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Dionysus

• Dionysus was the God of
• fertility (main duty)
• wine
• agriculture
• sexuality

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Dyonisian Festivals

• The Dionysian ceremonies, simple at the
  beginning, little by little became noisy and
  orgiastic.
• The enthusiasts were strolling holding the
  phallus in front of them, accompanied by flute,
  drums and forminx, eating the raw fleshes of the
  animals sacrificed to Dionysus.

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Dyonisian Festivals

• Rural Dionysia in month Neptune
• (December - January)
• Lenea in the month Gameleon
• (January - February)
• Small Dionysia in month Anthesterion
• (February - March)
• Great Dionysia (City Dionysia) in month
  Elaphevolion
• (March - April)

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Dithyramb

• Dithyramb is an hymn to god Dionysus, a choric
  song accompanied by flute
• As part of the choric poetry Dithyramb had a
  chorus.
• The members of the chorus were disguised in
  animals (goats) and they were called Satyrs. The
  Satyrs were daemons of the woods and at first
  they had no relation to Dionysus.
• According to Plutarch (Moralia, 257), dithyramb
  consisted of songs, with lyrics drown from
  Dionysus life and his adventures.
• Some of them were sad, symbolizing the suffering
  of God (sung during Lenea, in January, when the
  nature mourns) and others funny, symbolizing the
  joy of God (sung during the Great Dionysia, in
  March, with the revival of the nature).

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Dithyramb

• His followers, formed a parade a satyr holding
  a urn full of wine and some branches of wine tree
  was leading, followed by a satyr carrying a goat,
  then by a satyr carrying figs and at last by a
  satyr holding a phallus. (All the above mentioned
  were symbols of Dionysus.)
• Behind them followed the people singing the
  dithyramb. The parade ended in a circular
  threshing floor (precedent of the orchestra),
  where the goat was sacrificed (Even in the later
  centuries, in the middle of the orchestra one
  could find an altar - "thymeli").

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Birth of Tragedy

• According to Greek tradition, the actor and
  playwright Thespis invented the drama when he
  augmented the chorus of the dithyramb with a
  single actor who wore masks to portray several
  different characters.
• With the possibility of dialogue between the
  actor and the chorus, more complex themes and
  modes of storytelling could be developed.
• In 534 BC, at Athens' first dramatic festival,
  one of Thespis' tragedies won the prize. (Derived
  from the Greek tragos, meaning goat, the term
  tragedy may have referred to a goat as the prize
  or as an animal sacrifice made at the festival.)
• Thereafter, tragedies were performed annually as
  part of the festival of Dionysus.

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Actors in Greek Theatre

• At first in dithyramb, there were no actors.
• Thespis was the poet who introduced the first
  hypocrite , Aeschylus the second and Sophocles
  the third one. The hypocrits were always men
• At the beginning the actors have been chosen by
  the poets (they -sometimes- played the roles
  themselves).
• Later, when theatre competition became tough, the
  need of professional actors emerged. Some actors
  tended to attach themselves to a poet. 
• Still in the 5th century, when the success of a
  production depended on the actors as well,  they
  were being chosen by the State.
• Playwrights originally acted, but by 449 B.C.
  with the contests for tragic actors, they didn't.

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Chorus

• Dominant in early tragedies (so main actors could
  change roles)
• By Euripides, chorus only loosely related to the
  action
• Size from 50 to 12 to 15.
• Generally believed to be 15 by the time of
  Sophocles and Euripides.
• Entered with stately march, sometimes singing or
  in small groups.
• Choral passages sung and danced in unison,
  sometimes divided into two groups.
• Sometimes exchanged dialog with the main
  characters, rarely individual speaking
• The leader of the chorus ("Coryphaios") was in
  the middle of the first row. Coryphaios was a
  professional dancer and singer. The rest of the
  chorus consisted of amatures chosen by the poet
  and payed by the sponsor (choregos)
• The chorus, was considered to be the mouthpiece
  of society (in its humble form) and morality, and
  they were suffering along with the heroes. Its
  role (very important at first) was fading during
  the time.

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Chorus
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Chorus- Functions

• an agent gives advice, asks, takes part
• establishes ethical framework, sets up standard
  by which action will be judged
• ideal spectator - reacts as playwright hopes
  audience would
• sets mood and heightens dramatic effects
• adds movement, spectacle, song, and dance
• rhythmical function - pauses / paces the action
  so that the audience can reflect

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Costumes

• The costumes in the ancient Greek theatre also
  have a symbolic significance in the way the
  production is understood.
• Since the hypocrits were all male, it was
  necessary to make them look female for female
  roles.
• "In order to have a female appearance, they were
  playing wearing the prosterniad before the
  chest and the progastrida before the belly.
• In order to look taller and more impressive they
  were wearing cothornous (wooden shoes with tall
  heels)"
• The costumes allowed the audience to know who the
  actor was trying to portray.
• The most essential part of their disguise was the
  mask

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Masks

• prevented the audience from identifying the face
  of any actor with one specific character
• allowed men to impersonate women without
  confusion
• helped the audience identify the sex, age, and
  social rank of the characters
• were often changed by the actors when they would
  exit after an episode to assume a new role

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Stage

• The theatre was constructed of three major parts
• skene -The skene was the place where the actors
  performed. It was originally a hut, tent, or
  booth. It was the background for the play.
• orchestra -The orchestra was the main part of the
  stage where the chorus was located at. It was the
  place where the chorus danced and sang.
• theatron The theatron (literally,
  "viewing-place") is where the spectators sat. The
  theatron was usually part of hillside overlooking
  the orchestra, and often wrapped around a large
  portion of the orchestra (see the diagram above

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Stage
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Theatre of Dionysus
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Theater of Epidauros (built 330 B.C., near
modern day Nauplion, Greece)
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Theatre production

• Playwrights applied to the archon (religious
  leader) for a chorus.
• Expense borne by a choregai, wealthy citizen
  chosen by the archon as part of civic / religious
  duty
• Choregus paid for training, costuming, etc. (tho'
  term choregus also refers to leader of the
  chorus.
• The State responsible for theatre buildings,
  prizes, payments to actors (and perhaps to
  playwrights). Prizes were awarded jointly to
  playwrights and choregus.
• Dramatists themselves probably "directed" the
  tragic plays, but probably not the comedies.
• Aeschylus and others in his time acted, trained
  chorus, wrote music, choreographed, etc.

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Structure of the play

• Prologos
• Parodos
• Episode I
• Stasimon I
• Exodus

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Structure of the play

• Prologos-The first speech of an actor
  (hypokrites) or actors, usually to set up the
  plot and explain what has happened prior to the
  plays beginning.
• Parodos -The first speech of the chorus, usually
  to explain their purpose in being there, or to
  explain the overall purpose and meaning of the
  play.
• Episodes -Actions between actors or between an
  actor and the chorus. Their purpose is to present
  the action or dialogue within the play.

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Structure of the play

• Stasima- Songs of the chorus addressing an
  abstract theme of the play, or focusing upon the
  central theme of the play. The stasima are not
  necessarily focused on the action of the
  episodes, but may contain similar themes.
• Exodus - The final resolution of the play, and an
  explanation of the final actions in the play by
  one or more of the hypokriteis.

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Greek Tragedy

• Tragedies
• Aeschylus - 525-456 B.C. - 80 plays, 7 extant
• Euripides - 480-406 B.C. - 90 plays, 18 or 19
  extant
• Sophocles - 495-406 B.C.-100 plus plays, 7
  extant

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Greek Tragedy-Characteristics

• 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.

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Catharsis

• The purification or purgation of the emotions
  (especially pity and fear) primarily through art.
  
• In criticism, catharsis is a metaphor used by
  Aristotle in the Poetics to describe the effects
  of true tragedy on the spectator
• The use is derived from the medical term
  katharsis (Greek purgation or purification).
  
• Aristotle states that the purpose of tragedy is
  to arouse terror and pity and thereby effect
  the catharsis of these emotions.

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Aeschylus

• He was born in Elefsina in 525 BC.
• His family was noble and wealthy.
• He participated in the battle of Marathon (490
  BC)and in the battleship of Salamina (480
  BC)against the Persians, where he showed great
  braveness and got seriously injured.
• Aeschylus died in Gela of Sicely in 455 BC.
• The tradition reports as a cause of his death the
  fall of a turtle on his head.
• He is still considered by many (as Aristophanes
  writes about in The Frogs) to be the greatest
  Greek playwright.
• He was awarded with 13 first prizes.
• Only 7 of his 74 works are preserved today.

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Plays

• Persians (472)
• Seven Against Thebes (468)
• Suppliant Women (463)
• Oresteia Trilogy (458)
• Agamemnon
• Libation Bearers
• Eumenides
• Prometheus Bound (450-425)

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Characteristics of Aeschylus's plays

• characters have limited number of traits, but
  clear and direct
• emphasizes forces beyond human control
• evolution of justice, impersonal
• power of state eventually replacing personal
  revenge
• chain of private guilt and punishment - all
  reconciled at end

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Sophocles

• Sophocles was born in 497 BC in Colonos, Athens.
• Although according to some sources he was the son
  of an aristocratic family, according to others,
  he was the son of a knife-maker.
• He kept studying the plays of Aeschylus and many
  times he defeated him in the contests.
• During his militairy service he attained the rank
  of General.
• He was teaching three separate tragedies instead
  of one trilogy.
• He increased the number of hypocrits(actors)
  from two to three.
• He also increased the members of the chorus from
  12 to 15.
• His language was so harmonic and beautiful that
  Aristoteles said that "honey was dropping of his
  mouth"
• He died in Athens in 405 BC, after having written
  123 dramas, of which only 7 are saved.

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Plays

• Ajax (450-430)
• Antigone (c. 442)
• Trachiniai (450-430)
• Oedipus Tyrannos (429-425)
• Electra (420-410)
• Philoctetes (409)
• Oedipus at Colonus (401)

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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

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Euripides

• He was born in 480 BC in Halandri, Athens on the
  day of the battleship of Salamina.
• His parents were very poor but he had a fine
  education, being a student of Anaxagoras and a
  close friend to Socrates.
• Very popular in later Greek times, little
  appreciated during his life sometimes known as
  "the father of melodrama"
• He wrote 72 works, 19 of which are saved ( 18
  tragedies and 1 satiric drama "The Cyclops")
• He died violently in 406 in Pella, killed by wild
  dogs.

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Euripides

• Euripides appears to cast tragedy's religious
  foundations into question. Some later
  playwrights, such as Aristophanes, portray him as
  arid in his dialogue, and determined to make
  tragedy less elevated by introducing common
  people. Others call him a misogynist, an
  underminer of received morality, and unorthodox
  in his religious views.
• Yet, no other playwright from antiquity
  challenged the status quo in such a controversial
  manner. He brought about issues for the people
  and for the philosophers, and not just for the
  literary figures.

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Plays

• Alcestis (438)
• Medea (431)
• Children of Heracles (ca. 430)
• Hippolytus (428)
• Andromache (ca. 425)
• Hecuba (ca. 424),
• Suppliant Women (ca. 423)
• Electra (ca. 420)
• Heracles (ca. 416)
• Trojan Women (415)

• Iphigenia among the Taurians (ca. 414)
• Ion (ca. 413)
• Helen (412)
• Phoenician Women (ca. 410)
• Orestes (408)
• Bacchae (after 406)
• Iphigenia in Aulis (after 406)
• Cyclops (possibly ca. 410)

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Characteristics of Euripides' plays

• dealt with subjects usually considered unsuited
  to the stage which questioned traditional values
  (Medea loving her stepson, Medea murdering her
  children)
• dramatic method often unclear -not always clearly
  causally related episodes, with many reversals,
  deus ex machina endings
• many practices were to become popular using
  minor myths or severely altered major ones
• less poetic language, realistic characterizations
  and dialog
• tragedy was abandoned in favor of melodramatic
  treatment.
• theme emphasized sometimes chance rules world,
  people are more concerned with morals than gods
  are.

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Greek Comedy

• Comedy (from Greek komos, meaning revel) was
  presented competitively in Athens from 486 BC at
  the Lenaea winter festival.
• It fused much earlier traditions of popular
  entertainment, mime, phallic rites, and revelry
  in honour of Dionysus.
• Old Comedy, of which Aristophanes was the chief
  exponent, was highly satirical.
• It was characterized by wildly imaginative
  material (in which the chorus might represent
  birds, frogs, wasps, or clouds) that was blended
  with a grotesque, vulgar, and witty tone, which
  could still accommodate poetry of great lyrical
  beauty.
• Commentary on contemporary society, politics,
  literature, and Peloponnesian War.
• Based on a "happy idea" - a private peace with a
  warring power or a sex strike to stop war
• The bawdiness of the plays was emphasized by the
  actors' costumes, which featured jerkins with
  padded stomachs and large phalli.
• As in tragedy, masks were worn, though
  exaggerated for comic effect.

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Greek Comedy

• With the decline of tragedy after Euripides'
  death in 406 BC and the defeat of Athens in 404
  BC, comedy increased in popularity.
• It began to evolve through the transitional
  Middle Comedy to the style known as New Comedy,
  established about 320 BC during the time of
  Alexander the Great.
• Only fragments by one writer, Menander, survive
  from this period, but they indicate a swing away
  from mythological subjects toward a comedy of
  manners, concentrating as they do on the erotic
  adventures of young Athenians and centring on
  urban family life.
• The new, gentler style was reflected in the use
  of more realistic costumes and masks and in the
  increasing use of scenery.

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Aristophanes

• He was born in Athens in 452 BC.
• He had been writing since he was an adolescent
  but he was not allowed to participate in the
  contests because of his age.
• Therefore he participated with the alias
  "Detalis" and he won the first prize with "The
  Acharnians".
• He died in Aegina in 385 BC.

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Plays

• Acharnians (425 B.C.)
• Knights (424 B.C.)
• Clouds (423 B.C.)
• Wasps (422 B.C.)
• Peace (421 B.C.)
• Birds (414 B.C.)
• Lysistrata (411 B.C.)
• Women at the Thesmophoria (411 B.C.)
• Frogs (405 B.C.)
• Ecclesiazusae (c. 391 B.C.)
• Plutus (388 B.C.)

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Menander 342-291 B.C
Very little has survived from this playwright
from Greeces Late Comedy era, other than what
later comedy writers such as Plautus and Terence
adapted from Menander. He is said to have
written more than 100 plays, but only one
survives, Dyscolus, which wasnt printed as a
modern text until 1958. Produced his first play
321 B.C. Menanders first win (Dyscolus) 316
B.C. Number of victories by Menander 6
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Bibliography

• Ancient Greek Theatre, Elias Karayannakos.
• Accessed at http//www.greektheatre.gr/ on
  January 27, 2007
• Arnott, Peter D. An introduction to the Greek
  theatre. London Macmillan, 1959
• Baldock, Marion. Greek Tragedy An
  introduction. Bristol Bristol Classical Press,
  1989.
• Greek Theatre, Walter Englert, Reed College.
• Accessed at http//academic.reed.edu/humanities/1
  10tech/Theater.html on January28, 2007
• Greek Theatre Index, Theater History
• Accessed at http//www.theatrehistory.com/ancient
  /greek.html on January 27, 2007
• Introduction to Theatre Ancient Greek
  Theatre, Northern Virginia Community College.
  Accessed at http//novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130e
  t/ancientgreek.htm on January 27, 2007
• Theatre, Western." Encyclopædia Britannica.
  2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Accessed at
  http//search.eb.com/eb/article-59881 on January
  27, 2007.
• Whiting, Frank. An introduction to theatre New
  York Harper Row, Publishers 1978

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Thank you !

• Questions ?