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GREEK TRAGEDY
Everything you wanted to know about
Greek tragedy but were afraid to ask
The
Origins of Tragedy
Which Cities Performed Tragedy
When Tragedy was Performed
The Parts of a Greek Theater
The Theaters Themselves
The Major Playwrights
The Way a Greek Tragedy Was Staged
- number of actors
- the costumes
- the masks
- the audience
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT?
Originated
from the dithyramb: a choral song in
honor of Dionysos
of Methymna (7th century) was the first to write
a choral song, practice it with a chorus, and
perform it
Arion
Lasus
of Hermione was the first to do it at Athens
Connected
with the worship of Dionysos in Athens
THE ORIGINS OF TRAGEDY
 Thespis
 The
of Corinth
first travelling actor
 Active
c. 538-28 BCE
 Added
prologue and speech to
choral performance
 Said
to have invented the mask
THE ORIGINS OF TRAGEDY
Corinth:
Sicyon:
c. 600 (Arion)
c. 550
- Cleisthenes (not the Athenian)
- Epigenes
Athens:
c. 510
- only Athenian dramas left
- “school of Hellas”
WHO PERFORMED TRAGEDY?
almost
every Greek city
had a theater
Theaters
could be very
small or huge
Each
parts
theater had specific
Usually
city
in the center of the
WHERE WAS TRAGEDY PERFORMED?
The
Skene
The large backdrop
Could be decorated with scenery
Where the action actually took place
(hidden)
Roof was accessible
Originally one door in the center, but
eventually had three doors
THE PARTS OF A THEATER
The
Orchestra
 The
acting area
 semi-circular
 Had
a small altar to
Dionysos in the center
 Where
the Chorus
danced and the
actors spoke
THE PARTS OF A THEATER
THE SKENE
The
Ekkyklēma
A wheeled platform
Used to display set
pieces
Agamemnon
The Mēchanē
a large crane
Used for the
entrance of gods
Deus ex machina
THE PARTS OF A THEATER
Theater
of Dionysos
Athens
Main
theater for
tragedy
4th
century remains
c.
20,000 seats
Located
on side of
Acropolis
THE THEATERS
THEATER OF DIONYSOS
THEATER OF DIONYSOS
Theater
The
of Epidauros
best-preserved
Largest
surviving theater
Located
near Argos
in the Peloponnesus
Sanctuary
Still
of Aesclepius
in use today
THE THEATERS
THEATER OF EPIDAUROS
THEATER OF EPIDAUROS
Theater
In
of Pergamon
Asia Minor (Turkey)
Extremely
seating
steep
Fit
to the terrain
Pergamon
one of the
most wealthy Asian
cities
THE THEATERS
THEATER OF PERGAMON
Three
major tragedians
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
All active in the 5th century
All won first place in multiple competitions
Only Athenian plays survive
THE PLAYWRIGHTS
b.
525 d. 456 (Sicily)
Fought at Marathon
“Aeschylus, Euphorion's son
of Athens, lies under this
stone dead in Gela among
the white wheatlands; a
man at need good in fight -witness the hallowed field of
Marathon, witness the longhaired Mede.”
First
tragedy 499
First first prize 484 (13 overall)
AESCHYLUS
Introduced
the second actor
Wrote over 70 plays (seven survive)
Always revered
Main interest is in situation and event
rather than character
Oresteia, Seven Against Thebes
 Pericles directed the chorus for
Persians
 Both sons were very successful
playwrights
AESCHYLUS
b.
496 d. 406
Served
as a general with
Pericles (441)
Very
(413)
active in city politics
First
tragedy 468
First
first prize 468
Won
18 first prizes
Never
finished third
SOPHOCLES
 Introduced
 Wrote
 The
the third actor
over 120 plays (seven survive)
most successful of the Big Three
 Challenged
conventional mores
 Introduced
more dialogue between
characters (less Chorus)
 Oedipus
Tyrannus, Oedipus at Colonus,
Antigone, Electra
SOPHOCLES
b.
485 d. 406 (in Macedonia)
Not
active militarily or
politically
First
tragedy 455
First
first prize 441
Won
only four first prizes
The
least successful of the
Big Three
EURIPIDES
No
innovations on the stage
Wrote
ninety plays (19 survive)
Sophocles:
“I present men as they
ought to be, Euripides presents men
as they are.”
More
realistic than the other two
Alcestis,
Medea, Hippolytus,
Bacchae, Orestes
EURIPIDES
“Classical
theater resembled today’s rock
concerts: the audience knew every number
by heart, performers wore high heels, loud
costumes and heavy make-up, and they
relied on background singers, known as the
Chorus.”
-Howard Tomb
THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY
 “The
audience knew every number by heart…”
 Most
tragedies dealt with mythological themes
 “Performers
wore high heels, loud costumes and
heavy make-up…”
 They
wore elaborate clothes, tall boots, and masks
 “They
relied on background singers, known as the
Chorus.”
 Especially
after the introduction of the third actor
THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY
Maximum
of three actors
 Aeschylus
second
 Sophocles
third
All
roles played by men
Same
group of actors for each set of
plays for each author
THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY - ACTORS
Playwrights
Sophocles
Chorus
A
did not act in their own plays after
publicly funded
choregos would pay for and train the chorus
 Viewed
 Could
as a civic duty
be prosecuted for failing to do it wealthy enough
 Choregos
got a monument if his chorus won
THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY - ACTORS
Actor
wore:
Mask
Robes
Platform
boots
(kothornoi)
Chorus
could be in
costume (comedy)
THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY - COSTUMES

The most salient feature
 All

parts by men, so mask depicted gender
 Acted
as a megaphone
 Voice
inflection paramount
Multiple Masks = Multiple Characters
 Only
three actors
 More
than three speaking roles, need for
costume and mask change
 Oedipus
and his eyes
THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY - MASKS
Any
male could attend
 Women
most likely able to attend
 Aeschylus’
State
Furies
funded attendance
 Cost
was the average daily wage of a laborer
 Theoric
Fund
 Never
suspended, even when Athens in dire straights
 Supplied
 “Must-see
public tickets
TV”
THE AUDIENCE
 Catharsis
 “learning
through suffering”
 Moderation
things
is to be sought in all things, even good
 The
mighty fall so far that we admire them for being so
high
A
spiritual cleansing of the audience
 Performances
emotional
THE AUDIENCE
• “Medea is NOT happy.”
–Maria
• “Where can I get a golden
chariot?” –Brittany
• “A must see…Medea is emblematic
of motherhood!” –Karin
• “Not a bedtime story for the kids.” Kate
Euripides…
Cave-dwellingmisogynist-who-waskilled-by-dogs
OR Genius?
c. 480-406 BC
Born on the island of Salamis
 (his
parents fled there from the Persians)
His father was promised by an oracle to have a son
 that
was honored by all men and consecrated by wreaths.
So he was trained to be an athlete and he won some prizes.
He also became a painter.
He is said to have been deserted by his wife,
 with
whom he was deeply in love.
 (This
might explain the contrast between his writings against
 women
on one hand, and, on the other, the beauty and
 strength
of his female characters.)
LIFE BEFORE TRAGEDY
• Then he decided to write
tragedy!
• He lived a retired life, had a very valuable library, and spent
most of his time in dramatic composition (alone with his
books in a cave on the island of Salamis)
• He presented first set of tragedies at the Great Dionysia in
455 when he was 24 (he came in 3rd)
• He did not win first prize until 441
• Medea 431- he won third prize (ouch!)
• He only won five awards, and the fifth was not awarded until
after his death
• He wrote about 92 plays (19 survive) in his lifetime and was
compared by the ancients to Aeschylus and Sophocles.
• Ancients ranked Bacchae and Iphigenia in Tauris as his
best works. Like Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Euripides'
Medea, ranked (with Hippolytus) as his masterpiece, was
defeated in the contest. These two dramas are the greatest
and most original of his creations.
PLAYS
• He did not cater to the fancies of the Athenian crowd (so he didn’t win many awards)
• He was a pacifist, a free thinker, and a humanitarian (which in Athens at that time was bad)
• Of the three great tragic poets of Greece, Euripides was by far the most modern. As the first
of the "realists" he brought realism in clothes, conversation and character to the Greek stage.
He was a pioneer in tragi-comedy.
• He went out of his way to that the sun was a flaming stone (and not a chariot pulled by a
god), that the overflow of the Nile is caused by the melting of the snow in Ætheopia, and that
the sky is not an embodiment of a god.
• Euripides was the first one to introduce women on the stage, not as heroines but as they are
in actual life.
• He abandoned the principle of the older tragedians, that all the interest and action should be
concentrated in one character and theme, as in the Prometheus, Agamemnon, or Oedipus;
and in many other respects he seems to break away from the canons of Greek tragic art.
• Perhaps his finest contribution to world drama, however, was the introduction of the common
man to the stage. (Almost as if he wanted to show the Athenian people what their beloved
military heroes were really like.)
HE WAS “DIFFERENT”
• One by one, his closest friends were banished and murdered by the
State for their liberal views. The only thing that saved Euripides from
the same fate was the fact that it was his characters who spoke
improprieties. In the end, however, he was finally tried for impiety
and left Athens.
• However, he was attacked by ferocious hounds, and mangled by
them…so he died soon after, at the age of 75.
HIS LIFE BECAME A TRAGEDY…
• For the tragedians of later times Euripides was the absolute
model and pattern, and equally so for the poets of the new
comedy.
• He was admired by Alexander the Great. (yeah!)
• Among the Romans, too, he was held in high esteem, serving
as a model for tragedy.
BUT HIS LEGACY LIVES ON…
- Medea was first produced in 431 B.C.
- It was presented at Dionysia, a large religious festival in ancient
Athens in honor of the god Dionysus.
- The central event of Dionysia was the performance of tragedies and
comedies.
- Euripedes presented several plays at this event in 431 B.C. including
Medea, Philoctetes, Dictys and Theristae.
- Medea received third place, but is the only play out of those listed to
survive today.
- The production of Medea was performed by Greek men and the
Chorus was made up of Athenian citizens.
THE FIRST PRODUCTION OF MEDEA
King Aeetes' most valuable possession was a golden ram's fleece. When Jason and
the crew of the Argo arrived at Colchis seeking the Golden Fleece, Aeetes was
unwilling to relinquish it and set Jason a series of seemingly impossible tasks as the
price of obtaining it. Medea fell in love with Jason and agreed to use her magic to
help him, in return for Jason's promise to marry her.
Jason fled in the Argo after obtaining the golden fleece, taking Medea and her
younger brother, Absyrtis, with him. King Aeetes pursued them. In order to delay
the pursuit, Medea killed her brother and cut his body into pieces, scattering the
parts behind the ship. The pursuers had to stop and collect Absyrtis' dismembered
body in order to give it proper burial, and so Jason, Medea and the Argonauts
escaped.
BACKGROUND TO THE MYTH

Jason and Medea later settled in Corinth. There Medea bore Jason two children
before Jason forsook her in order to marry the daughter of Creon, the king of
Corinth. Medea got revenge for Jason's desertion by killing the new bride with a
poisoned robe and crown which burned the flesh from her body; King Creon
died as well when he tried to embrace his dying daughter. Medea fled Corinth
in a chariot, drawn by winged dragons, which belonged to her grandfather
Helios. She took with her the bodies of her two children, whom she had
murdered in order to give Jason further pain.
Medea then took refuge with Aegeus, the old king of Athens, having
promised him that she would use her magic to enable him to have more
children. She married Aegeus and bore him a son, Medus. But Aegeus had
another son, Theseus. When Theseus returned to Athens, Medea tried to
trick her husband into poisoning him. She was unsuccessful, and had to
flee Athens, taking Medus with her. After leaving Athens, Medus became
king of the country which was later called Media.
MEDEA’S MYTH
• Aristotle says…
-character must be good
-must be appropriate
-true to life
-consistent or consistently inconsistent
• Tragic event must be brought about not by vice or depravity,
but
• by some ERROR or FRAILTY.
WHO AND WHAT IS TRAGIC?
LET’S
MEET OUR CONTESTANTS
• Medea:
Esteemed/renowned person
Tragic error- anger/bitterness (more of a vice)
Not appropriate for woman. Unscrupulously clever!
“deus ex machina”- saved via chariot of dragons
NO GOOD!
TRAGIC HERO #1
• Jason
Renowned
Appropriate to character- man/dominant
Very true to life
Tragic error: breaks oath of gods between
him and Medea, resulting from Pride
WINNER!
TRAGIC HERO #2
Medea
• Although Medea has
comitted several violent
acts, her life is good (she is
happily married with two
sons) until she realizes that
her actions were done in
vain and that Jason has
chosen another bride.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
Jason
• He believes that the order
in his life has been
restored (that he can live
happily with his princess
and his sons and that
Medea will be gone with
no problems). The
reversal occurs when his
new wife and sons are
killed by Medea and her
magic.
Medea
Ignorance:
Being hurt by Jason
and not knowing what
to do.
Knowledge:
Finding the most
effective way to cause
Jason the maximum
amount of pain.
Jason
• Ignorance:
– Believes that Medea is
telling the truth and will not
harm him or the people that
he loves.
• Knowledge:
– Realizing that he should
not have trusted Medea!
(She’s Crazy!)
RECOGNITION
- The Chorus is composed of the women of
Corinth.
- The Chorus serves as a commentator to the
action and a mediator between the audience
and the characters.
-Two characters emerge out of the Chorus The Nurse and the Tutor. These characters
allow the Chorus to become more relatable for
the reader. The Nurse and Tutor reveal the
plot, while serving as the moral compass of
the play.
- The Chorus presents the question – Should
we fear or pity Medea?
THE CHORUS
• Who is the tragic hero? If Medea is the tragic
hero, what is her error?
• Would the play be significantly different
without the characters of the nurse/tutor?
• Is Medea meant to be pitied by the
audience? If not, why is the Chorus on her
side?
• Does our interpretation of the relationship
between Jason/Medea reflect a double
standard of our culture? Why should Medea
surrender her anger?
FOOD FOR THOUGHT