Notes on Greek Drama

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Notes on Greek Drama

• Background Information
• Conventions of Greek Drama

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BACKGROUND ON GREEK DRAMA

• Greek drama explores the human condition
• The limits of knowledge.
• Free will vs. destiny.
• Moral responsibility.
• Human suffering
• So what? The Greeks were the first to make drama
  a major part of culture.

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BACKGROUND (continued)

• The conventions of modern drama trace back to
  Greek drama.
• Convention a common characteristic.
• Conventions the two share
• Performing on a stage.
• Breaking a performance into sections (scenes).
• Following the archetypal story pattern
  (exposition, rising action, climax, falling
  action, resolution).

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THE GOLDEN AGE OF ANCIENT GREECE

• Greek drama appears during The Golden Age of
  Ancient Greece (500300BC).
• Everyone went to see plays.
• An important part of Greek culture.

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CELEBRATING THE DIONYSIA

• The Dionysia
• Yearly celebration of the god Dionysus
  (wine/celebration).
• Several days of holiday, where people drank lots
  of wine, celebrated, and went to see plays.
• Going to the theater was a MAJOR part of the
  celebration.

Dionysus, god of wine and revelry
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APPEARANCE OF THE THEATER

• Keep in mind the following
• The theater was completely outdoors.
• There was no curtain.
• There were few props, and they DID NOT change
  throughout the play.

Where the chorus performs.
Sketch this drawing in your notes.
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Theater of Dionysus, in Athens
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Greek Theater at Syracusa
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What about the actors?

• Wore huge masks and platformed shoes.
• All male.
• Only a few on stage at a time.
• Actors played several roles by switching masks.

Compared to modern plays, think how strange it
would be to see plays acted out using masks like
these!
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STRUCTURE OF GREEK TRAGEDIES

• MAJOR POINT NO VIOLENCE ON STAGE. If violence
  is part of the story, the characters talk as if
  it happened somewhere else.
• Prologue First scene of the play (exposition).
• Parados Choruss first song.
• Scenes Major divisions of a play (rising
  action).
• Odes Chorus songs between scenesreview the
  action from the scenes. Divided into strophes
  and antistrophes of equal length.
• Strophe The chorus moves from right to left
  while singing.
• Antistrophe The chorus moves from left to right
  while singing.
• Exodos The final scene of the play (climax,
  falling action, resolution.

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THE THREE UNITIES

• ALL Greek plays follow the three unities
• Unity of time The plot of the story takes place
  in a single day.
• Unity of space The setting of the story is one
  location.
• Unity of action Everything in the story relates
  to a single plot (no subplots/side stories).

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THE ARCHETYPAL TRAGIC HERO

• This archetype originates in Greek drama
• The hero
• Is highborn / noble.
• Has good intentions.
• Is true to life (i.e. believable).
• Has a reversal (a change in fortune for the
  worse).
• Has a hammartia (Another word for tragic flaw.)
  The most common hammartia is hubris (excessive
  pride).
• Experiences a tragic downfall, which is in some
  way his fault.
• Experiences catharsis either a brutal punishment
  deserved or a brutal lesson learned.

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THE GREEK CHORUS

• All men, who wore masks.
• Link between the actors and the audience.
• Sometimes advises a character.
• Separates scenes and summarizes action.
• Represents some kind of community voice.

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IRONY

• Many Greek plays make use of irony. There are
  three kinds
• Verbal irony.
• Dramatic irony.
• Situational irony.