Classical Drama

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Classical Drama

• Origins
• Athens, Greece
• 6th Century B.C.

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1. Greek drama grew out of what and honored who?

• Greek drama grew out of ancient religious
  rituals honoring Dionysis, the god of wine and
  fertility.

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2. How did Thespis transform the annual festivals
from its original state?

• Thespsis transformed the annual festivals by
  transforming the hymns into songs that honored
  Dionysis. These songs not only honored Dionysis,
  but also told the story of a famous hero or
  another god. He also added the innovation of
  having a chorus member stepping away from the
  others to play the part of a hero or god.

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3. How did Aeschylus influence modern drama?

• Aeschylus influenced modern drama because he
  introduced a second individual actor to the
  performance. This instantly created the
  possibility for conflict.
• Before Aeschylus addition, only one person
  stood out on stage and acted out the story.

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4. What word derives from the name Thespis and
what does it mean?

• The word thespian which means actor or actress
  is a derivative of the name Thespis.

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5. In ancient Greece, what were tragedies (tragic
plays)? How do they differ from modern tragedies?

• In ancient Greece, tragedies were serious
  treatments of religious and mythical questions.
  Today, tragedies deal with serious events and sad
  endings, but they are not religious and
  mythically based.

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6. Describe the Theater of Dionysos.

• The Theater of Dionysos looked like a
  semicircular football stadium and had seats
  carved out of stone on a hillside. At the bottom
  was a performance area divided into two parts and
  in the front was a rounded place called an
  orchestra. Behind the orchestra was a platform
  where the actors spoke their lines from behind
  huge masks.

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7. Name the three reasons actors wore masks.

• There were three main reasons that actors wore
  masks. The first reason was to amplify the
  actors voices- the exaggerated mouthpieces made
  this possible. Another reason actors wore masks
  was to help the audience identify the character.
  The masks were stylized into familiar character
  types. The third reason masks were worn was to
  allow actors to play several roles.

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8. According to the definition of a tragedy on
page 1006, describe the main character found in a
tragedy.

• The main character found in a tragedy, also
  known as the tragic hero, is usually dignified,
  courageous, and often high ranking. This
  characters downfall is often caused by his
  tragic flaw. The tragic hero usually wins
  self-knowledge and wisdom, even though he or she
  suffers defeat, possibly even death.

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9. What do King Laios and Queen Jocasta do to
their baby and why?

• King Laios and Queen Jocasta give their baby to
  a shepherd with orders to leave the infant to die
  on a mountainside with his ankles pinned
  together. They do this because they learn from an
  oracle (fortune teller) that their newborn son
  will kill his father and marry his mother.

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10. What happens to the baby?

• Instead of abandoning the baby, the shepherd
  takes pity on the baby and gives him to a
  Corinthian shepherd. The Corinthian shepherd in
  turn gives the baby to the childless king and
  queen of Corinth.

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11. Why does Oedipus leave Corinth?

• Oedipus leaves Corinth because he learns of the
  oracles prophesy. He believes that the king and
  queen of Corinth are his real parents and he runs
  away because he does not want to fulfill the
  prophesy.

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12. What happens on the road after Oedipus leaves
Corinth?

• As Oedipus is on the road after leaving Corinth,
  he encounters an arrogant old man who tries to
  run him off the road with his chariot. Because
  honor was at stake, the two men fight and Oedipus
  kills the stranger.

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13. How does Oedipus defeat the Sphinx, a monster
that had been terrorizing Thebes?

• Oedipus defeats the Sphinx and saves the city of
  Thebes from destruction by answering the Sphinxs
  riddle. The riddle is What creature goes on four
  legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon,
  and three legs in the evening.
• Oedipus correctly answers with man, who crawls
  on all fours as an infant, walks on two legs as
  an adult, and leans on a cane in old age.
• Upon hearing Oedipus answer, the Sphinx leaps
  into the sea and Thebes is saved.

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14. How do the people of Thebes repay Oedipus for
saving them?

• As payment for saving them from the horrible
  Sphinx that had been terrorizing Thebes, the
  people of the city appoint Oedipus king of the
  city and give him their queen for a wife. Their
  king had recently been murdered on a road outside
  of the city.

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15. Name Oedipus and Jocastas children.

• Oedipus and Jocasta had four children, two boys
  and two girls Eteocles, Polyneices, Antigone,
  and Ismene.

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16. When Oedipus investigates the murder of King
Laios in an attempt to save Thebes from a plague,
what does he discover?

• In an attempt to save Thebes from a plague, just
  as he had done years before, Oedipus consults the
  prophet Teiresias. From Teiresias, he learns that
  he is the cause of the plague because he killed
  his father and married his mother therefore
  fulfilling the prophesy. Although he tried to
  outsmart the gods and prevent the curse from
  occurring, he helped set the events in motion.

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17. What do Oedipus and Jocasta do after they
learn the truth?

• Once learning the truth, Jocasta hangs herself
  and Oedipus gouges out his eyes because he had
  been blind to the truth. After gouging out his
  eyes, Oedipus is exiled to the countryside as a
  beggar and lives ostracized until his death.

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18. What was the conflict between Antigones
brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices?

• The conflict between Antigones brothers,
  Eteocles and Polyneices, stemmed from their
  agreement to share the crown. At the end of
  Eteocles reign, he refused to give up his throne
  to his brother Polynieces. As a result,
  Polyneices formed a separate army to fight his
  brother, but both brothers kill each other in
  battle.

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19. Why did Creon bury Eteocles and not
Polyneices?

• Creon give Eteocles a heros burial because they
  were allies and Eteocles was the king at the time
  of his murder. He refused to bury Polyneices
  because he viewed him as a traitor when he
  betrayed his brother and his city, formed a
  separate army, and ignited a civil war.

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20. What is the central conflict between Creon
and Antigone?

• The central conflict between Creon and Antigone
  is mans law versus gods law. Antigone believes
  that the laws of the gods supersede all other
  laws and should be followed at all costs. Creon
  on the other hand, represents the laws of man and
  he wants to be obeyed at all costs.

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Other things to know about Greek drama

• The play Antigone was written by one of the
  greatest Greek playwrights, Sophocles.

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Characteristics of Classical Drama

• The chorus is a group of characters who comment
  on the action of the play without participating
  in it.
• The leader of the chorus is known as a Choragos.

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Characteristics of Classical Drama

• The unities time, place, and action.
• The action of the play must happen in a single
  location, within the time span of one day.
• Violence happened offstage, and was related to
  the audience by the chorus.
• All actors wore masks, and all parts were played
  by men.

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TRAGIC HERO

• The tragic hero suffers from a tragic flaw, also
  known as hamartia.
• Hubris, or excessive pride, is usually the heros
  tragic flaw that leads to their downfall.
• Catharsis- the purging, or to cleanse or
  purify,of the feelings of pity and fear that
  occur in the audience of tragic drama.

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TERMS YOU NEED TO KNOW

• archetype the original pattern from which copies
  are made template or mold
• recognition the point in the play during which
  the tragic hero experiences a kind of
  self-understanding the discovery or recognition
  that leads to the reversal. In some cases, a
  characters recognition could also be the
  reversal.
• reversal the point at which the action of the
  plot turns in an unexpected direction for the
  protagonist. The protagonist learns what they
  did not expect to learn.

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• complication an intensification of the conflict.
  The complication builds up, accumulates, and
  develops the primary or central conflict in a
  work.
• foil a character who contrasts and parallels the
  main character in a play or story.

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• aside words spoken by an actor directly to the
  audience, which are not heard by other characters
  on the stage during the play.
• denouement the resolution of the plot in a story
  or play.