Greek TragedyIntroduction to the genre and preface to Antigone

Introductionhttp://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/637676?terms=greek%20tragedy

What is Greek Tragedy?

Greek tragedy is a form of drama, originated in Ancient Greece and Asia Minor, which has shaped and influenced our literature and drama today.

Originated in Ancient Greece, specifically in Athens, around 2,500 years ago.

Is accredited with originating the same plot structure and theater performance style that we still use today.

Greek tragedy was incredibly important in Greek civic culture. Athenians set aside a fund called the Theoric fund to ensure that citizens were able to attend theater performances.

How Greek Theater Began

It is unclear exactly how or when drama was developed in Ancient Greece.

We know that it developed as a part of festivities and rituals meant to revere the god, Dionysus.

The stories of Greek tragedy deal stem from epic (narrative poetry) and lyric poetry.

The word tragedy is thought to originate from the Greek words tragos and aeidein, meaning goat-song. This word may have developed because of the prize of sacrificial goats which were given to the winner of a competition, or it may have developed because of the chorus of satyrs who sang in honor of Dionysus. There are even more theories as to the word’s origin.

Fathers of Greek Tragedy

Aeschlyus Sophocles

Aeschylus

Often described as the father of Greek Tragedy

Predecessor of Sophocles, but still alive when Sophocles began his work

Introduced a second character, making the creation of conflict possible in a plot

Wrote trilogies- long dramas expressed in three parts

Sophocles

Influenced by Aeschylus, but eventually surpassed him in awards for his work

Introduced a third character, making more complex plot lines

Gave more attention to character development

Presented single dramas, departing from the standard trilogy format

Presented heroes who rigidly stand for certain principles, even at the cost of death.

He also presented characters whose character flaws result in death or the deaths of those around them.

Further Reading

http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/637676?terms=greek%20tragedy

Entire text available online:

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Soph.+Ant.+&redirect=true

Themes of Antigone

Fate & Free Will

Rules & Order (Divine/Moral law vs. Governmental law)

Determination

Power

Women & Femininity

Background Stories

•Antigone is one of three Theban plays: Oedipus the King (or Oedipus Rex), Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.

•These plays are called Theban plays because they deal with the city of Thebes during and after the reign of Oedipus.

Oedipus the King

•Oedipus’ parents (King and Queen of Thebes) plan to kill Oedipus when he is an infant to avoid fulfilling a prophecy. The prophecy, given by the Delphic Oracle, was that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother.

•A servant who was supposed to kill him instead spares his life and Oedipus becomes adopted by a childless couple.

•Oedipus learns of the prophecy, and believing that the parents who adopted him are his real parents, he flees from them.

•As he is fleeing, he encounters a man traveling with servants and the two begin to fight. Oedipus wins, killing the man… who is actually his biological father.

•He becomes the ruler of Thebes and marries the widow Queen Jocasta, his mother. They have children.

•The Delphic Oracle reveals the truth of the situation, leading Jocasta to commit suicide and Oedipus to blind himself and run away from Thebes.

Oedipus at Colonus

•When Oedipus leaves from Thebes, Creon, brother of Jocasta, temporarily rules Thebes.

•Creon seeks Oedipus so that he will bless one of Oedipus’s own sons to rule Thebes permanently.

•Furious that neither of his sons followed him into the wilderness, Oedipus denies them his blessing and curses them to kill one another in battle.

•Oedipus dies a peaceful death.

•His sons, Eteocles and Polynices, agree to take turns ruling Thebes.

Antigone•Antigone begins with the deaths of both Eteocles and Polynices, who were fighting for ultimate power of Thebes.

•Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus.