Introduction to

Greek Drama

Why did the Greeks create drama?

DIONYSUS•Drama was used to worship Dionysus•god specifically associated with wine and wine miracles•Started drunkenness•God of wild nature•Related with panthers, leopards, lions, bulls, and snakesWorshipped in dancing

Maenads

• Dionysus’ women followers•The name means ravening (like rave)•They were dancersin trance like state

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTSOF DRAMA?

Comedy

•Satire•Subtle humor•Mirrored life in Athens•Intellectual•Not like modern comedy, (not slapstick)

Tragedyliterary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances

Aristotle's Rules of the Tragedy

1. Tragedy is meant to reaffirm the fact that life is worth living, regardless of the suffering or pain   that is part of human existence.

2. Tragedies are about people in conflict with the universe (spiritual conflicts, never about every day events).

3. Tragic actions arise from a character's inner conflict.a. a tragic protagonist must have magnitude; his

struggles are great because he is important to     society.

4. The tragic protagonist must fall from high to low; they will have a noble soul.

a. The audience must care about the tragic protagonist.

5. The tragic protagonist is a good man, but not perfect. a. He usually suffers from hubris (Pride) as shown

through hamartia (character flaw or error in judgment).

 b. once the transgression is realized, the character enters the stage of anagnorisis  (recognition) and will undergo a peripeteia (reversal of fortune or fall from high to low).

6. The protagonist's actions should arouse feelings of both pity and fear in the audience.  a. Pity because the protagonist is better than we are, so we place ourselves into his position (empathy)  b. Fear because we too do not know our future or fate.

7. By the end of the play, the audience should be purged of pity and fear, so they go through a catharsis.

   a. Catharsis = purgation of pity and fear

8. The tragic protagonist must ask the first and last of all questions: What does it mean to be?

a. He must face the world alone, and kick against his fate.

 b. He can never escape his fate, but he will insist upon accepting fate on his own terms.

What is a tragic hero?

1. virtue of birth, nobleness or wisdom2. hamartia (translated as tragic flaw, somewhat related to hubris, but denoting excess in behavior or mistakes), and a discovery that is made by his own actions. 3. He must suffer more than he deserves. 4. He must be doomed from the start, but bear no responsibility for possessing his flaw. 5. He must be noble in nature, but imperfect so that the audience can see themselves in him.

TRAITS OF THETRAGIC HERO

6. He must have discovered his fate by his own actions, not by things happening to him. 7. He must see and understand his doom, as well as the fact that his fate was discovered by his own actions. 8. His story should arouse fear and empathy. 9. Physically or spiritually wounded by his experiences, often resulting in his death. 10. Ideally, he should be a king or leader of men, so that his people experience his fall with him.

AN EXAMPLE OF A TRAGIC HERO

OedipusThe King