Greek tragedy - WikiHQ

thumb | Mask of [[Dionysus found at Myrina (Aeolis) of ancient Greece c. 200 BC – 1 BC, now at the Louvre]]

Greek tragedy () is one of the three principal theatrical genres from Ancient Greece and Greek-inhabited Anatolia, along with comedy and the satyr play. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy.

Greek tragedy is widely believed to be an extension of the ancient rites carried out in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and theatre, and it greatly influenced the theatre of Ancient Rome and the Renaissance. Tragic plots were most often based upon myths from the oral traditions of archaic epics. In tragic theatre, however, these narratives were presented by actors. The most acclaimed Greek tragedians are Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. These tragedians often explored many themes of human nature, mainly as a way of connecting with the audience but also as way of bringing the audience into the play.

Etymology

Aristotelian hypothesis

The origin of the word tragedy has been a matter of discussion from ancient times. The primary source of knowledge on the question is the Poetics of Aristotle. Aristotle was able to gather first-hand documentation from theater performance in Attica, which is inaccessible to scholars today. His work is therefore invaluable for the study of ancient tragedy, even if his testimony is open to doubt on some points.

According to Aristotle, tragedy evolved from the satyr dithyramb, an Ancient Greek hymn, which was sung along with dancing in honor of Dionysus. The term ['tragodía'], derived from ['trágos'] "goat" and ['odí'] "song", means "song of the goats," referring to the chorus of satyrs. Others suggest that the term came into being when the legendary Thespis (the root for the English word thespian) competed in the first tragic competition for the prize of a goat (hence tragedy). The tragedy ends with the exodus (ἔξοδος), concluding the story. Some plays do not adhere to this conventional structure. Aeschylus' The Persians and Seven Against Thebes, for example, have no prologue.

Language

The Greek dialects used are the Attic dialect for the parts spoken or recited by individual characters, and a literary Doric dialect for the choral odes. For the metre, the spoken parts mainly use the iambic (iambic trimeter), described as the most natural by Aristotle,

Contrasted with that is nemesis, the divine punishment that determines the fall or death of the character.

In ancient Greek culture, says Nietzsche, "there is a conflict between the plastic arts, namely the Apollonian, and non-plastic art of music, the Dionysian." <blockquote>Both drives, so different from each other, go side by side, mostly in open discord and opposition, always provoking each other to new, stronger births, in order to perpetuate in themselves the struggle of opposites which is only apparently bridged over by the common word 'art'; until, finally, by a wonderful act of Hellenic 'will,' they seem to pair up and in this pairing, at last, produce Attic Tragedy, which is as much a Dionysian as an Apollonian artwork.</blockquote>

As a mass phenomenon

thumb|The [[theatre of Dionysus in Athens]]

Greek tragedy as we understand it today, was not merely a show, but rather a collective ritual of the polis. It took place in a sacred, consecrated space (the altar of the god stood at the center of the theatre).

<blockquote>A spectator of a Greek dramatic performance in the latter half of the fifth century B.C. would find himself seated in the theatron, or koilon, a semi-circular, curved bank of seats, resembling in some respects the closed end of a horseshoe stadium. ... Below him, in the best location in the theatre, is the throne of the priest of Dionysus who presides in a sense over the whole performance. The theatron is large-in fact, the one in Athens, in the Theatre of Dionysus, with its seats banked up on the south slope of the Acropolis, seated approximately 17,000 persons.

The spectator sees before him a level circular area called the orchestra,

which means literally the "dancing place". ... In the centre of the orchestra stands an

altar. A part of the dramatic action will take place in the orchestra, as

well as the manoeuvres and dance figures performed by the Chorus as

they present their odes. To the right and left of the theatron are the

parodoi, which are used not only by the spectators for entering and

leaving the theatre, but also for the entrances and exits of actors and

the Chorus. Directly beyond the circular orchestra lies the skene or scene building. ... In most plays the skene represents the facade of a house, a palace, or a temple.

The skene normally had three doors which served as additional entrances and exits

for the actors. Immediately in front of the scene-building was a level

platform, in the fifth century B.C. in all probability only a single step

above the level of the orchestra. This was called the proskenion or logeion where much of the dramatic action of the plays takes place. Flanking the

proskenion were two projecting wings, the so-called paraskenia. It must

be remembered that the skene, since at first it was only a wooden structure,

was flexible in its form, and was probably modified frequently.

Aeschylus

Seventy-nine titles of Aeschylus' works are known (out of about ninety works), Aeschylus, for example, produced at least 70 further works which exist only in fragments.

The demos in Greek tragedy

The role of the audience in a Greek tragedy is to become part of that theatrical illusion, to partake in the act as if they were part of it. "The Demos in Greek Tragedy", frequently addresses the works of Euripides. An article by Mario Frendo, looks at the latter as a phenomenon of performance, a separation in the meaning of the play from what it is actually being conveyed, and not an attempt to approach Greek tragedy through context (e.g., conventions of performance, historical facts, etc.). This is a technique in which an action is halted by the appearance of an unforeseen character or through the intervention of a god, that essentially brings about a conclusion to a play.

Hippolytus' demise is brought forth by a god, Aphrodite, whose hatred of Hippolytus' and his unending devotion to Artemis stems from his subsequent disparagement or denial of Aphrodite. In this play, Prometheus, the Titan god of forethought and the inventing fire, stole the inventing flame from Hephaestus and gave it to humanity. In general, tragedy played with gender dynamics, representing feminine men and masculine women. This was so common as to be a defining feature of the genre. However, the female characters of tragedy are deeply ambiguous, often incarnating disorder and destruction within the home and the city. Characters like Medea and Clytemnestra are bold and prone to speaking outside of the house, whereas the ideal Athenian woman was much more meek and private. Indeed, Aristophanes lampooned Euripides for his 'misogynistic' portrayal of women in his Thesmophoriazusae, indicating that the bold women of tragedy were not necessarily seen as admirable.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Albini, U. (1999) Nel nome di Dioniso. Il grande teatro classico rivisitato con occhio contemporaneo (Milan: Garzanti) .
Beye, C.R. La tragedia greca: Guida storica e critica (Rome: Laterza) .
Brunet, P. (1997) Break of de la littérature dans la Grèce ancienne (Paris: Le Livre de Poche).
Easterling e.a. (eds.) (1989) The Cambridge History of Classical Literature Vol. 1 Pt. 2: Greek Drama (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Griffith, M. (2002) ‘Slaves of Dionysos: satyrs, audience, and the ends of the Oresteia' in: Classical Antiquity 21: 195–258.
Harvey, A. E. (1955) "The Classification of Greek Lyric Poetry" in: Classical Quarterly 5.
Lear, J. (1992) 'Katharsis' in: A.O. Rorty (ed.) Essays on Aristotle's Poetics (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Ley, G. (2015) 'Acting Greek Tragedy' (Exeter: University of Exeter Press).
Nietzsche, F. (1962) 'La nascita della tragedia' in: Opere scelte L. Scalero (trans.) (Milan: Longanesi).
Privitera, G.A. & Pretagostini, R. (1997) Storia e forme della letteratura greca. Età arcaica ed età classica (Einaudi Scuola: Milan) .
Sinisi, S. & Innamorati, I. (2003) Storia del teatro: lo spazio scenico dai greci alle avanguardie storiche (Bruno Mondadori: Milan).