Antigone & Greek Drama

Greek Drama Greek drama grew out of

rituals honoring Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and fertility.

Thespis (thespians) transformed hymns sung to gods into songs that told the story of a famous hero.

Types of Greek Plays Tragedies were serious

treatments of religious and mythic questions.

Satyr plays (named for wood demons) were comic and even unruly treatments of the same themes.

The Theater The theater was shaped

like a semi-circular football stadium that could seat 40,000 people.

Actors amplified their voices through special mouthpieces provided in their masks.

Greek Theater (cont.) Actors were all men; choruses

were well-trained boys. By switching masks, actors could

play several roles. No scene changes No complicated plots; the plays

usually took place in one day, in one place focusing on one event.

Violent action took place off stage; messengers told the audience what happened.

Sophocles Sophocles is generally

considered the best of the ancient Greek playwrights.

Born in 496 BC, lived to be 90 years old

Wrote over 100 plays, only seven remain today

His plays always contain a moral lesson, usually a caution against pride and religious indifference.

Sophocles’ Innovations Sophocles added a

third actor to the original two.

He introduced painted sets.

He expanded the size of the chorus to fifteen.

Sophocles’ “Theban” Plays His most famous plays are the

“Theban” trilogy. These three plays tell the story of Oedipus of Thebes and his family and took him 40 years to write. Antigone (written first) Oedipus the King (written

second) Oedipus at Colonus (written

third)

Antigone Background Since Greek audiences knew

the story, suspense came from their knowledge of things the characters did not know: dramatic irony.

The audience pitied these characters and wanted to see how they would be portrayed.

Theme of Antigone The conflict in Antigone—individual

conscience at odds with established authority—is eternally relevant.

When we know that those in power are morally wrong, do we break their laws, or do we collaborate with them by obeying?

Tragedy According to Aristotle, the

function of a tragedy is to arouse pity and fear in the audience so that we may be cleansed of these unsettling emotions.

This idea is known as catharsis, a pleasurable sense of emotional release.

More Tragedy A tragedy is a work of literature,

especially a play, that results in a catastrophe for the main character through some character flaw, error is judgment, or fate

Greek Tragedy – usually centered on the suffering of a major character and ends in disaster

Tragic Hero This character is not completely

good or bad. His/her misfortune is brought about

by some error or frailty, which is the tragic flaw (Hamartia).

The flaw is often hubris: arrogance caused by excessive pride.

Tragic Hero (cont.) The hero’s fall

must be from a tremendous height.

Because of the tragic flaw, the hero is responsible on some level for his or her downfall.

Tragic Hero (cont.) The hero comes to

recognize his error and accept the consequences.

He is not angry; he is humbled and enlightened.

Tragic Hero (cont.) The audience, though,

feels that the hero’s punishment exceeds his crime.

We see that the hero is flawed like us, and fear for ourselves because he failed.

Greek Theater Format Plays opened with a Prologue

that presented the background to situate the conflict.

The chorus sang a parodos, or opening song.

The chorus’s song, an ode, divided scenes and served the same purpose as a curtain does.

The Chorus During the odes, a chorus

leader, called the choragos, might exchange thoughts with the group in a dialogue.

During that recital, the group would rotate left to right, singing the strophe.

The Chorus (cont.) The chorus would move

the opposite direction during the antistrophe.

At the end, there was a paean (song of thanks to Dionysus) and an exodos (final exiting scene).

Classical Greek Myths & Themes

1. A true hero is willing to sacrifice anything for his/her country, including family & personal desires.

2. The causes of war don’t always justify the tremendous suffering produced by it.

3. Individual conscience and divine law are more important than civil law.

Greek Themes – cont.

4. Tragedy is almost always the result of pride, stubbornness and anger.

5. The young are “rash and deaf to warnings to be moderate.”

6. Disaster usually follows when humans attempt to be more than they are, god-like