greek tragedy

the title of aristotle’s work of dramatic theory: poetics, completed around 330 BC and preserved in the form of student’s notes, and argued that poetry is mimicry and humans had a desire to recreate what they see in the world

mimesis: representation, imitation, or mimicry of the real world in literature

tragedy: an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament—form of action, not of narrative, through pity & fear, affecting the proper purgation of these elements

characteristics of greek tragedy:

  1. the representation of human action

  2. actions represented have serious consequences, and the characters represented are of elevated social status

  3. the mode of imitation in a tragedy is drama as opposed to narrative

  4. language in which a tragedy employs tropes and other heightened/unusual uses of speech and a mix of different poetic meters

  5. plot is coherent, complete, whole, lasting long enough to adequately represent the reversal of the hero’s fortune. it should be contrary to the audience’s expectations, but nonetheless appear.

  6. hamartia is the protagonist’s tragic flaw/fundamental error in judgement, and that precipitates their fall from a position of good → bad fortune

  7. anagnorisis, “recognition” in greek, is the recognition by the tragic hero of some truth about their identity/actions that accompanies the reversal of the situation in the plot

  8. the tragedy rouses pity and fear in the viewer and brings about catharsis, the spectator is ennobled by the tragedy

                catharsis: purging or release of emotional tensions, especially through kinds                                      of art and music

function of archetypes: a typical character, an action, or a situation that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature

peripeteia: reversal of the hero’s fortune

hamartia: the protagonist’s tragic flaw/fundamental error in judgement, one that precipitates their fall from a position of good → bad fortune

anagnorisis: the recognition by the tragic hero of some truth about their identity/actions that accompanies the peripeteia

catharsis: purging or release of emotional tensions, especially through kinds of art and music

nemesis: the unescapable agent of someone’s or something’s downfall

  • nemesis was against all evil & undeserved good fortune

  • personification of the resentment aroused in men by those who committed crimes with apparent impurity

characteristics of a tragic hero:

  • hero of a play can not be:

    • a good man falling from happiness to misfortune (revulsion)—not pity/fear

    • an evil man rising from ill fortune to prosperity (wont sympathize)—cant pity/fear

    • a wicked man falling from prosperity into misfortune (maybe sympathize)—not pity/fear

  • instead, he should be:

    • good

    • appropriate

    • lifelike

    • consistent

      • best tragic plot moves the hero from prosperity to misfortune, because of a tragic mistake/flaw

the three unities

  • unity of time: tragedies should not relate actions lasting longer than a day

  • unity of place: should be limited to one geographic location

  • unity of action: should be limited to a single set of incidents which are related as cause/effect, “having a beginning, middle, and end”

function of the chorus

  • tragedy grew out of the performances of lyric poetry sung by long choruses

  • in greek means “dance”

  • main functions was to sing/dance lyrics odes in between dramatic episodes

    • comment on the action of the preceding episode

  • also act as a character; one member designated as leader and speak lines, interacting with other characters on stage

  • react as their characters should

  • in a nutshell, chorus should:

    • recount the play’s action

    • foreshadow future events

    • recount history

    • mirror audience; society

    • poet’s voice

    • ordinary spectators

    • in oedipus rex: allegiance will shift

hybris (hubris): excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis

  • physical/verbal assault that brings shame to the victim, but no reward to the agent other than satisfaction from inflicting disgrace

expiation: act of making amendments or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing; atonement

pathos in greek theater: a suffering in the form of death/pain/wounding

irony: where the audience has more information than the characters, creating suspense and a sense of inevitability

miasma: an ancient view of sin and pollution, murder, and incest violating natural & human law

  • crimes seen to offend the gods

  • both the agent & location of the crime were polluted by the act, as were people and places helping

  • proper ritual cleansing was necessary to restore both person and place to an acceptable state