Greek Tragedy Study
Vocab and origins of the greek theater AND some Oedipus knowlege
Terms
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- deux ex machina
- device used to play a god or resolve complex issues
- Dionysus
- God of Wine and Vine (Fertility)
- masks
- depicts emotions
- Hamartia
- flaw; personal quality of the tragic hero which causes downfall
- sophocles
- adds 3 or more characters into play, subordinates role of chorus, and dramas are focused on humans not gods
- oracle
- place of and the prophecy (temple and the truth told)
- Spring & Rebirth
- festival held in march/april
- parados
- entrance of chorus; chants what is to come
- Function of the chorus
- town elders who tell themes, comment on actions, gives background, provides poetic beauty, mood, and relieves tension
- paradoi
- and arch for entry of chorus to the parados
- Aeschylus
- introduced a 2nd character in the play
- prologue
- background opens play
- Catharsis
- cleansing/purging of emotion
- oedipus's family tree
- from oldest to youngest: cadmus, polydorus, labdacus, lauis/jocasta, oedipus/jocasta, antigone, ismene, eteocles, polynices
- dramatic irony
- words/actions of a character that carries meaning but the audience knows much more
- Peripetia
- reversal of action that is opposite of what is expected
- anagnorsis
- recognition of hero's self truth
- dramatic competitions
- each author submits 4 plays (3 tragedy, 1 comedy)
- exodus
- short final action
- sophocles's trilogy
- antigone, oedipus, oedipus at colonus
- delphi
- home of apollo's oracle
- Tragic hero
- someone with elevated status, usually a good man
- stasimon
- chorus comments on scene--> meaning
- Main Elements/Divisions of Tragedy
- prologue, paradus, episode, stasimon, exodus
- skene
- stage house or dressing room of the actors
- Dramatic Unities
- time, place, and action
- episode
- "scene"; plot developement
- Winepress
- Festival held in January/February
- orchestra
- where chorus and actors performed
- hubris
- excessive pride which leads to the desire to control others
- phoebus apollo
- god of light/truth
- euripides
- fourth playwright
- Thespis
- introduced the 1st singular speaker in a play
- theatron
- viewing place where Greeks sat and watched plays