Name ______
Mr. Cecala
Eng. 10
Greek Theater Notes
History of Drama
I. Look to Greece – 6th Century BC
A. Suggested reasons for the beginning of Drama
1. Hunt re-enactment
2. War re-enactment
3. Great Feats
4. Religious ritual rebirth
(Has anyone ever seen a play?)
(What are some reasons for drama?)
- Entertainment – expression
- Social expression/Social commentary
- Re-enactment
II. Drama is everyone pretending at the same time
A. Imitation
1. How we learn – imitating others
2. Teaches code of behavior
B. Escape
1. Essence of early fiction
2. Helps man understand his world and escape his everyday life
III. In order for society to have drama, they must
A. Recognize the artistic value of theater
B. Be capable of organizing theatrical elements
C. Has to understand imitation and fantasy
Suspension of disbelief – Believing something to be true that you know is not
IV. Catharsis – cleansing through either laughing or crying
A. Comedy – laugh
B. Tragedy – cry
Early Theater
I. Celebration of fertility
A. Dionysus – god who taught how to plant grapes for wine
1. Offerings were made to ensure fertility
2. Early plays were celebrations of this
a. By the 8th Century B.C., festivals were held for choruses and dances - (like the Olympics)
(What do you think they won? Pride)
b. By the 6th Century B.C., festivals for dramas
(celebrations were free-festivals – by attending, you were doing your civic duty)
c. 534 B.C. – First organized competitions for “The Best Tragedy” (drama was around long before – they did not need to define it)
II. Thespis – oldest known playwright – won the competition in 534 B.C.
A. One actor
1. Plays were very slow
2. Actor changes masks to change character (while chorus is singing)
B. One chorus
1. Approximately 15 people
2. Filled in roles while actor changed costumes
3. Danced and sang hymns to the gods
(Greek gods are human - Zeus – cheating on his wife Cupid – falls in love with his sister and has a baby)
III. Aeschylus
A. Major Invention – 2nd actor
B. Invented dialogue
1. Dia = through, logue = speech
2. This decreased the importance of the chorus
3. Greeks loved his plays (Contrived endings = sudden, cheesy ending – ex: Alice in Wonderland)
IV. Sophocles – 496-406 B.C.
1. Won the contest in 468, beating Aeschylus by adding a 3rd actor
2. His plays were concerned with human relationships and philosophy rather than gods
3. He lets the characters fail
4. He wrote hundreds of plays, but only seven are known
5. Further de-emphasized the chorus
A. By 1600 – Shakespeare – the chorus was non-existent
B. Ex: Shakespeare in Love
THE GREEK THEATER
(Theater handout, Chorus Handout)
I. Costume
B. All actors wore masks
C. All actors were male
1. Young men / boys played women
2. Heavy embroidered clothes, high heels
D. Masks
1. Needed all sorts – male & females
2. Made of linen, wood, clay
II. Plays
A. Followed a rational, logical and balanced structure
B. Prologue – before speech
C. Parodos – chorus dances, sings, etc.
D. Order
1. Prologue
2. Parodos
3. Scene (actors)
4. Ode (hymn)
5. Scene
6. Ode
7. Scene
8. Ode
9. Exodus
III. Actors
A. All actors were male
B. Were all professions and assigned to the playwright by lottery
C. Each played in a number of roles
D. All acted in each play
IV. Aristotle
A. A philosopher
B. Studied aesthetics – “Why is she beautiful?”
C. Wrote a criticism
D. Talked about drama intelligently
E. Aristotle’s Poetics
1. About drama
2. He determined there was a formula to the tragic hero
A. Had to be of noble birth
B. Events appear to happen my “chance”
C. Hero brings about his own tragedy
F. Definition of a Tragic Hero
1. A worthy man with a tragic flaw that leads him to error
2. In Greece, that tragic flaw is invariably hubris
3. Hubris – Excessive Pride
V. Vocabulary Sheets
A. Hubris – excessive pride
B. Hamartia – a mistake – Tragic flaw!
1. An error because you don’t know
2. An error because you don’t care – you have no morals
C. Arete – doing something to the best of one’s ability – physically and mentally
D. Peripetia
1. Turning about
2. Events are twisted
3. Ex: Man separated from his birth mom. Invites her to his wedding. She says, “You can’t marry her. She’s your sister!”
VI. Ideas/Themes of Greek Theater
A. Order
1. Greeks wanted order
2. Rejecting the gods or an oracle (wise person – gives divine answers) was potential chaos
B. Pollution (or impurity)
1. Affected all people
2. Everyone in Thebes is dirty if one person is dirty
C. Superstition
1. Very superstitious people
D. The all knew the story of Oedipus Rex
· Comparison to Macbeth – it was his decision
Oedipus = did not know, no awareness
· Temptation – evil makes temptation look good
· Tragic Flaw can be a virtue (Macbeth – Ambition)