GREEK TRAGEDY Everything you wanted to know about Greek tragedy but were afraid to ask

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TALK ABOUT?  The Origins of Tragedy  Which Cities Performed Tragedy  When Tragedy was Performed  The Parts of a Greek Theater  The Theaters Themselves  The Major Playwrights  The Way a Greek Tragedy Was Staged - number of actors - the costumes - the masks - the audience

THE ORIGINS OF TRAGEDY  Originated from the dithyramb: a choral song in honor of Dionysos  Arion of Methymna (7 th century) was the first to write a choral song, practice it with a chorus, and perform it  Lasus of Hermione was the first to do it at Athens  Connected with the worship of Dionysos in Athens

THE ORIGINS OF TRAGEDY  Thespis of Corinth  The first travelling actor  Active c BCE  Added prologue and speech to choral performance  Said to have invented the mask

WHO PERFORMED TRAGEDY?  Corinth: c. 600 (Arion)  Sicyon: c Cleisthenes (not the Athenian) - Epigenes  Athens: c only Athenian dramas left - “school of Hellas”

WHERE WAS TRAGEDY PERFORMED?  almost every Greek city had a theater  Theaters could be very small or huge  Each theater had specific parts  Usually in the center of the city

THE PARTS OF A THEATER  The Skene  The large backdrop  Could be decorated with scenery  Where the action actually took place (hidden)  Roof was accessible  Originally one door in the center, but eventually had three doors

THE PARTS OF A THEATER  The Orchestra  The acting area  semi-circular  Had a small altar to Dionysos in the center  Where the Chorus danced and the actors spoke

THE SKENE

THE PARTS OF A THEATER  The Ekkyklēma  A wheeled platform  Used to display set pieces  Agamemnon  The Mēchanē  a large crane  Used for the entrance of gods  Deus ex machina

THE THEATERS  Theater of Dionysos  Athens  Main theater for tragedy  4 th century remains  c. 20,000 seats  Located on side of Acropolis

THEATER OF DIONYSOS

THE THEATERS  Theater of Epidauros  The best-preserved  Largest surviving theater  Located near Argos in the Peloponnesus  Sanctuary of Aesclepius  Still in use today

THEATER OF EPIDAUROS

THE THEATERS  Theater of Pergamon  In Asia Minor (Turkey)  Extremely steep seating  Fit to the terrain  Pergamon one of the most wealthy Asian cities

THEATER OF PERGAMON

THE PLAYWRIGHTS  Three major tragedians  Aeschylus  Sophocles  Euripides  All active in the 5 th century  All won first place in multiple competitions  Only Athenian plays survive

AESCHYLUS  b. 525 d. 456 (Sicily)  Fought at Marathon  “Aeschylus, Euphorion's son of Athens, lies under this stone dead in Gela among the white wheatlands; a man at need good in fight -- witness the hallowed field of Marathon, witness the long- haired Mede.”  First tragedy 499  First first prize 484 (13 overall)

AESCHYLUS  Introduced the second actor  Wrote over 70 plays (seven survive)  Always revered  Main interest is in situation and event rather than character  Oresteia, Seven Against Thebes  Pericles directed the chorus for Persians  Both sons were very successful playwrights

SOPHOCLES  b. 496 d. 406  Served as a general with Pericles (441)  Very active in city politics (413)  First tragedy 468  First first prize 468  Won 18 first prizes  Never finished third

SOPHOCLES  Introduced the third actor  Wrote over 120 plays (seven survive)  The most successful of the Big Three  Challenged conventional mores  Introduced more dialogue between characters (less Chorus)  Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Electra

EURIPIDES  b. 485 d. 406 (in Macedonia)  Not active militarily or politically  First tragedy 455  First first prize 441  Won only four first prizes  The least successful of the Big Three

EURIPIDES  No innovations on the stage  Wrote ninety plays (19 survive)  Sophocles: “I present men as they ought to be, Euripides presents men as they are.”  More realistic than the other two  Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, Bacchae, Orestes

THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY  “Classical theater resembled today’s rock concerts: the audience knew every number by heart, performers wore high heels, loud costumes and heavy make-up, and they relied on background singers, known as the Chorus.” -Howard Tomb

THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY  “The audience knew every number by heart…”  Most tragedies dealt with mythological themes  “Performers wore high heels, loud costumes and heavy make-up…”  They wore elaborate clothes, tall boots, and masks  “They relied on background singers, known as the Chorus.”  Especially after the introduction of the third actor

THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY - ACTORS  Maximum of three actors  Aeschylus second  Sophocles third  All roles played by men  Same group of actors for each set of plays for each author

THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY - ACTORS  Playwrights did not act in their own plays after Sophocles  Chorus publicly funded  A choregos would pay for and train the chorus  Viewed as a civic duty  Could be prosecuted for failing to do it wealthy enough  Choregos got a monument if his chorus won

THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY - COSTUMES  Actor wore:  Mask  Robes  Platform boots (kothornoi)  Chorus could be in costume (comedy)

THE STAGING OF TRAGEDY - MASKS  The most salient feature  All parts by men, so mask depicted gender  Acted as a megaphone  Voice inflection paramount  Multiple Masks = Multiple Characters  Only three actors  More than three speaking roles, need for costume and mask change  Oedipus and his eyes

THE AUDIENCE  Any male could attend  Women most likely able to attend  Aeschylus’ Furies  State funded attendance  Cost was the average daily wage of a laborer  Theoric Fund  Never suspended, even when Athens in dire straights  Supplied public tickets  “Must-see TV”

THE AUDIENCE  Catharsis  “learning through suffering”  Moderation is to be sought in all things, even good things  The mighty fall so far that we admire them for being so high  A spiritual cleansing of the audience  Performances emotional

“Medea is NOT happy.” –Maria “Where can I get a golden chariot?” –Brittany “A must see…Medea is emblematic of motherhood!” –Karin “Not a bedtime story for the kids.” - Kate

Cave-dwelling- misogynist-who-was- killed-by-dogs OR Genius? Euripides…

LIFE BEFORE TRAGEDY c BC Born on the island of Salamis  (his parents fled there from the Persians) His father was promised by an oracle to have a son  that was honored by all men and consecrated by wreaths. So he was trained to be an athlete and he won some prizes. He also became a painter. He is said to have been deserted by his wife,  with whom he was deeply in love.  (This might explain the contrast between his writings against  women on one hand, and, on the other, the beauty and  strength of his female characters.)

PLAYS Then he decided to write tragedy ! He lived a retired life, had a very valuable library, and spent most of his time in dramatic composition (alone with his books in a cave on the island of Salamis) He presented first set of tragedies at the Great Dionysia in 455 when he was 24 (he came in 3rd) He did not win first prize until 441 Medea 431- he won third prize (ouch!) He only won five awards, and the fifth was not awarded until after his death He wrote about 92 plays (19 survive) in his lifetime and was compared by the ancients to Aeschylus and Sophocles. Ancients ranked Bacchae and Iphigenia in Tauris as his best works. Like Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Euripides' Medea, ranked (with Hippolytus) as his masterpiece, was defeated in the contest. These two dramas are the greatest and most original of his creations.

HE WAS “DIFFERENT” He did not cater to the fancies of the Athenian crowd (so he didn’t win many awards) He was a pacifist, a free thinker, and a humanitarian (which in Athens at that time was bad) Of the three great tragic poets of Greece, Euripides was by far the most modern. As the first of the "realists" he brought realism in clothes, conversation and character to the Greek stage. He was a pioneer in tragi-comedy. He went out of his way to that the sun was a flaming stone (and not a chariot pulled by a god), that the overflow of the Nile is caused by the melting of the snow in Ætheopia, and that the sky is not an embodiment of a god. Euripides was the first one to introduce women on the stage, not as heroines but as they are in actual life. He abandoned the principle of the older tragedians, that all the interest and action should be concentrated in one character and theme, as in the Prometheus, Agamemnon, or Oedipus; and in many other respects he seems to break away from the canons of Greek tragic art. Perhaps his finest contribution to world drama, however, was the introduction of the common man to the stage. (Almost as if he wanted to show the Athenian people what their beloved military heroes were really like.)

HIS LIFE BECAME A TRAGEDY… One by one, his closest friends were banished and murdered by the State for their liberal views. The only thing that saved Euripides from the same fate was the fact that it was his characters who spoke improprieties. In the end, however, he was finally tried for impiety and left Athens. However, he was attacked by ferocious hounds, and mangled by them…so he died soon after, at the age of 75.

BUT HIS LEGACY LIVES ON… For the tragedians of later times Euripides was the absolute model and pattern, and equally so for the poets of the new comedy. He was admired by Alexander the Great. (yeah!) Among the Romans, too, he was held in high esteem, serving as a model for tragedy.

THE FIRST PRODUCTION OF MEDEA -Medea was first produced in 431 B.C. -It was presented at Dionysia, a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus. - The central event of Dionysia was the performance of tragedies and comedies. -Euripedes presented several plays at this event in 431 B.C. including Medea, Philoctetes, Dictys and Theristae. -Medea received third place, but is the only play out of those listed to survive today. - The production of Medea was performed by Greek men and the Chorus was made up of Athenian citizens.

BACKGROUND TO THE MYTH King Aeetes' most valuable possession was a golden ram's fleece. When Jason and the crew of the Argo arrived at Colchis seeking the Golden Fleece, Aeetes was unwilling to relinquish it and set Jason a series of seemingly impossible tasks as the price of obtaining it. Medea fell in love with Jason and agreed to use her magic to help him, in return for Jason's promise to marry her. Jason fled in the Argo after obtaining the golden fleece, taking Medea and her younger brother, Absyrtis, with him. King Aeetes pursued them. In order to delay the pursuit, Medea killed her brother and cut his body into pieces, scattering the parts behind the ship. The pursuers had to stop and collect Absyrtis' dismembered body in order to give it proper burial, and so Jason, Medea and the Argonauts escaped.

MEDEA’S MYTH  Jason and Medea later settled in Corinth. There Medea bore Jason two children before Jason forsook her in order to marry the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. Medea got revenge for Jason's desertion by killing the new bride with a poisoned robe and crown which burned the flesh from her body; King Creon died as well when he tried to embrace his dying daughter. Medea fled Corinth in a chariot, drawn by winged dragons, which belonged to her grandfather Helios. She took with her the bodies of her two children, whom she had murdered in order to give Jason further pain. Medea then took refuge with Aegeus, the old king of Athens, having promised him that she would use her magic to enable him to have more children. She married Aegeus and bore him a son, Medus. But Aegeus had another son, Theseus. When Theseus returned to Athens, Medea tried to trick her husband into poisoning him. She was unsuccessful, and had to flee Athens, taking Medus with her. After leaving Athens, Medus became king of the country which was later called Media.

WHO AND WHAT IS TRAGIC? Aristotle says… -character must be good -must be appropriate -true to life -consistent or consistently inconsistent Tragic event must be brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some ERROR or FRAILTY.

 LET’S MEET OUR CONTESTANTS

TRAGIC HERO #1 Medea: Esteemed/renowned person Tragic error- anger/bitterness (more of a vice) Not appropriate for woman. Unscrupulously clever! “deus ex machina”- saved via chariot of dragons NO GOOD!

TRAGIC HERO #2 Jason Renowned Appropriate to character- man/dominant Very true to life Tragic error: breaks oath of gods between him and Medea, resulting from Pride WINNER!

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE Although Medea has comitted several violent acts, her life is good (she is happily married with two sons) until she realizes that her actions were done in vain and that Jason has chosen another bride. Medea Jason He believes that the order in his life has been restored (that he can live happily with his princess and his sons and that Medea will be gone with no problems). The reversal occurs when his new wife and sons are killed by Medea and her magic.

RECOGNITION  Ignorance: –Being hurt by Jason and not knowing what to do.  Knowledge: –Finding the most effective way to cause Jason the maximum amount of pain. Medea Ignorance: –Believes that Medea is telling the truth and will not harm him or the people that he loves. Knowledge: –Realizing that he should not have trusted Medea! (She’s Crazy!) Jason

THE CHORUS - The Chorus is composed of the women of Corinth. - The Chorus serves as a commentator to the action and a mediator between the audience and the characters. -Two characters emerge out of the Chorus - The Nurse and the Tutor. These characters allow the Chorus to become more relatable for the reader. The Nurse and Tutor reveal the plot, while serving as the moral compass of the play. - The Chorus presents the question – Should we fear or pity Medea?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT Who is the tragic hero? If Medea is the tragic hero, what is her error? Would the play be significantly different without the characters of the nurse/tutor? Is Medea meant to be pitied by the audience? If not, why is the Chorus on her side? Does our interpretation of the relationship between Jason/Medea reflect a double standard of our culture? Why should Medea surrender her anger?