Transcript Review: Greek Tragedy

Review: Greek Tragedy
Tragedy developed in the highly sophisticated and relatively small
city-state, in which debates about the relations between the
individual and society, man and nature, man and the gods, men
and women, and so on, were flourishing, with traditional political,
philosophical and social attitudes coming under constant
challenge.
Tragedy occurs when such attitudes and beliefs conflict with one
another. Competing visions from strong characters often result in
terrible loss, usually on both sides. But it is the vision of such
characters that gives meaning to their struggles, and that can raise
a character to the heights of noble spirit. The point to remember is
that though the subject of tragedy is usually very serious, and
taken from older stories as the point of departure, it is not
removed from real life concerns. This was as true of tragedy in
ancient times as it is now.
Theatre at Epidaurus
Theatre at Epidaurus
Although tragedy dealt with stories from the mythic past, one need only read a few
plays to realize that the contemporary world and its debates often lie behind how the
action and its motivation are depicted. As Walter Nestle comments, "Tragedy is born
when myth starts to be considered from the point of view of the citizen. "The active
participation of the citizenry in legal and political processes, along with traditional
educational practice, produced a society in which the appreciation of rhetorical and
performance skills was widespread. Plato remarks in The Laws that 'lack of training in
singing, dancing and poetry is associated with a lack of education' (654a). The
principal festival at which tragedy was performed, the City Dionysia, included
competitions between choruses of fifty men or boys from each of the ten tribes which
formed the basis of Athenian social organization. Involvement in these and similar
choral performances (often connected with religious or civic occasions) was a major
means by which the traditions of the city were handed on and by which young people
were inducted into the life of the city.
The small, close-knit nature of the Athenian community and its respect for authority
also had a strong influence on the portrayal of behaviour and the central concerns of
the plays. Within such a confined society there was a clearer sense of society's norms
and the expectation that people should obey them. Greek drama (and Greek
literature generally) tended to focus more on a person's actions, rather than a study
of inner thoughts, because Greek society tended to view a person more from the
point of view of the acceptability or non-acceptability of their behaviour, especially
behaviour towards family and friends and in public roles. Particularly in the mid-5th
Century BC, as the relationships between citizen and state were undergoing redefinition, one finds plays such as Sophocles' Antigone concerned with the
negotiation of conflicts between the characters' sense of their own position or family
duties and the demands of the state.
Tragic Hero and the Greek Tragedy
Reference points defines tragic hero simply as "the heroic protagonist of a
tragedy." Tragedy is further defined as "a drama focusing on the downfall of the
protagonist (due to a flaw in character or a mistake) an unhappy ending.
Traditionally the protagonist was of high social status (ie. a god, a queen) but is
now often an ordinary person." In Greek or Shakespearean tragedy the tragic hero
is the character who falls from nobility, prosperity, or happiness to misfortune and
misery due to some error in circumstance, judgment or some tragic flaw in
character.
In looking at the play Antigone, you have to focus each of these characteristics on
Creon as you witness his downfall from mighty ruler to victim of the gods.
Contemplate the human qualities which lead to his downfall and try to develop a
theme based on his misfortune.
Aristotle on Greek Tragedy
The word tragedy literally means "goat song,"
probably referring to the practice of giving a goat as a
sacrifice or a prize at the religious festivals in honor
of the god Dionysos. Whatever its origins, tragedy
came to signify a dramatic presentation of high
seriousness and noble character which examines the
major questions of human existence: Why are we
here? How can we know the will of the gods? What
meaning does life have in the face of death? In
tragedy people are tested by great suffering and must
face decisions of ultimate consequence. Some meet
the challenge with deeds of despicable cruelty, while
others demonstrate their ability to confront and
surpass adversity, winning our admiration and
proving the greatness of human potential.
Structure of Greek Tragedy
Sophocles brings vital action to the drama by allowing a third character to
take part in the story. Beforehand, two characters were more common.
Sophocles also gives us the chorus in a new way. Once the chorus was
actually the audience’s reaction in a ritualised response. Sophocles, however,
makes the chorus an integral part of the drama. It is given a character within
the drama itself. As such it functions as a social conscience, or a body
representing the norms and values of the audience, but in a more strategic
and consistent way.
The structure of the tragedy for Sophocles followed a simple guide.
Aristotle defines plot as the combination of incidents of a story. For
Sophocles then this plot consists of the exposition, or explanation of the
situation which has arisen, the complication, which may cause a reversal in
the expectation of the protagonist, and the resolution, or denouement
which accounts for all action from the introduction of the complication to
the end of the drama.
Elements of Greek Play
• Protagonist/Antagonist: the protagonist refers to the main or
pivotal character who experiences a change through self-knowledge
or their interaction with outside forces. The antagonist is the
protagonist's main rival or opponent.
• Exposition: the introduction which explains the characters and their
situation.
• Conflict: the tension and problem which forms the basis for the
action of the play.
• Rising Action: the introduction of the conflict which needs to be
resolved.
• Climax: that particular moment in a series of actions when
antagonist and protagonist clash for the last time
• Denouement: where the resolution takes place and loose ends are
tied up
Sophocles
• Sophocles’ life spanned the most prosperous
time in Greek and some say world history. A
citizen born into the Athens of Pericles in 496
B.C., he grew with a democratic form of
government through which Athens was to
prosper in the ancient world.
It was known as the Golden Age of Greece. Sophocles
was one of its most honoured citizens and is said to
have written more than any other playwright. He lived
for ninety years and in that time, he brought new
dimensions to tragedy for the Greek stage and for the
history of theatre and writing.
Sophocles: Changes to theatre
He brought the third character to the stage where plays had been
written for only two actors before, and he created new roles for the
chorus (see lesson 4) with more impact on the action of the play than
had been done before.
The days spent in the open-air theatres were the life’s blood of the
ritual of theatre for Sophocles and for his thousands of educated
fellow citizens. Through him the questioning of government, ideas, and
religious issues were brought to focus for people seeing the plays. The
plays functioned as a forum for social and political life as well as being
the center of ritual practice.
Plot of Oedipus Rex & Colonus
• Text History: The Theban Plays
• The story begins with Laius, who was son of Labdacus, King of
Thebes. Labdacus died while Laius was still an infant and control of
Thebes was assumed by the evil ruler Lycus. The baby, Laius is taken
to safety to grow up and returns to Thebes as the true ruler.
• Later, Laius married Jocasta, daughter of Menoeceus. When the
couple were unable to have children, Laius consulted the oracle at
Delphi, only to be informed that Jocasta would bear him a son who
would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. When
Oedipus was born, Laius had the baby's ankles pierced and gave
him to a shepherd to leave him on a mountain. The damage done to
his feet, provides the name of Oedipus, which means "swollen
foot".
Plot of Oedipus Rex & Colonus
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In the case of Oedipus, the shepherd took pity and gave the child to a shepherd from neighbouring
Corinth, where the baby was raised as the son of Polybus and Merope, king and queen of Corinth.
Oedipus had heard about the fate the gods had set for him and set out for Delphi to discover the
truth. The oracle did not answer Oedipus' question about his parents, but instead told him that he
was destined to murder his father and marry his mother. Horrified, Oedipus decided never to
return to Corinth.
On leaving Delphi, he encountered Laius at the place where the three roads meet (the roads
leading from Corinth, Thebes, and Delphi). A quarrel broke out when one of Laius' men attempted
to drive Oedipus from the road. Oedipus killed all of them, including Laius, except for one man (as
chance would have it, the very shepherd who had been given the job of displaying the suffering
baby Oedipus).
In the meantime, Thebes, the city where Laius had been king, was beset by the evil Sphinx, a
winged female monster, usually pictured as a winged dog with a woman's head. The Sphinx would
land on the walls of Thebes and pose a riddle to one of its young men; when the youth could not
answer the riddle, the Sphinx would eat him.
One version of the riddle: "What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and
three legs in the evening?" The answer: humankind, which crawls at birth, walks on two legs upon
reaching maturity, and is reduced to the use of a cane or staff in old age.
Plot of Oedipus Rex & Colonus
• Creon, Jocasta's brother and ruler of Thebes in Laius' absence, was
desperate: he offered the throne of Thebes and the hand of Jocasta to
anyone who could solve the riddle and rid Thebes of the Sphinx. Oedipus
came to Thebes, solved the riddle, and married Jocasta, unknowingly
fulfilling the oracle’s prediction.
• Oedipus and Jocasta had four children, two daughters (Antigone and
Ismene) and two sons (Eteocles and Polynieces). When the truth comes
out, Oedipus blinds himself. Jocasta commits suicide. Oedipus' two sons,
Eteocles and Polynieces, grow up and fall into a dispute over the throne.
They finally agree to shar the kingship: Eteocles is to rule for one year,
then give the power to Polynieces for the next year, and so on. Predictably,
Eteocles refuses to live up to the bargain. As a result, Polynieces gathers
together six other heroes and these seven join together in an attack on
Thebes. All of Polynieces' six allies are killed in battle; he agrees to a
private duel with Eteocles, where the two brothers kill one another.
Jocasta's brother Creon then assumes the throne of Thebes. It is at this
point that Antigone opens.
Pre- Reading Homework Activity:
Create a family tree visual showing the House of
Laius ending with Antigone. Within the sketch,
provide a note for each of the members of the
family, saying what has happened to each to
the point where Antigone begins. Additionally,
leave space to fill in the outcome of Ismene
and Antigone’s story as well as that of Creon,
his wife Eurydice, and his son Haemon.
Character & theme: The Nature of
Kingship
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The nature of Creon’s kingship is based upon a tragic family and its' inability to
keep out of fate’s way. That family was formed through the marriage of Oedipus to
his mother Jocasta. The children Polyneices, Etocles, Ismene, and Anitgone were
children who were caught between the laws of god and the laws of man.
The charge lead by Polyneices upon the seven-gated City of Thebes was
prophecized to be doomed, with the result being the brothers’ death. The sisters
lives were dominated by the care of their father, whose blindness was self-inflicted
because of self-hatred. This self-hatred was the result of Oedipus' quest to find out
the truth and the subsequent realization that he was married to his mother.
The surviving uncle, Creon, wants to rule in defiance of all those things which
played so huge a role in the immediate history of Thebes. He wants to control
every aspect of the state with rules of governance that will leave everyone
answerable to him alone. Even the elder statesmen of Thebes are to answer to
Creon’s demands for control.
Issues pertaining to matters outside the state will not be heard. Creon will not
acknowledge matters of family or religion as concerns of any interest to him. He
trusts no one. His rule of law is the funnel through which all things must be driven.
As a result his vision of good governance is based upon a very narrow set of state
laws.
Character & Theme: The Nature of
Kingship
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Antigone defends the areas of law that govern values of family, community and of the
spiritual realm. She sets herself against the demands of Creon because she will not let her
priorities and principles based on the laws of the gods be crushed by his narrow definition of
law.
Antigone has a very negative view of Creon’s handling of her dead brother, his own nephew,
the defiled Polyneices. Eteocles had refused his elder brother the throne of Thebes and won
over a portion of the Theben population. When Polyneices was denied elder brother status
as ruler, he left Thebes and gathered a force of seven heroes and returned to storm the seven
gates of Thebes, to take his rightful place as king for that year. The two brothers killed each
other in a hand to hand combat.
The play opens with Antigone, wracked by grief. She comes to tell their other sister Ismene,
about Creon’s order to defile the body and spirit of Polyneices, who still lies on the
battlefield. In the meantime the body of Etoecles, is described like this:
Etoecles, who fell fighting in defence of the city,
Fighting gallantly, is to be honoured with burial
And with all the rights due the noble dead.
(p.131)
Character & Theme: The Nature of
Kingship
• Antigone is outraged and devastated by the position Creon
has taken. Here are the orders from King Creon, describing
how Polyneices is to be viewed.
…his brother Polyneices,
Who came back from exile intending to burn and destroy
His fatherland and the gods of his fatherland,
To drink the blood of his kin, to make them slavesHe is to have no grave, no burial,
No mourning from anyone; it is forbidden .
He is to be left unburied, left to be eaten
By dogs and vultures, a horror for all to see.
(p.131)
Character & Theme: The Nature of
Kingship
In fact, Antigone defies Creon’s orders and
covers her brother’s body. She has disobeyed
the king. Creon has been king for less time
than it has taken for Polyneices body to
smell. Antigone’s brother has just been king
and before that her father. Why should she
now accept Creon’s version of the world?
Circumstances have brought her uncle to
rule, and she sees that fate can change this
again. Sustainable law is the law of the gods
that the dead shall be honored in burial.
Character & Theme: The Nature of
Kingship
• This view undercuts Creon’s view that it is within his
power to stamp rightness upon an already
devastatingly tragic history the house of Labdacus.
Creon had once said of Oedipus :The unclean must
not remain in the eye of day insulting “the Lord of
Life, The Sun above us” (p.65). Although by leaving
Polyneices exposed, he has done this. This is one of
many examples where Creon is shown to be
disingenuous.
• Antigone is arrested. She is trying to make meaning
where barbarous acts have left all grace and
humanity bare.
Activity:Read Antigone’s speech about law
and justice (lines 438-458).
Continue reading through the exchange between
Antigone and Creon that follows up to line 510.
• How is the character of Antigone developed by this
part of the play and through the stance she has
firmly taken to risk her life? How does it reflect
theme, or main idea in this play?
• Go to the discussion forum and with other students,
create a contemporary situation that would pit two
strong characters against one another. Make your
issue one based upon your generation fighting for
principles with which the older generation strongly
disagrees
Activity:Read Antigone’s speech about law
and justice (lines 438-458).
Visualise the common ground of both parties, and
to highlight the opposing strength of each to
the other. Use the Diagram model.
Write at least three paragraphs arguing for each
position.
Values & Character
We will examine:
• The relationship between values and
character for Haemon
• The role of Teiresias, the blind seer, in
demonstrating Creon’s character
• The use of imagery and other poetic
devices in developing thematic
significance
The relationship between values and
character for Haemon
Haemon, son of Creon, and bridegroom of the
condemned Antigone speaks to his father about
what a good leader needs to be aware of when
making rulings over his people. In a strong speech by
Haemon to his father Creon, Haemon characterizes
his father’s shortcomings as a leader and as a man. In
it, Haemon brings out the rashness of leading
without mercy and wisdom. He talks about the
impossibility of ruling well, without trusting your
fellow countrymen. He talks about bad leadership
resulting from those who hold a small amount of
power tightly in their grip.
The relationship between values and
character for Haemon
Look again at this speech of Haemon to Creon:
Let your first thought not be your only thought.
Think if there cannot be some other way.
Surely, to think your own wisdom the only wisdom,
And yours the only word, the only will,
Betrays a shallow spirit, an empty heart.
It is no weakness for the wisest man
To learn when he is wrong, know when to yield.
So, on the margin of a flooded river
Trees bending to the torrent live unbroken,
While those that strain against it are snapped off.
A sailor has to tack and slacken sheets
Before the gale, or find himself capsized.
So, father, pause and put aside your anger,
I think, for what my young opinion’s worth,
That, good as it is to have infallible wisdom,
Since this is rarely found, the next best thing
Is to be willing to listen to wise advice.
(p.145)
The relationship between values and
character for Haemon
An Exploration of Imagery
• Imagery is defined as both the pattern of images in a work and all
language used to represent objects, actions, feelings, thoughts and so on.
The term image is further defined as a picture, in writing, which are words
or combinations of words that help the reader form a mental picture.
Images can appeal to the sense of smell (olfactory), hearing (auditory),
taste (gustatory), and touch (tactile). They can be descriptive (literal) or
evocative (metaphorical). Imagery can be jam-packed with description.
• When Haemon describes the "the margin of a flooded river/Trees bending
to the torrent live unbroken/While those that strain against it are snapped
off." He is using figurative language and imagery to describe the rule of his
father, Creon. These words are metaphorical in nature and depict an
atmosphere of chaos and injustice. As you look through the remainder of
his speech consider the senses being appealed to and the nature of the
imagery being used.
The relationship between values and
character for Haemon
• Discuss the following questions in groups of four. Greek
tragedy is expressed in terms of the views of the gods and
natural order alone. See lines 949 to 982 for Teiresias’
speech to Creon.
• Compare the beliefs of Haemon to those of Teiresias – the
blind seer.
• In what ways are each effective?
• What are the values asserted in each?
• What common advice do they provide to Creon?
• What images are used and how are they effective?
• Using the information from formulate a comparison
response addressing these issues.
• See Comparative Writing next slide
Side By Side & Block Method
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