Seneca is an influential prolific philosopher and playwright. Seneca was a respected man back in his day because of his letters and he also actively participated in the politics of that era. He was also the tutor to the young Roman emperor, Nero. Seneca's tragedies, were not that well liked due to the content, but they have made their impact throughout many periods. Playwrights even in today’s time have been drawn to Seneca's works due to his elements of plot, characterization, and mood, which is what shows he is a ongoing influence. The main goal of this paper is to discuss Seneca’s background and contributions to theatre and the style, language, and content of his tragedy Phaedra. Seneca was born in Cordoba, Spain, in the year 4 BC. Seneca …show more content…
Seneca is quite well known for his tragedies, which were heavily inspired by the same Greek myths that playwrights Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus did adaptations of as well. Seneca's adaptations of the myths differ quite significantly from the other Greek writers and he often has underlining themes throughout his plays that are similar to his own philosophical writings. (Buckley, 231) And even though many of Seneca's works have been lost throughout time, a good portion of his works have survived. His more poetic works are the nine tragedies he had written around the period 45 AD to 55 AD. One of his plays titled, Phaedra takes influence from Euripides, especially the simple title of the play. Thyestes is the only play that seems to have no Greek influence or any other Greek precedence behind it. The complex conversations between characters in Seneca's plays are quite unlike the dialogue of a Greek tragedy. The atmosphere that is created within the plays are much of gloom, insanity and physical horror. One of the reoccurring themes that is repeatedly thorough Seneca's plays is passion leading to madness. This passion turns into an obsession and ends up causing chaos in the normal everyday life of the individuals. Another then which ends up serving as a warning against the dangers of overpowering emotion and relates to a theme of
The tradition of the tragedy, the renowned form of drama based on human suffering that invokes an accompanying catharsis, has principally become a discontinued art. Plays that evoke the sense of tragedy-the creations of Sophocles, Euripides, and William Shakespeare-have not been recreated often, nor recently due to its complex nature. The complexity of the tragedy is due to the plot being the soul of the play, while the character is only secondary. While the soul of the play is the plot, according to Aristotle, the tragic hero is still immensely important because of the need to have a medium of suffering, who tries to reverse his situation once he discovers an important fact, and the sudden downturn in the hero’s fortunes. Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is the modern tragedy of a common man named Willy Loman, who, like Oedipus from Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, exhibits some qualities of a tragic hero. However, the character Willy Loman should not be considered a full-on tragic hero because, he although bears a comparable tragic flaw in his willingness to sacrifice everything to maintain his own personal dignity, he is unlike a true tragic hero, like Oedipus, because he was in full control of his fate where Oedipus was not.
The Seneca Falls Convention took place in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19th and 18th in 1848. The convention was held to address the condition of women in the United States. Approximately three hundred women, including 40 men participants, showed for the convention. This convention marked the beginning of the women’s rights movement that would last for several years to come.
In Euripides’ tragic play, Medea, the playwright creates an undercurrent of chaos in the play upon asserting that, “the world’s great order [is being] reversed.” (Lawall, 651, line 408). The manipulation of the spectators’ emotions, which instills in them a sentiment of drama, is relative to this undertone of disorder, as opposed to being absolute. The central thesis suggests drama in the play as relative to the method of theatrical production. The three concepts of set, costumes, and acting, are tools which accentuate the drama of the play. Respectively, these three notions represent the appearance of drama on political, social, and moral levels. This essay will compare three different productions of Euripides’ melodrama, namely, the play as presented by the Jazzart Dance Theatre¹; the Culver City (California) Public Theatre²; and finally, the original ancient Greek production of the play, as it was scripted by Euripides.
Set ages apart, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex provide different perspectives on the topic of tragedy and what is defined as a tragic hero. Although Oedipus would be thought of as better representing the tragic hero archetype due to tradition and time period, the modern tragic hero of Oedipus Rex is more of a dismal one. Through analysis of their respective hamartias, it is exemplified that the New York businessman with his humble story proves to be more thought provoking than the King of Thebes and his melancholic tale. **By incorporating a more relatable character and plot, Arthur Miller lends help to making Willy Lowman spiral toward his own downfall while building more emotion and response from the audience than with Oedipus. When Oedipus learns of his awful actions, this invokes shock and desperation.
As stated throughout the essay, Shakespeare exaggerates how much our actions are affected by major emotions in the play Othello. When consumed by love, the characters? actions are amplified, when consumed by jealousy, their actions become more extreme, and when consumed by despair, their actions are exaggerated. Although emotions do have some control over our actions, they aren?t the only factor that affects what we do.
Catharsis is shown throughout the play in many different ways, making it an Aristotelian tragedy. To begin, the audience feels the purging of catharsis directly after Romeo delivers his soliloquy in Act I, scene iv: “I fear, too early; for my mind misgives/Some consequence yet hanging in the stars/Shall bitterly begin his fearful date” (I, iv, 106-108). This soliloquy leaves the audience with fearful anticipation of coming events and how they will affect Romeo later on in the play. Another example of catharsis is exemplified when the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, meet for the first time. As Juliet says, “My only love, sprung from my only hate!” (I, v, 137) the audience feels extreme pity due to the fact that they know that these two people, who love each other, cannot be together because they are enemies. Yet, the reader wants them to be together, but know that it is impossible because of the blistering hatred of these two families. Aristotle explains that “tragedy arouses the emotions of pity and fear in order to purge away their e...
Perhaps the most popular theme in the play is that of revenge. R.A. Foakes in “The Play’s Courtly Setting” explains the burden of revenge which the protagonist must carry for the duration of the play:
Aristotle, a philosopher, scientist, spiritualist and passionate critic of the arts, spent many years studying human nature and its relevance to the stage. His rules of tragedy in fact made a deep imprint on the writing of tragic works, while he influenced the structure of theatre, with his analysis of human nature. Euripides 'Medea', a Greek tragedy written with partial adherence to the Aristotelian rules, explores the continuation of the ancient Greek tales surrounding the mythology of Medea, Princess of Colchis, and granddaughter of Helios, the sun god, with heartlessness to rival the infamous Circe. While the structure of this play undoubtedly perpetuates many of the Aristotelian rules, there are some dramatic structures which challenge its standing with relevance to Aristotle's guidelines, and the judgment of Medea as a dramatic success within the tragic genre.
Thyestes is a gruesome tragedy written by the Roman playwright, Seneca. In this tale, two brothers have a quarrel over the kingdom, which comes to a head with Atreus’ gruesome plan of revenge. Atreus decides to kill Thyestes’ children, and serve the children to Thyestes as a feast that is presented as a celebration of peace between the two brothers. While themes of revenge, gore, and overwhelming passion are all present in this text, a production can use certain devices to emphasize one specific theme over another. For example, two recent productions of Seneca’s Thyestes—Barnard Columbia Ancient Drama Group in 2013 and The Court Theater in 2007—use seemingly opposing stylistic choices that highlight and emphasize different aspects of the play.
One of the main catalysts in Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' is powerful, uncontrollable emotions; love, hate, wrath, infatuation, and outrage are all apparent in the play and have a direct impact on the tragic events that unfold. In act one, scene two, the strongest emotions conveyed are those of despair, love and sincerity. Shakespeare uses imagery, figurative language and powerful vocabulary to convey these emotions to the audience.
In the tremendous play of ‘Romeo & Juliet’, Shakespeare’s ways engages the audience straight away. The astounding methods he uses hooks the audience into the play and allows them to read on, wondering what will happen. The tragic love story of Romeo & Juliet, as mentioned in the prologue, sets a variety of themes throughout Act 1 Scene 5. Many of the recognisable themes are: youth and age, revenge, forbidden love, fate, action and hate. The main idea of the play is a feud that had been going on between two families, The ‘Montagues and Capulets’, the son of the Montagues and the daughter of the Capulets fall in love and the story tells us how tragic, death, happiness and revenge find them throughout the play.
...and the contemporary political situation into the familiar mythological saga of Oedipus. He does this not in the form of a manifesto or a public speech, but in a stage play, widely viewed and enjoyed by Athenian citizens. These underlying themes allow audience members to deeply connect to what initially seems like an alien world and allows for a more enjoyable experience for those who perceived and understood these themes. He tailored the play to the age and the audience and managed to successfully create a popular text that is still studied today for its literary merit and historical importance.
Overall, we see that the theme of madness has a significant impact on the conflicts and overall development of the play as well as the characters themselves and is successfully conveyed. Shakespeare developed a theme that tied the many important emotions and ideas together to make the play what it is. He used Ophelia’s grief and love, Hamlet’s wit and ruminative nature to convey a theme that could be related to more the one character, and tie all of the conflicts and complications down to one cause.
The atmosphere of the play is reinforced by imagery of decay and disease and the emotional and moral decay of the characters. This atmosphere is an integral part of the play as a whole and contributes greatly to its impact upon the audience. Shakespeare's skill in weaving this motif into the play is evidence of his genius as a playwright and quality of his writings.
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans. Gerald F. Else. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1967. Dorsch, T. R., trans. and ed. Aristotle Horace Longinus: Classical Literary Criticism. New York: Penguin, 1965. Ley, Graham. The Ancient Greek Theater. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1991. Reinhold, Meyer. Classical Drama, Greek and Roman. New York: Barrons, 1959.