Miasma and the Role of the Greek Tragedy within the Athenian Democracy
Tragedy, Ruth Fainlight suggests (pg), developed as an institution in Athens simultaneously alongside Athenian democracy towards the end of the sixth century, and the start of the fifth century BC. While plays initially began as religious dramas, they rapidly evolved to take on themes of civic issues. For instance, Aeschylus’s Oresteia portrays the relationship of ‘bloodguilt’ (Fainlight, pg) and private vengeance to the rule of civil law, while Sophocles’s Antigone explores the relationship of familial obligations to the laws of the state. A number of plays deal with the fall of a tyrannical or aristocratic figure. Vernant and Vidal-Naquet suggest that “the heroic figures…
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Drama, consequently, became a mirror for the developing social and civic institutions and tensions of Athens. Athenian society’s structure was firmly based within a framework of “kinship groups” (Fainlight, pg), which was primarily dominated by aristocratic leaders; the famed, idealistic democracy of Athens, as a consequence, was restricted only to a select few. Furthermore, the city’s Dionysia festival gave special license to tragedy to display images of society collapsing within this context. (Goldhill, 1990). The conflicts explored in many of these tragedies often mirrored those that the private Greek individual and Athens were facing, allowing Athenian dramatists to examine universal themes that confronted not only Athens but also societies throughout …show more content…
By the middle of the century Athens had transformed this league into the Athenian empire, and eventually, these varied events began to mark the political and military nature of the festival. For example, “besides the libations poured by the Ten Generals of Athens, armor was presented to the sons of men killed in battle. In March, all the city-states tributary to Athens and members of the Athenian empire had to bring their tribute and publicly display it in the theater during the festival. Other ceremonies, such as the awarding of golden crowns to public benefactors, further demonstrated the civic as well as religious nature of the festival.” (Fainlight, pg) Furthermore, the large crowds that gathered from all over Attica and the ships that arrived from abroad made the festival a center of trade and commerce. Greek drama was a cultural, religious, civic, and economic event that was at the very core of the city-state of
Some evaluations claim that the Dionysus appearing in The Bacchae is fairly true embodiment of the ideals of ancient Athens. He demands only worship and proper reverence for his name, two matters of honor that pervaded both the Greek tragedies and the pious society that viewed them. In other plays, Oedipus' consultations with Apollo and the many Choral appeals to Zeus reveal the Athenian respect for their gods, while Electra's need for revenge and Antigone's obligation to bury Polyneices both epitomize the themes of respect and dignity. Yet although Dionysus personifies these two motifs, his clashes with the rest of Athenian tradition seem to make him its true adversary. Dionysius distinctly opposes the usual views on gender, age, rationality and divinity, leaving the reader to wonder whether these contrasts were Euripidean attempts to illuminate specific facets of the culture itself.
"Different Types of Greek Drama and their importance." PBS. Public Broadcasting Station, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.
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.
Tragedies in the Greek and Renaissance theater were very effective in portraying the social and religious constraints that tainted society. Both playwrights, through the use of their ingenuity and vast literary knowledge were able to perfect and display such flawless spectacles. The differences and similarities between Greek tragedy and Renaissance tragedy, although vast, can be narrowed down to the audience. Greek and Renaissance theater targeted very different audiences that demanded a certain type of play in order to be entertained.
A Greek drama is a series of actions within a literary presentation in which the chief character has a disastrous fate. Many Greek dramas fall under the theatrical category of a tragedy due to the tragic events and unhappy ending that cause the downfall of the main character. During the famous play “Antigone” the Greek author Sophocles incorporated several features of a tragedy. These features include a morally significant dilemma and the presence of a tragic hero. The grand debate over which character can hold the title of the tragic hero has been discussed in the literary world for ages.
The play was considered comic by the ancient Athenians because of its rhyming lyricism, its song and dance, its bawdy puns, but most of all because the notion and methods of female empowerment conceived in the play were perfectly ridiculous. Yet, as is the case in a number of Aristophanes’ plays, he has presented an intricate vision of genuine human crisis. In true, comic form Aristophanes superficially resolves the play’s conflicts celebrating the absurdity of dramatic communication. It is these loose threads that are most rife with tragedy for modern reader. By exploring an ancient perspective on female domesticity, male political and military power, rape, and efforts to maintain the integrity of the female body, we can liberate our modern dialogue.
In Euripides’ play The Bacchae, the ideals that were the foundation of Greek culture were called into question. Until early 400B.C.E. Athens was a society founded upon rational thinking, individuals acting for the good of the populace, and the “ideal” society. This is what scholars commonly refer to as the Hellenic age of Greek culture. As Athens is besieged by Sparta, however, the citizens find themselves questioning the ideals that they had previously lived their lives by. Euripides’ play The Bacchae shows the underlying shift in ideology of the Greek people from Hellenic (or classical), to Hellenistic; the god character Dionysus will be the example that points to the shifting Greek ideology.
The Greek Plays including ‘Antigone,' ‘Oedipus Rex’ and ‘Libation Bearers’ (Orestia) are generally viewed and praised as works of fine literature, written by renounced playwrights during the 5th century. The plays themselves are ample with hamartia, catharsis, irony and enriched faculties of composition. Notwithstanding its great value in literature, the Greek plays possess a unique, different dimension that is not often brought to light. The plays hold lavish significance in justice, ethics and morality. These plays articulate on these aspects by questioning the readers in forms of moral dilemmas installed in the platys. These plays prompt us with questions of strong perplexity that still intrigue and ignite debates even with our advanced contemporary political justice, and better established sense of ethics and morality. Moral dilemmas that we, as individuals, are left to ponder, and compelled to weigh our own virtues against laws, social norms and justice. Thus, not only did the Greek playwrights bestow alluring masterpieces of plays, in hindsight, they also prompted all of us with morally conflicting questions that arose alongside their development of democracy. Likewise, the life in democratic societies is rife with countless political disputes over right and wrong, justice and injustice, which are all explicitly manifested in the plays ‘Antigone,'’Oedipus Rex’ and Libation Bearers’. This essay will introduce one moral dilemma from each of the three plays and contemplate on the justice of each of the circumstances. Moreover, this essay does not aspire to present an ‘absolute’ justice to all these moral dilemmas, and to provide jurisdiction, yet, inst...
The play “Antigone” by Sophocles displays many qualities that make it a great tragedy. A tragedy is defined as a dramatic or literary work in which the principal character engages in a morally significant struggle ending in ruin or profound disappointment. In creating his tragedy “Antigone”, Sophocles uses many techniques to create the feelings of fear and pity in his readers. This in turn creates an excellent tragedy.
In classical Greek drama and tragedy, the chorus reacts, responds, and comments on the actions and plot of the play. The purpose of the chorus is to represent the customary attitude of what is occurring, to clarify the actions as well as assess the feelings of certain characters, and to overall unify the play. Traditionally, choruses consisted of males, specifically the older men of whatever territory or city-state the play takes place in. The chorus plays a vital role in the four Greek tragedies “Antigone”, “Agamemnon”, “Medea”, and “Oedipus”.
Many things can describe a tragedy. However, according to definition of a tragedy by Aristotle, there are only five. The play has to have a tragic hero, preferably of noble stature. Second, the tragic hero must have a tragic flaw. Because of that flaw, the hero falls from either power or death. Due to the fall, the tragic hero discovers something. Finally, there must be catharsis in the minds of the audience.
A play represents society. By upsetting the societal order, the basic fundamentals of the societal group can be examined. In the case of Oedipus Rex, Sophocles portrays the basics of the Ancient Greek culture, the culture which existed in his time. He exposes a patriarchal society, one attempting to come to grips with democracy while at the mercy of the Gods. The social hierarchy is respect but forced to crumble, while the Gods rule it absolutely. All of this is exposed through the underlying conventions, mainly the chorus, dramatic action, dialogue, characterization and methods of social construction. It forms an in-depth exposition of the group and its formation of the beliefs and values.
Aristotle is one of the most important western philosophers in history that has influenced our society in many aspects. Many of Aristotle’s teachings have affected our world for many years and still continue to have such a big impact. Some of the subjects Aristotle has influenced include: logic, physics, government and poetry. Aristotle’s study of poetry mainly focused on the elements to a good tragedy. Some of his elements have been used in Greek tragedies and modern movies. The Greek play, Medea, and the modern movie, No Country for Old Men, use elements from Aristotle philosophy, while using similar and different techniques but both achieving an effective tragedy.
The tragedy was a large part of people's lives in ancient Greece. Tragedies became prominent long before Christ was born. A tragedy, or goat-song, usually were seen during festivals in ancient Greek times. Tragedies gradually increased in seriousness until they were given utmost importance. Greek tragedies began at a festival in honor of a god, there were three great tragic authors, and all tragedies include a tragic situation.
Oedipus the King is an excellent example of Aristotle's theory of tragedy. The play has the perfect Aristotelian tragic plot consisting of paripeteia, anagnorisis and catastrophe; it has the perfect tragic character that suffers from happiness to misery due to hamartia (tragic flaw) and the play evokes pity and fear that produces the tragic effect, catharsis (a purging of emotion).