GREEK TRAGIC
DRAMA
The birthplace of tragedy was the city of
Athens, and here it also reached its full flower in the fifth century B.C. in
the masterpieces of the three great Greek tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Greek tragic drama–and tragedy as a
genre–evolved from primitive elements.
Basic was the cult of Dionysus (Bacchus), a young god whose worship
began to spread into Greece from the north about 700 B.C. Dionysus was not merely the god of wine, but
of the generative forces in nature.
Tragedy evolved from the choral lyric poem in honor of Dionysus, sung
and danced around an altar of Dionysus in circular dancing place (the Greek
word for “dancing place” is orchestra).
This choral song was performed by a chorus of fifty men disguised
in skins of goats, sacred animals of the god Dionysus. Thus we have the term tragoedia,
which means “goat song.” The chorus
represented satyrs, woodland companions of Dionysus, and they sang a hymn to
the god.
THESPIS About the middle of the sixth
century B.C., an Athenian by the name of Thespis (c. 550-500 B.C.) introduced
the first actor, the Greek word for which is hypokrites–literally,
“answerer.” Accordingly, Thespis is
known as the father of drama, and modern actors are sometimes called Thespians
after him. The new single actor added by Thespis was separate from the leader
of the chorus. This actor impersonated
various characters and delivered monologues (solitary speeches) or
conducted dialogues (conversations) with the leader of the chorus. He performed at intervals between the dances
of the chorus of satyrs, changing costumes several times and taking several
roles during the performance. Thus was drama–literally,
“action”—born. Soon, because of the
plot limitations of the legends of Dionysus, myths not connected with Dionysus
were introduced, probably first by Thespis.
With this development, it became necessary to alter the original chorus
of satyrs, so that in each new play a chorus of persons appropriate to the plot
was employed.
In
534 B.C. Peisistratus, tyrant of Athens, gave official recognition to tragedy
in the state cult of Athens, instituting a new festival, the City Dionysia,
with a contest in tragedy as the principal feature.
ACTORS The first writer to raise tragedy
to the rank of real literature was Aeschylus.
He added a second actor and thus made tragedy truly dramatic. This innovation at once enlarged the scope
of the action, made possible true dialogue apart from conversation with the
chorus, and allowed visualization of tragic conflict. Each of the two actors could take several parts so that the
complexity of the plot increased. As a
result, the importance of the chorus was diminished. Sophocles, the author of Oedipus the King, raised the
number of actors to three and limited the number of the chorus to fifteen.
This
new literary form–Greek tragic drama–was developed, then, from myths, mostly
derived from the Homeric epics and related sources; from choral odes, derived
from primitive songs to Dionysus; and from the dialogue of the actors. A Greek tragedy was a musical tragedy,
similar to a Wagnerian opera.
AUDIENCE The theater was a public institution,
and plays were produced by the state as an annual ritual of the state religion
in a public theater. Plays could be
seen only on specific occasions, when festivals of Dionysus were
celebrated. Classical Greek drama was a
community art, not a business venture, with an audience that consisted of the
mass of Athenian citizens; women, boys, even slaves, were admitted. The function of the dramatists in Athenian
society was of highest importance. They
were regarded as teachers of the people who presented their plays for the
ethical, moral, and political improvement of their fellow citizens.
DIONYSIA The
Great (or City) Dionysia was celebrated for five days at the beginning of the
spring, from the end of March into early April. On the first day of the festival there was a grand procession of
the entire citizenry in honor of Dionysus.
His statue was carried through the city to the theater of Dionysus in a
magnificent spectacle. On the second
day five choral lyrics by men and five choral lyrics by boys were
performed. On each of the last three
days, three tragedies and one satyr play by a poet selected for the occasion
were performed. This was followed each
day by one comedy.
DRAMATIC
Each tragic poet offered
a group of four plays,
called a tetralogy. This
Competition consisted of a trilogy–three tragedies, at first on one unified
theme, later on separate
subjects, followed by a satyr play, mock-heroic tragicomedy, which
became part of the official ritual about 500 B.C. The satyr play was on a Dionysiac theme and was a concession to
religious conservatism, so that the association with the god Dionysus would not
be forgotten. It also served as a
relief from the tension of the three severe tragedies.
At the end of the Dionysia, prizes
were awarded to the victorious poet by juries of citizens who were selected by
lot to choose the victors. The prizes
were among the highest honors that could be bestowed upon an Athenian by his
fellow citizens. Errors in judgment
were inevitable (for instance, the Oedipus the King of Sophocles,
regarded today as one of the great dramas in world literature, did not win
first prize), but the large number of victories of Aeschylus and Sophocles is a
tribute to the fairness and competence of the judges.
MASKS Originally, in a Greek dramatic
production, the poet was not only author but also producer, choreographer, and
chief actor, playing the leading roles in each play. All actors wore masks appropriate to the part. Hence the term dramatis personnae, a
Latin expression that means, literally, “the masks of the drama.” The mask, of religious origin, identified
the character for the audience in the vast theaters of antiquity. It also served as a sort of speaking tube to
amplify the voice. But it had the
disadvantage of preventing the portrayal of nuances of emotion through facial
expression. This had to be accomplished,
therefore, by the voice and by gestures.
The masks, usually made of linen, had a protuberance above the forehead
to give added stature to the actor and impressiveness to the face; for the
characters portrayed in Greek drama were almost always gods and heroes.
The chorus also wore masks and was
present throughout the action of the play, after its entrance. This fact imposes an unrealistic feature on
Greek tragedy that creates many technical problems. For example, the ever-present chorus is aware of all secrets and
intrigues of the characters. Moreover,
their presence tends to limit the action to places where a group such as they
represent may be expected to congregate.
Their presence also tends to concentrate the action into a short period of
time.
ROLE OF CHORUS The lyric odes of the chorus,
often of extraordinary beauty, were sung and danced at intervals in the
play. The chorus often set the mood of
the play, interpreted the events, and generalized the meaning of the action,
expounding the central themes of the play.
The chorus has been called the ideal spectator, bridging the gap between
the players and the audience. The
chorus occasionally served to relieve tension, or to give the background of
events affecting the action of the drama. Moreover, it had a dual character, as
narrator and as an actor, for it often conversed with and gave advice to the
characters. The leader of the chorus (choryphæus)
had a special importance, acting as spokesman for the group. The choral odes are divided into strophe
(“movement”), antistrophe (“countermovement”), and epode
(“afterpiece”). These were originally choreographic notations. Occasionally, chorus and actors engage in a kommos,
a responsive lyric exchange.
FORM OF DRAMA A typical Greek tragedy had
a conventional structure, which, it will be seen, highlights its origin in a
choral lyric. The play opened with a prologue,
by definition, the action before the entrance of the chorus. Then came the parados, the entering
lyric of the chorus. This was followed
by the alternating episodes, performed by the actors, and the stasima,
choral odes. The play ended with the exodos,
the action after the last stasimon.
CONSTRUCTION OF Greek theaters were always
open-air, built on the slope of a
hill. The
THEATER audience sat in the theatron (“seeing
place”) on tiers of seats on a hollowed-out hillside. There were usually seats of honor for public officials and
priests, with the principal seat reserved for the priest of Dionysus. At Athens, in the Theater of Dionysus on the
site of the Acropolis, there were sixty-seven seats of honor for the principal
civil and religious dignitaries and for distinguished foreign visitors. In the fifth century B.C., the Theater of
Dionysus had wooden seats. Most of the stone remains of the extant theater are
from the reconstruction made in the fourth century B.C. by Lycurgus, finance
minister of Athens (338-326 B.C.). The
seating capacity was about seventeen thousand.
All the action and dancing of the
chorus took place in the circular orchestra (“dancing place”) at the
foot of the theatron. It is believed by
modern scholars that a raised stage existed in the Greek theater of classical
times. But the actors performed on
three levels: in the orchestra, on the stage, and on the roof of the skene. In the center of the orchestra was the altar
of Dionysus (the thymele), where sacrifices were performed to the god
before the plays were given. The skene
(literally, “tent” or “hut”) served as the dressing room of the actors. The façade of the building, the proscenium,
carried the scenery of the play, which was simple and conventional, and usually
represented the front of a palace or a temple with three doorways, presenting
an imposing building with columns, pediments, and statues.
There was no stage curtain in the
Greek theater. By the middle of the
fifth century B.C., painted scenery, attributed to Sophocles, was fully
established. Scenery consisted of
painted draperies or boards attached to the wall of the skene. Changes of scenery in the course of a play
were almost unknown in the classical period.
The skene was flanked on either side by a parascenium
(“wing”). Between the theatron and the
skene, at each side, was a parados, the point of entry and exit of the
chorus.
Since it was a ceremony of the
state religion and was supervised by state officials, classical Greek drama
tended to develop rules and conventions that hampered free experimentation. There were severe limitations on changes of scenery, and the scene
of the drama was always outdoors.
Lighting effects were impossible:
all scenes (even night scenes) were acted in broad daylight. Interior scenes or events that took place
away from the scene of the action could not be shown. These were communicated to the audience in a narration by a
messenger or in dramatic exposition.
There was neither curtain not intermission. Because of the religious associations of the theater and other
technical limitations, no violence was permitted to be portrayed before the
audience, although suicide was apparently an exception to this rule.
UNITIES Greek tragedians practiced that is
called unity of action. This involved concentration on a single action,
with no irrelevancies or subplots employed.
Unity of time (that is, limitation of the action to a time period
not exceeding twenty-four hours) and unity of place (one unchanged scene
throughout the play), though frequently found in Greek plays, were not formal
conventions in the fifth century B.C.
The unities of time and place were matters of stage convenience and
theatrical necessity resulting from the continuous presence of the chorus.
Greek plays were thus
distinguished by a simplicity and an intense concentration, unlike the
sprawling discursiveness of a Shakespearean play. This concentration and simplicity were enhanced by the tendency
to maintain economy in number of roles.
Another peculiarity of fifth century B.C. Athenian drama is noteworthy: each dramatic festival presented original
works in single performances, and these plays were usually never again
performed, although they might, of course, also be given at the Rural Dionysia.
DRAMATIC IRONY There was little suspense
for the audience in viewing a Greek tragedy: the general outline of the plots
were known in advance because the poets selected the stories almost exclusively
from well-known myths. The principal
interest of the audience, apart from participation in a religious festival, was
in the religious and ethical instruction conveyed by the plays, in the skill of
the actors and the chorus, in the beauty of the spectacle as a whole, and in
the pleasurable appreciation of dramatic irony. The latter was, indeed, one of the most
characteristic features of Greek tragedy.
Dramatic irony involves double meaning in what is said and done, because
the audience, which had foreknowledge of the plot, understands words and events
in a different way from the characters.
thymele theatron orchestra parascenium skene proscenium parados parados
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