190 likes | 561 Views
Ancient Greek Theatre and Oedipus Rex. Theatre Diagram. Parts of the Theatre. Theatron : (literally, "viewing-place") is where the spectators sat. The theatron was usually part of hillside overlooking the orchestra.
E N D
Parts of the Theatre • Theatron: (literally, "viewing-place") is where the spectators sat. The theatron was usually part of hillside overlooking the orchestra. • Skene: (literally, "tent") was the building directly behind the stage. Actors made entrances/ exits through doors. • Parodos: The parodoi (literally, "passageways") are the paths by which the chorus and some actors made their entrances and exits. • If someone was entering from the right parodos, that meant that he was coming from the city or the port. • If he was coming from the left parodos, he was supposed to come from the fields or abroad.
Parts of the Theatre • Orchestra: (literally, "dancing space") was normally circular. It was a level space where the chorus would dance, sing, and interact with the actors. • Proskenion: (“in front of the skene”) The columned space just in front of the skene; it separates the stage from the audience
Parts of the Play • The prologue usually gives the mythological background necessary for understanding the events of the play. • Parodos: This is the song sung by the chorus as it first enters the orchestra and dances • Episode (Episodia): There are several of these, and they are where the action and dialobue takes place between the characters and the chorus. Each episode is followed by a stasimon.
Parts of the Play • Stasimon: At the end of each episode, the other characters usually leave the stage and the chorus dances and sings a stasimon, or choral ode. The ode usually reflects on the things said and done in the episodes, and puts it into some kind of larger mythological framework. • Exodos: The final scene of the play; the chorus exits singing a processional song which usually offers words of wisdom related to the actions and outcome of the play.
Other Theatre Terms • Deus ex machina: This was a device used to resolve plot complications and/or to get the protagonist out of a complicated conflict. A “god” was lowered onto the stage via machinery and would resolve the problem • Strophe and antistrophe: Two of the most basic and important movements of the chorus; basically alternating verses of the stasimons. • Chiton (or chition): The robe used as a costume by the actors • Cothornous The boots or shoes the actors wore • Ekeclema: One of the kinds of machinery used in Greek Theatre
Terms for Greek Tragedy • Hubris: overextended pride or insolence that usually leads to the downfall of the protagonist • Causes the protagonist to • break a moral law • attempt to overcome normal human limitations • ignore divine warning
Terms for Greek Tragedy • Hamartia: the protagonist’s (or tragic hero’s) tragic flaw • Catharsis: Purging of emotions; according to Aristotle, through pity and terror • Anagnorisis: (Recognition) The point in the play when the tragic hero understands fully the situation—leads to the peripeteia • Peripeteia: The reversal of fortune of the protagonist; usually a loss in status and/or downfall (many times the death of the protagonist)
Aristotle and TragedyTragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude…” • Plot: Aristotle defines plot as “the arrangement of the incidents”: i.e., not the story itself but the way the incidents are presented to the audience, the structure of the play. • The plot must be “a whole,” with a beginning, middle, and end • The plot must be “complete,” having “unity of action” • The plot must be “of a certain magnitude,” or seriousness
Aristotle and Tragedy, con’t • Characterhas the second place in importance • “good or fine.” • “fitness of character” (true to type); • “true to life” (realistic) • “consistency” (true to themselves). • “true to life and yet more beautiful” (idealized, ennobled).
More on Aristotle • Thoughtis third in importance, and is found “where something is proved to be or not to be, or a general maxim is enunciated.” • Diction is fourth, and is “the expression of the meaning in words” which are proper and appropriate to the plot, characters, and end of the tragedy • Song, or melody, is fifth, and is the musical element of the chorus. • Spectacleis last, for it is least connected with literature; “the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet.”
Oedipus Facts • The Oedipus Plays: Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Colonus (Also known as the Oedipus Cycle) • Oedipus Rex is alternatively known as Oedipus Tyrannus (Oedipus the Tyrant) • Oedipus’ Children: Daughters: Antigone, Ismene; Sons: Eteocles, Polynices • “Oedipus” means swollen foot
More Oedipus Facts • “Oedipus Complex” was identified by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud; it is where children see their fathers as rivals for the attention of their mothers. Usually applied to boys/men.
Miscellaneous Facts • Tragedy means “goat song” and is related to the sacrifices made at the Dionysian festivals; and the chorus dressed in goat skins to accompany the sacrifice • Thespis and Greek Theatre: • Developed the main idea of tragedy—where the actors, not the chorus, spoke the dialogue • His name is the root for “thespian” which means “actor”
Answers to the questions not already covered • Great Tragedians of Ancient Athens: Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes • Reasons for masks: • Different roles • Magnified actors’ voices • No female actors
Sophocles • Sophocles was born near Athens, in the city of Colonus, in the year 496 B.C. • He recieved the first prize for tragic drama at the play competition during 468 B.C. • He wrote over one hundred plays for the Athenian theatres and won about twenty-four contests. • Of Sophocles' one hundred plays only seven survived to this day.