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Sophocles

Sophocles. 496?-406 B.C. Lifetime. Saw Athens rise and fall Represented high points of Athenian culture. He wrote more than 120 plays. Seven of that remain intact. Contributions to Theater.

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Sophocles

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  1. Sophocles 496?-406 B.C.

  2. Lifetime • Saw Athens rise and fall • Represented high points of Athenian culture. • He wrote more than 120 plays. • Seven of that remain intact.

  3. Contributions to Theater • Won prizes at drama competitions because of careful plotting and the “sense of inevitability” in his dramas. • Complex character development • Innovations for stage

  4. Greek Drama • Classical drama developed from religious festivals that paid homage to Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. • Plays were funded by the state. • Plays were performed in amphitheaters.

  5. Greek Drama (cont’d) • Male actors performed in front of skene. • Few scene changes. • Actors wore large masks, padded costumes and elevated shoes. • Words emphasized more than action.

  6. Role of Chorus • Provided background information. • Assessed characters’ strengths and weaknesses and gave advice. • Provided connection between actors and the audience because the chorus had two roles: observer and participant. • Helped structure action. • Used to shape audience’s response to play’s action and characters.

  7. Greek Tragedy • Prologue • Parados • Episodia • Stasimon • Exodus

  8. Tragedy • Presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat and even death. • Greek tragedy tends to be public.

  9. Protagonist • Someone regarded as extraordinary rather than typical. Stature is important because it makes his/her fall more terrifying. • Hamartia: Protagonist has error or frailty that seals his/her fate. An internal tragic flaw. • Accepts responsibility for downfall.

  10. More Terms • Reversal: Moment in plot where protagonist expectations are changed. Hero's fortunes are turned in unexpected direction. • Recognition: character grows, makes discovery. • Dramatic irony: meaning of character’s words, actions understood by audience but not by character.

  11. From The Bedford Introduction to Literature Michael Meyer, Ed.

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