Background Notes on Greek Tragedy
Greek tragedy apparently started with the singing of a choral lyric, the dithyramb, in honor of Dionysus. It was performed in a circular dancing-place, the orchestra, by a group of men who may have impersonated satyrs by wearing masks and dressing in goat-skins. (The Greek word tragoedia means “goat-song.”) Eventually, the content of the dithyramb was widened to any mythological or heroic story, and an actor was introduced to answer any questions posed by the choral group. (The Greek word for actor is hypocrites, which literally means “answerer.” It is the source of our English word “hypocrite.”) Tragedy was recognized as an official state cult in Athens in 534 BC. According to tradition, different Greek playwrights kept adding actors to their respective plays.
Greek tragedies were performed in late March/early April at an annual state religious festival in honor of Dionysus. The presentation took the form of a contest between three playwrights who presented their works on three successive days. Each playwright would prepare a trilogy of three tragedies which often featured linked stories. The Greek theatre was in the open air, on the side of a hill, and performances usually lasted most of the day. Performances were apparently open to all citizens, even women.
The presentation of the plays probably resembled modern opera more than what we think of as a “play.” All of the choral parts were sung (to flute accompaniment), and some of the actors’ answers to the chorus were sung as well. The play as a whole was composed in various verse meters. All actors were male and wore masks, which may have had some amplifying capabilities. A Greek chorus danced as well as sang. (The Greek word choros means “a dance in a ring.”) No one knows exactly what sorts of steps the chorus performed as it sang. But choral songs in tragedy are often divided into three sections: strophe (“turning, circling”), antistrophe (“counter-turning, counter-circling”), and epode (“after-song”). So perhaps the chorus would dance one way around the orchestra (“dancing-floor”) while singing the strophe, turn another way during the antistrophe, and then stand still during the epode.
Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero’s powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle said that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but he/she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition (anagnorisis—“knowing again” or “knowing back” or “knowing throughout”) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle terms this sort of recognition “a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate.”
The tragic hero is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness—he undergoes this change because of some mistake. He is neither a villain nor a model of perfection but is basically good and decent. Our word “mistake” (hamartia) is translated as “flaw” or as “error.” The hero falls through—though not entirely because of—some weakness of character, some moral blindness, or error. The gods are in some sense responsible for the hero’s fall.
Plot is the most important element of tragedy. The best tragic plot is single and complex, rather than double (“with opposite endings for good and bad”—a characteristic of comedy in which the good are rewarded and the wicked punished). All plots have some pathos (“suffering”), but a complex plot includes reversal and recognition.
a) “reversal” (peripeteia)—occurs when a situation seems to be developing in one direction, then suddenly reverses to another.
b) “recognition” (anagnorisis)—a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate. Recognition scenes in tragedy are of some horrible event or secret, while those in comedy usually reunite long-lost relatives or friends. A plot with tragic reversals and recognitions best arouses pity and fear.
c) “suffering” (pathos)—this can also be translated as “a calamity,” the third element of plot is “a destructive or painful act.” (The English words “sympathy,” “empathy,” and “apathy” all stem from this Greek word.)
Analysis of Oedipus Rex
IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.
THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power
CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.
STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.
STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.
STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.
CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.
SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.
Arg!! More Notes on Oedipus Rex
The three “unities: unity of place; unity of time; and unity of action.
Place: The setting of the play should be one location: in Oedipus Rex it is the steps before the palace.
Time: The action of the play should represent the passage of no more than one day. Previous events leading up to the present situation were recounted on stage.
Action: No action or scene in the play was to be a digression; all were contribute directly in some way to the plot. (There was very little irrelevant by-play as the action developed.)
Remember—1) To the Greeks the act counted, not the motive.
2) The murder of Liaus wasn’t a crime per se—in fact it was any Greek’s duty
to harm his enemies (as well as helping his friends). And as far as he knew
at the time Laius was an enemy—by insulting Oedipus he had made
himself one.
3) The worst conceivable crime was to kill one’s father; the second worst was to sleep with one’s mother.
4) Oedipus, the greatest of men, the solver of riddles, can only solve the
riddle of his own origins by revealing a truth too awful to bear.
5) The power of the curse—Oedipus, having cursed the murderer of Laius, feels he must carry out the sentence on himself.
The Sphinx is a creature having the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and horribly, the face and breast of a woman. She is treacherous and merciless: those who cannot answer her riddle suffer the horrible fate of being gobbled up whole and raw, eaten by this ravenous monster. Oedipus ends the Sphinx’s reign of terror over the people of Thebes by solving her riddle; but the man who overcomes the great threat to human culture posed by the Sphinx is the same man responsible for causing an even more serious pollution—this same man commits the cardinal sins of patricide/regicide and incest. Both the response and the responder to the riddle of the Sphinx is Man and Man turns out to be both the preserver and the polluter of the society. One possible interpretation of Sophocles’ message to his fifth century audience—that man has the power to both preserve and destroy. In order to make the right decision, he must go about his business with both eyes open.
Pollution: A pollution is a religious uncleanliness which is usually the result of murder of of other serious crimes(intentional or unintentional) and infects anyone and anything which comes into contact with.
Symbols: Oedipus’ swollen feet
The Three-Way Crossroads
Even More Notes on Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex, Oedipus the King, and Oedipus Tyrannos are three titles for the same play. “Tyrannos” means “tyrant,” and today means to the Greeks what it does to us; however originally, it was simply the title given to a ruler who came to the throne through his merit, not through hereditary succession.
For the Greeks the fertility of the soil and of the community were linked; therefore, one sees the imagery of agriculture and fertility in this play.
The fertility and the righteousness of a ruler were thought to be directly connected to the prosperity of his land.
The Chorus was very important in Greek plays. The Chorus was both engaged and passive, at times, both a participant and an observer. Made up of citizens, the Chorus was, in some way, Everyman—an Athenian citizen.
Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex when war-torn Athens had just been ravaged by a severe plague that devastated the city, killing its people and undermining faith in the laws and religious customs of the commonwealth.
Functions of the Choral Odes
Parodos: The Chorus establishes a melancholy mood and provides exposition. The leading citizens of Thebes are confused, frightened, and desperate.
Ode 1: Prepares the audience for what will occur, including the fact that the killer of Laius will be caught and that Teiresias will make a bold, bewildering pronouncement.
Ode 2: Helps establish themes, such as the importance of keeping the laws of the gods and maintaining faith in the oracles of Delphi, and warns against hubris.
Ode 3: Focuses attention on the critical issues: who are the parents of Oedipus? The tone is desperate and full of concern for their beloved king.
Ode 4: Expresses great sympathy for Oedipus, which, in part, manipulates the audience’s emotional response.
Exodos: The Choragos closes the play with a comment about human frailty and the unpredictable nature of existence.
More Notes on Oedipus Rex
--all violence takes place offstage
--all the action takes place in a single location and involves a small number of characters interacting with the central figure of Oedipus, who remains on stage for nearly the entire play
---The Chorus are turned into a “collective actor” within Oedipus Rex
--Oedipus Rex is mostly dramatic dialogue; BUT, what is left unsaid is often more powerful than what is explicitly expressed.
--Many lines contain a possible double meaning or ambiguity.
--Verbal irony and dramatic irony
--Oedipus’s initial desire to learn the identity of who murdered Laius is really a consuming desire to know his own identity.
--Tragic characters choose their destinies. Their choices cause their downfalls.
Yep ! More Notes on Oedipus Rex
Tragedies were performed in the context of a religious and civic festival, honoring the god Dionysus, provider of the grapes and wine that constituted one of the city’s major exports, and the patron goddess Athene. The inhabitants all came together to reaffirm their cohesion as a community. On the tragic stage, issues deeply affecting both the private individual and the citizen as a member of his or her polis were presented in such a way as to arouse pity and fear and to effect a purging of those emotions in the viewers.
A motif is a design or recurrent image or idea. The motif of the quest for knowledge is apparent from the beginning of Oedipus the King . In the priest’s speech, he refers to « speaking, » « teaching, » « hearing, » and « learning, » all of which are associated with knowledge. Oedipus’ initial desire to learn the identity of who murdered Laius is really a consuming desire to know his own identity.
Certain conditions must exist in tragedies. First, tragic characters must be of high birth or noble status in society. Second, they must experience a series of events that threaten their positions. These events should have a causal relationship; each event affects the next, so that every action is crucial to the plot. Finally, tragic characters must suffer a tragic fall through their own actions. The gods interfere to some degree ; they may even determine the outcome of the plot. However, they never direct the plot or the characters’ actions. Characters are responsible for their own actions—that is what renders tragedy tragic. A person who dies after an air conditioner falls on his/her head as he or she passes underneath it is not a tragic character because that person made no conscious choice. The even was simply an accident. Tragic characters, on the other hand, choose their destinies. It is their choices that cause their downfalls.
25 August 2009
Notes...
Analysis of Oedipus Rex
IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.
THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power
CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.
STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.
STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.
STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.
CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.
SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.
IMAGERY AND FORESHADOWING
Recurring images of darkness and light are associated with knowledge and ignorance…these images work as examples of a kind of foreshadowing.
THEMES/MOTIFS
1) Knowledge and ignorance
2) Choices and Consequences
3) Public versus Private Life
4) The quest for identity
5) The nature of innocence and guilt
6) The nature of moral responsibility
7) Human will versus fate
8) The abuse of power
CHARACTERS
1. Jocasta—she alternately condemns and upholds the authority of the oracles as best suits the direction of the argument at the moment. Finally, she gives up the struggle and hangs herself.
2. Creon—states that he does not wish for the throne; when he does become king, he acts with compassion towards Oedipus, leading him into the palace and then, as Oedipus requests, into exile.
3. Teiresias—he represents Apollo
4. Oedipus—prideful, stubborn, “blind” to the truth, suspicious of Creon’s motives.
STYLE
The protagonist inspires in his audience both emotions of pity and fear/horror; there is an opportunity for catharsis. Also, Sophocles builds suspense by doling out information bit by bit and postponing the crises.
STRUCTURE
The Prologue introduces the play; the parodos brings in the Chorus; there are four scenes presented with odes separating each scene; lastly, there is the Exodos (final act/scene). The fate of Oedipus is revealed herein.
STAGING
The Chorus performed on a raised stage—there were no female actors; plays were performed in amphitheatres; actors wore large masks and costumes—sometimes they wore elevated shoes.
CHORUS
Choral ode has a 3-part structure: a) strophe, b) antistrophe, c) epode (song and dance pattern). Choral odes bring an additional viewpoint to the play and often this perspective is broader and more socio-religious than those offered by individual characters; it is also conservative and traditional at times, in an effort to reflect the views of its society rather than the protagonist.
SETTING
Action occurs outside Oedipus’s palaces in Thebes.
Notes on OEDIPUS REX continued...
Questions on Scene 3/Choral Ode
1. Discuss how the messenger’s arrival makes us feel that the plot has been tied into a « knot » that needs to be undone.
2. Look up the Greek word « philos. » How is this ironic when Oedipus uses this word in speaking to Jocasta ?
3. How do you respond to Oedipus’ reaction of relief to the messenger’s message ? Why ?
4. How does the fact that Oedipus should derive comfort from what ought to be bad news highlight the way in which everything is turned upside down in this legend ?
5. By refusing to go near his parents, and thus, theoretically, eliminating the chance of fulfilling the oracle, what is Oedepus really avoiding ?
6. Who is « Liaus’ man »?
7. What does Jocasta mean in lines 140-142 ?
8. Why do you think Jocasta does not want the truth about Oedipus’ birth revealed ?
9. How is Oedipus being unfair to Jocasta in lines 158-162 ?
10.What is Oedipus’ reaction to his being a foundling ?
11.What is the Chorus’ reaction to this news ?
1. Discuss how the messenger’s arrival makes us feel that the plot has been tied into a « knot » that needs to be undone.
2. Look up the Greek word « philos. » How is this ironic when Oedipus uses this word in speaking to Jocasta ?
3. How do you respond to Oedipus’ reaction of relief to the messenger’s message ? Why ?
4. How does the fact that Oedipus should derive comfort from what ought to be bad news highlight the way in which everything is turned upside down in this legend ?
5. By refusing to go near his parents, and thus, theoretically, eliminating the chance of fulfilling the oracle, what is Oedepus really avoiding ?
6. Who is « Liaus’ man »?
7. What does Jocasta mean in lines 140-142 ?
8. Why do you think Jocasta does not want the truth about Oedipus’ birth revealed ?
9. How is Oedipus being unfair to Jocasta in lines 158-162 ?
10.What is Oedipus’ reaction to his being a foundling ?
11.What is the Chorus’ reaction to this news ?
Oedipus Rex
Questions on Scene 4/Choral Ode
1. How does the messenger’s well-meaning effort to jog the old herdsman’s memory remind us of the way a cross-examiner might try to get a recalcitrant witness to « remember » in court ?
2. Why is the old man (herdsman) reluctant to answer ?
3. What does Oedipus threaten to do to make the herdsman talk ?
4. Why does the herdsman shrink from saying what he’s been forced to tell ?
5. Why does Oedipus feel compelled to hear the truth uttered aloud ?
6. The rapid-fire dialogue between Oedipus and the herdsman is an example of what ?
7. Why does Oedipus want never again to see the light of sun now that the truth has been clearly revealed ?
8. Do the Chorus’ words suggest that Oedipus did anything to deserve his fate ?
9. Oedipus’ fall from grace is an example of what ?
10. Explain the metaphor of « Time » in Antistrophe 2.
11. Choruses frequently meditate on the ways in which affection brings suffering. Why ?
Questions on the Exodos
1. Describe the prelude to Jocasta’s death.
2. How did Jocasta die ?
3. What was Oedipus’ reaction to Jocasta’s suicide ?
4. Why did Oedipus commit this act ?
5. Whom does Oedipus curse ?
6. What does Oedipus mean when he says that Apollo was the curse, but he himself is the agent of his own blinding ?
7. Is it reasonable that Oedipus feels he cannot bear to look on anything in the world anymore ?
8. What ironies are involved in Oedipus’ curse on the man who saved him ?
9. Why is he disturbed that his friends pity him and feel pain for him ?
10. Do you agree or disagree witgh the Chorus that Oedipus would be better off dead than blind and banished ?
11. What might Oedipus’ decision to go on living in blindness, exile, and suffering say about his heroic statue ?
12. Why does Oedipus say that he deserves worse punishment than hanging ?
13. Now that Oedipus is blind, where is his inner vision turned ?
14. How are Creon’s tone and remarks reminiscent of Jocasta ?
15. Is there evidence that Creon is cool and impatient with Oedipus ?
16. Analyze lines 222-242.
17. How is Oedipus’ speech like a funeral lament ?
18. Is Creon’s admonition about Oedipus’ children mean-spirited, kindly, justified ? Why ?
1. How does the messenger’s well-meaning effort to jog the old herdsman’s memory remind us of the way a cross-examiner might try to get a recalcitrant witness to « remember » in court ?
2. Why is the old man (herdsman) reluctant to answer ?
3. What does Oedipus threaten to do to make the herdsman talk ?
4. Why does the herdsman shrink from saying what he’s been forced to tell ?
5. Why does Oedipus feel compelled to hear the truth uttered aloud ?
6. The rapid-fire dialogue between Oedipus and the herdsman is an example of what ?
7. Why does Oedipus want never again to see the light of sun now that the truth has been clearly revealed ?
8. Do the Chorus’ words suggest that Oedipus did anything to deserve his fate ?
9. Oedipus’ fall from grace is an example of what ?
10. Explain the metaphor of « Time » in Antistrophe 2.
11. Choruses frequently meditate on the ways in which affection brings suffering. Why ?
Questions on the Exodos
1. Describe the prelude to Jocasta’s death.
2. How did Jocasta die ?
3. What was Oedipus’ reaction to Jocasta’s suicide ?
4. Why did Oedipus commit this act ?
5. Whom does Oedipus curse ?
6. What does Oedipus mean when he says that Apollo was the curse, but he himself is the agent of his own blinding ?
7. Is it reasonable that Oedipus feels he cannot bear to look on anything in the world anymore ?
8. What ironies are involved in Oedipus’ curse on the man who saved him ?
9. Why is he disturbed that his friends pity him and feel pain for him ?
10. Do you agree or disagree witgh the Chorus that Oedipus would be better off dead than blind and banished ?
11. What might Oedipus’ decision to go on living in blindness, exile, and suffering say about his heroic statue ?
12. Why does Oedipus say that he deserves worse punishment than hanging ?
13. Now that Oedipus is blind, where is his inner vision turned ?
14. How are Creon’s tone and remarks reminiscent of Jocasta ?
15. Is there evidence that Creon is cool and impatient with Oedipus ?
16. Analyze lines 222-242.
17. How is Oedipus’ speech like a funeral lament ?
18. Is Creon’s admonition about Oedipus’ children mean-spirited, kindly, justified ? Why ?
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