Other components that make up a great plot for Bacchae is the inclusions of the other elements that help to create a tragedy. The characters are what makes up the second most important aspect of the tragedy Bacchae. Now when I say character, I don’t mean who the actors are playing but more the moral qualities of the characters. The characters were created to depict morals which helps the viewers understand the idea of representation of the tragedy. What Aristotle believes is “The moral character is what reveals the nature of the people’s fundamental options; that is why there is no such thing in speeches in which the speaker reveals no choice or rejection” (Aristotle, 22). Thought is another element that helps the audiences get the sense …show more content…
For a well written play to be considered a tragedy such as Bacchae, a tragedy should be able to “Express thoughts into words, an effect that can be produced into either a prose or verse” (Aristotle, 27). For a tragedy to have good diction, the language should be fitting to the characters morals, and personalities. Otherwise, if the diction doesn’t go along with the tone of the play or doesn’t go along with how a character should talk, then its considered a bad use of diction within a play, and can affect the viewers opinions about the play (Aristotle, …show more content…
Aristotle believes that a tragedy shouldn’t fully rely on the staging aspect, “Staging can be emotionally attractive, but it is not a matter of art and is not integral to poetry” (Aristotle, 27). Although the aesthetics of the Bacchae should be top notch in order for a true understanding of mimesis, Aristotle believes “The power of tragedy can be exercised without actors and without a performance. Staging belongs to the scene-painter’s art than to that of the poets” (Aristotle, 28). If we look back at the setting and staging of Euripides Bacchae, we could see that it’s not over the top, but has the basics needed to understand the plot and the different locations where the play takes place. For Pentheus’ palace, there is a wooden faced along the back side which is used to as the center back drop. Along with the back drop, there are also columns to help support a structure known as a entablature. On one side of the stage, the viewers can see a tomb and the ruins of a house all cover in vines, which as the audience knows was Dionysus’ doing. This is representative of Dionysus’ mother Semele house where she lived and where she is currently buried. And lastly, to show the characters such as the “stranger” and Pentheus going off to visit the maenads at the mountain top, the characters would make an exit towards stage left. And the exit
had to set a tone where can persuade the audience by appealing to their emotion.
During the time of Euripides, approximately the second half of the fifth century B.C., it was a period of immense cultural crisis and political convulsion (Arrowsmith 350). Euripides, like many other of his contemporaries, used the whole machinery of the theater as a way of thinking about their world (Arrowsmith 349). His interest in particular was the analysis of culture and relationship between culture and the individual. Euripides used his characters as a function to shape the ideas of the play (Arrowsmith 359).
Then if read shallowly, the Bacchae also seems to be black and white, in the fact that the story tells of Pentheus earning his fate. The first step would be when strange things started to happen and the arrest of the stranger, Dionysus. Next, and the most important step in him earning his fate would be that Pentheus rejects the belief of Dionysus. Later on, more strange things happen, namely miracles and now Pentheus and Dionysus meet again, this time Pentheus is unable to reject him and starts to fall under his spell. They then meet for a final time and now Dionysus is in total control and humiliates Pentheus. When the chorus sees this, they invoke the "Swift hounds of Frenzy" to bring vengeance on Pentheus for failing to honor the gods. Pentheus is then finally killed by Bacchantes with the aid of his mother Agave. This seems to be a simple story of a man who rejected
Greek drama was performed in the late 6th century BCE in ancient Greece. Tragedians like Euripides wrote very influential and popular plays such as the Bacchae. Greek tragedies lead to Greek comedies such as Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. Many of the Greek dramas have similar concepts, one of being duality. Without duality, the nature of our lives and the environment around us remains unbalanced.
One of the most famous tragedy was The Bacchae from the Athenian playwright Euripides. The Bacchae won first prize when it premiered at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC, and is known as Euripides greatest work. This tragedy represents the two opposite sides of a man's nature: the rational and civilized side, which is represented by the character of Pentheus, the King of Thebes, and then there is the instinctive side, which is represented by Dionysus. This side feels a connection between man and beast and it’s a potential source of divinity and spiritual power. It’s believed that The Bacchae implies that it’s dangerous to deny this instinctive human nature; those who accept it find spiritual power, and those who suppress the desire in themselves
Through clever analysis, the audience to veer closer to a furthered
The classic Greek play “The Bacchae” by Euripides, explores the concepts of the restraint of human convention as opposed to the liberty of nature.
Greek tragedies Oedipus the King and Euripides’ Bacchae are both timeless stories in Greek literature. The engaging plot of both is what is most rememberable however the significance of the chorus is overlooked. The chorus can be defined simply as a group of dancers and singers that participate in dramas by singing poetically and lyrically in certain pauses of the play. The music, movements and gestures of the chorus symbolically define the mood and the themes of the play as the story line develops. The flow of Oedipus the King and Bacchae are dependent on the chorus, proving their significance.
To kill A Mockingbird is a classic novel by Harper Lee, the story is told by an older version of the young girl scout in the novel. The book is about discrimination and prejudice towards certain people. The saying went “it is a sin to kill a mockingbird” because they have done nothing wrong. There were two characters in the book that I think can be considered “mockingbirds”. These characters where Tom Robinson and Boo Radley.
Another essential group of characters in The Bacchae is the chorus, as within Greek plays the chorus often operated as a popular voice in support of the play’s central idea. Their songs often explain important points, and it’s clear in The Bacchae the songs of the Bacchante chorus uphold ‘sophia’ as the trait most honourable in humanity. As Dionysus exits to convince Pentheus to dress is women’s clothes, the stage is left to the chorus, and they sing: “what is wisdom? What gift of the gods is held in honour like this…” Wisdom is described as a gift from the gods sanctioned amongst men, and thus it is most wise to honour those gods. He who fails to recognise that “humility is wise, humility is blessed,” fails to recognise the greatest quality he can possess in the face of godly power. Thus it is clear that the characters of The Bacchae are essential in conveying the central idea, as
experience and the world presented are emphasized in the audience's mind in order to remove
usually use a variety of skills to convey their core information to the audience, eventually
Euripides’ The Bacchae can be read as an allegory celebrating the revolution of women against a patriarchal society. The argument for this allegory has substantial evidence. The Theban women reject the men of Thebes and the laws to join the Dionysian cult out in the wood. However while the women gain power initially, in the end they lose their newly gained power. The women then face severe punishment for their rebellion. Agave and her sisters receive the punishment on behalf of all the bacchants. The message is that female rebellion is a threat to social order and their power must be weakened or destroyed to restore order. This provides the conflict and resolution to entertain and appease the audience. The Bacchae condemns the proposition of
How did the fairytales we know today came about in our world? Years ago, the Era of Romanticism was started by men and women who let their imagination take them away from a world where religion and politics dominated. Nature became the root of their ideas and literature was glorified like a religion. The human spirit was examined in their eyes and they formed stories that intrigued the people in that time period. The origin of the literary movement, the lifestyle, and the literary art of the Romantic Era still affect us in some way or another.
After reading this type of tragic play “Oedipus the King” written by Sophocles you can see that the author did a very outstanding form of presenting a tragedy that has the characteristics of mimesis and a tragic hero. Specifically, the writer written the play that would leave many readers to be able to relate to and have a character whom characteristics are noble and basically good. A purpose of tragedy is “catharsis”. In other words, the main reason for a tragedy in a play is to purge an individual of