The Greek Of Greek Tragedy

The theatre has been a part of entertainment since ancient Greece, around 4th century BC or thereabouts. The theatre grew out of festivals in honor of the god Dionysus. Aeschylus created the first play in her honor. The first Greek plays were all tragedies but eventually comedy made its way and these plays were performed at festivals all over Greece. Through the centuries theater played the main role of entertainment from noble and royalty to the common person in any city or village, and as we move into the twenties

Theater in ancient Greece was considered the climax of the days long cultural festival of The City Dionysia. At the festival, various types of plays were shown but one of the most popular was tragedy. These tragedies show the main character, usually a god or person of myth, going through human suffering and the terrible sequence of events that followed; and were produced in 472- 401 BCE. In order for a play to be performed at The City Dionysia festival; tragic playwrights would first have to appeal to the state official that was organizing the festival by submitting ideas to him and his committee. The ideas submitted were outlines of main themes and points of interest to be performed in the play. If a playwright was selected by the state official and his committee, then they received a financial backer and a chance to compete in the drama competition of the festival. The state official, or his committee, was likely pushing their own agenda and choose playwrights that matched their ideals. This is just one example of how theater in ancient Greece was used to influence the morality of Greek culture by using the stories of tragedies, like those of Euripides.

Greek plays required a very specific setting to be performed and written. The society needs to allow people the needed time to work and perform plays as well as educate them enough to be able to write the plays. Athens was a society that based itself off of education. This allowed people to have knowledge to write and read yet still gave them free time to work on plays. Sparta, was a militaristic society that was only focused on raising the best possible warriors. This meant education, free time, and even enjoyment was not necessary. Sparta’s militarist focus left no time or cares for plays while Athens’ relaxed nature and education focused provide the ideal environment for Greek plays to succeed.

Say “Greek Tragedy” to an English major and you’re likely to elicit a groan, or even perhaps a screech of terror. For me however, Greek tragedy, as well as Greek mythology, has always fascinated me. When I was younger, the Greek God’s always captured my interest, and I could never get enough of them. As I grew older, I became interested in the more refined aspects that Greek literature had to offer. Sophocles and The Three Theban Plays in particular, left me awestruck. I quickly began to realize that many of the new and inventive books and movies I had seen, had actually been written in one form or another, generations ago.

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.

Tragic Greek dramas featured tragic heroes, mortals who suffered incredible 
losses as a result of an inescapable fate or bad decisions. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a character, usually of high birth, which is pre-eminently great, meaning they are not perfect, and whose downfall is brought about
 by a tragic weakness or error in judgment. The three Greek heroes Oedipus, Medea and Agamemnon, who each killed a member of their family, carry most of the qualities that make up a tragic hero: being of noble birth, being surrounded by an extraordinary circumstance, and gaining self-awareness or some kind of knowledge through their downfall. There is an important need for the audience to identify with the Aristotelian hero through

In pieces of classical writing, including Euripides’ and Sophokles’ Greek tragedies, as well as the more personal, philosophical writings of Seneca, Cicero, and Plutrach, the consolation of loss is deeply interwoven with myth and drama. The idea of the consolatio focuses on a sense of survival and endurance of grievers, and the role that friends and loved ones play in this survival through comfort. The underlying theme in these tragedies is that the feeling is universal, and in no way experienced alone, and this paper will explore this concept beginning with Greek tragedy, focusing on how these stories can console the reader, and their exploration into the loneliness of grief. To elaborate on the Roman perspective, the techniques of Seneca and Cicero’s writings are shown to reflect and emulate these Greek ideas, demonstrating consolatio through examples of myth and universal truths to reveal an overall similarly minded approach to consolation in Greece and Rome.

“Theatre is the art that shaped the Hellene culture, and that is the single most influential culture that shaped the world (Germal 57)”. The people of ancient Greece, known as the people Hellenes, were responsible for many firsts, theatre being among them. Theatre and other arts flourished in ancient Greece between 550 BCE and 220 BCE. Its geographic influence was momentous, spanning through parts of modern day Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Spain, and France. These productions were showcased and funded by the government, making them accessible to all citizens. This allows for an accurate portrayal of Greek culture due to the large amount of people that experienced it, as it was an integral part of their culture,

Greece is the protégé of theatre and in turn stands as the basis of Western theatrical tradition; as a large part of the broader culture of theatricality and performance. In classical Greece included festivals, religious rituals, politics, law, athletics and gymnastics, music, poetry, weddings, funerals, and symposiums. In the original culture of the Greek theatre they stressed the importance of the twelve Olympian gods, advanced technology, theatrical stage, first actor, and rise of different genres. Due to these ideals and stresses, Greek style theatre is still prevalent today; we are very privileged to see the growth theater had since it first started out and to see that the old ways still persist today.

The theatre that you are most familiar with today generally comes via the movie version of an originally staged play. But if we go back further, we find that most of the theatre that is written and performed today can be traced back to Greek origins through various

Greek tragedy characteristically lent itself to portray a variety of interpretations, addressing social, political and theological issues of its time. Depending on the backdrop or context, the tragedies could question, dismiss or support political institutions such as the democratic polis. Greek theatre illustrated the complex relationship between aristocracy, democracy, patriotism and the Athenian empire. It drew attention to issues within society, using marginal figures and delving into usually unmentionable themes such as women, slaves, sexual deviancy, role reversal (such as women and men), greed, the horrors of war, family and children, and unstable political order.

Ancient Greek Theater is the first historical record of “drama,” which is the Greek term meaning “to do” or “to act.” Beginning in the 5th century BC, Greek Theater developed into an art that is still used today. During the golden age of the Athenians plays were created, plays that are considered among the greatest works of world drama. Today there are thousands of well-known plays and films based on the re-make of ancient drama.

Tragedy as a form works differently than modern drama when compared to the ancient Greeks. When it comes to modern drama, the main character is usually an ordinary person, someone who is middle class. Where as with Greek tragedy, the main character is someone important and noble, such as a king or queen. Modern drama revolves around everyday problems such as social, economical, or personal conflicts. Greek Tragedies seem to be very linear. It’s mostly about the hero making a bad decision from the beginning of the play, which leads to his or her downfall in the end. Although, they were of higher ranking, ancient Greek’s beliefs made the main character powerless to avoid their fate, which was controlled by the gods. As far as conventions go, Greek Tragedies are very unified. The tragedy of the royal protagonist will go through only one time span, a day or less, one setting, and one story. In a modern tragedy, however, the ordinary protagonist’s story goes through multiple realistic settings and a realistic time line. Also, the story would contain multiple plots, which may contain flashbacks.

          Although the origin of the Greek theater is unclear, many historians believe that it developed out of religious ritual and its performances were connected to religious festivals. The performances were used to educate and entertain. "The theater is certainly not the same as it was in ancient

In the Grecian Golden Age, Greece made many advances in the sciences, philosophy, and the arts. One of their greatest achievements was in drama. Ancient Grecian theatre was hugely important to the Greeks. The ideas found in their plays influenced the common way of thinking. The actual theatre structures were spaces for architects and sculptors of the time to show off their superb talent. Modern historians studying the ruins and ancient texts of Greece frequently come across the fingerprint that theatre left, evidence of which can still be seen today in modern Greece.