Tragedy Project

Tragedy
Project
Alexandria Ritchie,
Laura Schmidt, and
Molly Stroud
Origin of Tragedy: Tragos
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The word tragos means “goat” and is part
of the etymology of the word “tragedy.”
The other part of the etymology is the
Greek ode, meaning “hymn” or
“lamentation.”
In ancient Greece, worshippers sacrificed
goats to the god Dionysus during festivals.
A song of lamentation would then be sung
for the sacrificed goat.
Tragos and ode came together to form
tragedy.
The original tragedy, therefore, was the
death of a goat.
Origin of Tragedy: Dionysus
Dionysus, born from the thigh of Zeus, was the
Greek god of fertility, wine, and theater.
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Dionysus is credited as an origin of tragedy, as
there are obvious links between the two (goat
sacrificing (tragos), song rituals (tragoedia), and
wearing masks.
When drunk, people act as someone other than
themselves, hence the ability to act. Dionysus,
the god of wine, also became the god of theater
for that
A choral lyric called the dithyramb (honoring
Dionysus), sung by a group of men dressed as
satyrs, is thought to be the start of tragedy.
When instruments were thrown into the mix, the
aulos (a double pipe associated with Dionysus)
was often used.
Origin of Tragedy: City Dionysia
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A festival held to celebrate the end of
winter and the harvest
On the first day, people marched to
the Theatre of Dionysus
The first tragedy performed at the
Dionysia was by Thespis, who was
awarded a goat (a common symbol of
Dionysus)
This was the origin of the word
tragedy, which means “goat-song”
Five days of each Dionysia were
devoted to performances, at least
three of which were always tragedies.
Origin of Tragedy: the trilogy
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In early competitions such as the
Dionysia, playwrights displayed four
plays, generally three tragedies and one
satyr play.
It became customary to write tragedies in
groups of three, or trilogies.
Aeschylus, one of the first great tragic
writers, popularized trilogy writing by
carrying on a single theme through his
three tragedies.
Later, Sophocles perfected the art of
trilogy writing in plays such as Oedipus
Rex and Antigone.
Origin of Tragedy: The Satyr Play
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During the Dionysia festival (as aforementioned), there were
usually four plays, three of which were tragedies. Though the
one play that was not a tragedy may have been a Greek
form of a tragicomedy called a satyr play.
Satyr plays were used as comic relief, sometimes an
interlude between tragic plays, but they also could appear at
the very end of the trilogies.
Actors dressed as satyrs ran around the stage bringing joy to
the audience by being sexually explicit (philliac props, the
usual), faux drunkenness, pranks, and jokes.
While satyr plays were set up like tragedies in means of the
seriousness of character and costume, the chorus of satyrs
in the play made fun of tragedy characters with their
foolishness and raunchiness.
The Form of Tragedy: The Players
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In Ancient Greece, males played all
roles, and when necessary, dressed
as women
Greek plays were known for their
iconic masks, which actors wore to
allow their faces to be seen from a
distance and also to allow one man
to play multiple characters
Actors wore beautified versions of
everyday clothing, such as tunics
The chorus often dressed identically
to create a sense of unity
The Form of Tragedy: Scene Order
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Greek tragedies had three main parts: prose,
lyrics, and dancing.
They began with the prologue, which helped
the audience understand any background
information necessary to the tragedy’s plot.
Then, the chorus would enter in the parados,
singing an ode.
From there, the first episode would take place.
Episodes (prose) and stassima in which the
chorus sang would then alternate for the rest
of the play.
At the end of the play, the chorus would sing
the exodus and leave the orchestra.
The Form of Tragedy: Topics
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Recurring topics in tragedies are that the tragic hero must: be
noble, possess a tragic flaw, have free will, come to realize
why they’ve met their fate, and ultimately be pitied by the
audience.
Examples: Oedipus, Macbeth, Hamlet.
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Nobility: must be of noble stature, or considered a great
man. Take Oedipus or Macbeth for example.
Tragic Flaw/Tragic Error: the tragic hero could possess an
excessive amount of pride (hubris), could be negligent, too
trusting. They could also make a fatal error, possibly
prompted by their tragic flaw.
Free will: The tragic hero must come to their demise on their
own terms, usually by means of their tragic flaw or error.
Anagnorisis: The tragic hero comes to realize where/how
everything went wrong.
Audience Reaction: The tragic hero must elicit empathy from
the viewers, as his struggles are real and human.
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The Form of Tragedy: The Theater
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Theaters were large, open-air constructions
They were built on the slopes of hills for their
terraced seating and were made of three parts
a. The orchestra - the center of the theater
where the actual performance took place
b. The skene - the backstage building where
actors changed their costumes
c. The theatron - the terraced rows of
benches where the audience sat to watch
■ Some theaters could hold up to
fourteen thousand people
The Aristotelian Model of Tragedy
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According to Aristotle, an ancient Greek writer and
philosopher, tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble
hero or heroine.
This was the tragic hero.
Generally, the downfall would occur through a
combination of hubris, fate, or the will of the Gods.
Aristotle stated that the tragic hero would generally
have some sort of fatal flaw or make a fatal mistake
(hamartia).
Aristotle also identified six elements of tragedy:
plot, characters, verbal expression, thought, visual
adornment, and composition. Of these, however,
only plot truly distinguishes tragedy from other
types of literature.
Aristotle proclaimed Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex to be
the perfect tragedy.
Peripeteia
Peripeteia: “a sudden or
unexpected reversal of
circumstances, especially in a
literary work.”
-Merriam-Webster
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An example of this would be when in
the play Macbeth, Macbeth realizes he
has done a wrong after he has already
committed the crime e.g., leaving
Duncan’s chamber after he murdered
him, and then after sending the
murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance.
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Aristotle describes it as “the most
powerful part of a plot in a tragedy along
with discovery (anagnorisis)”.
Anagnorisis
“Anagnorisis: (Greek: “recognition”),
in a literary work, the startling
discovery that produces a change
from ignorance to knowledge.”
- Encyclopædia Britannica
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Example: When Oedipus learned that he had
fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and
marrying his mother
Aristotle, the first person to discuss
anagnorisis, said that a tragedy that included it
showed that the tragedy was very high quality
with a complex plot.
Hubris
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In Greek tragedy, one of the biggest ways for
a tragic character to experience his or her
downfall is through hubris.
Hubris is extreme pride or arrogance. A
character demonstrating hubris thinks that he
or she is better than everyone else.
Hubris has its origins in ancient Greek
mythology, in which it is depicted as a great
crime.
It was designed to give a moral lesson to
viewers, demonstrating that if they too had
hubris, similar tragic things would happen to
them.
Hamartia
“Tragic Error”
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Sometimes called a tragic error or a
fatal flaw, hamartia ultimately leads
to the downfall of the tragic hero.
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Some examples of a tragic error
could be: poor judgement, ignorance,
or a character flaw.
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In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus’ fatal error
was pursuing and threatening to kill
his father’s murderer, which
happened to be himself, which
resulted in him committing patricide
and incest, just as the prophecy
foretold.
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“Hamartia” derives from the Greek
word hamartanein “to err”, or to
miss. Often visualized as either
missing the bullseye with an
arrow or missing the mark with a
javelin.
Catharsis
“Catharsis: the act or process of
releasing a strong emotion (such
as pity or fear) especially by
expressing it in an art form.”
- Merriam-Webster
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A Greek word meaning “cleansing”,
catharsis in literature is generally when a
character’s emotions are “cleansed”
Catharsis often provokes strong emotional
reactions from the audience by causing
them to connect the character’s emotions
to ones that they themselves have felt
Modern Tragedies
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Tragedies are still popular today, however
the definition of what a tragedy is has
become much more open-ended and does
not usually conform to the classical idea of
what a tragedy is
Greek and Shakespearean tragedies, such
as Oedipus the King and Macbeth, are the
most well-known and are often read in
school
Similar in length (and amount of tragedy) to
the five day long Dionysia festival, the public
school system is an example modern
tragedy.
Sources
https://greektheatre.wordpress.com/home/
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/interactives/greece/theater/playersProps.html
http://www.didaskalia.net/issues/vol4no1/bleisch.html
http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Theatre/
http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/tragedy_theater.html
http://primal-page.com/cathar.htm
http://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Tragedy/
http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/ref/aristotletragedy.html
http://literarydevices.net/hubris/