Greek Tragedy
(including Common Core Standards and NYC DOE Blueprints Standards)
This module looks at HADESTOWN through the lens of Greek tragedy. It is designed to familiarize learners with the history, conventions, and relevance of Greek theater as it pertains to HADESTOWN and theater today. This module includes links, definitions, and images that are meant to deepen understanding of Greek tragedy and encourage students to consider HADESTOWN through a new, classical lens.
The corresponding lesson plan gives students the opportunity to explore the Greek tragic convention of catharsis in order to create and perform their own short plays.
GREEK TRAGIC THEATRE
Source: CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
The City Dionysia, or Great Dionysia, was an annual Greek festival held in March in Athens to honor Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of fertility, revelry, and wine. One feature of the festival was a play competition in which three tragic plays—based upon a well-known myth or historical subject—were written, performed before the citizenry of Athens, and judged for poetic merit, as well as for creative interpretation of and invention within the story (e.g., details of characterization, motivation). The prize was awarded to the best dramatist.
The stories of Greek tragedies typically center on characters who are good and moral individuals—sometimes of high or royal birth, though not always—who make errors in judgement or accidental mistakes (including making the wrong choice) that lead to a reversal of their circumstances from good to bad.
The Greek tragic form developed out of choral hymns dedicated to Dionysus that were sung and danced. Tragedies performed at the City Dionysia featured a mostly fixed structure: a prologue, which presented the subject or topic of the play in a monologue or dialogue; the entrance of the chorus and the first of a number of danced choral odes or poems set to music, which provided information on all that had happened before the play began; a series of dramatic episodes or scenes that developed the main dramatic action of the story and were separated by additional danced choral odes; and the final scene of the play, or exodus, which saw the departure of the characters and chorus.
These ancient musical theatre productions were staged in an open-air space—known as an amphitheatre—that was built into the cliff-face of the Acropolis. It featured a round, flat orchestra or “dancing place,” where the play was enacted and the chorus danced. The orchestra was surrounded on nearly three sides by a tiered theatron or “seeing place”; here the audience sat to watch, were always visible to the performers and in relatively close proximity.
Set Designer Rachel Hauck’s scenic design for Hadestown was partly inspired by the amphitheatres of Ancient Greece.
ARISTOTLE AND THE TRAGIC EFFECT
Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE) was a Greek philosopher of the Classical period in Ancient Greece and became one of the most influential people who ever lived. His teacher was the similarly influential Plato, whose philosophical writings The Republic espoused his beliefs on what he thought did and did not belong in the ideal city-state. According to Plato, anything that was imitation, including tragic plays or any kind of theatre was dangerous and morally harmful, because it stirred human passions and fostered irrationality and excessive emotion. In his final analysis, tragedy did not belong in the ideal city-state and “the poets” who create tragedies should be banished; though, he conceded that if anyone could come up with a good argument for why poets should be allowed, he would permit them back into the state.
So, what do you do if you are the student of Plato and you really love reading tragic plays and going to the theatre? You take up your teacher’s challenge—you prove him wrong! This is just what Aristotle did in his writings (or possibly lecture notes), which we know as the Poetics. In Poetics, Aristotle employs the scientific approach to describe and defend the utility and importance of poetry in general and tragedy specifically. He also defends imitation (or mimesis) itself, noting that humans are naturally imitative—we learn by imitating, delight in imitating, and delight in watching an imitation. In Aristotle’s all important sixth chapter, he describes the tragic form, and in his description, includes what he views as its usefulness and value to the state
Aristotle agreed that Plato was right; tragedy did stir up in its audience excessive emotion—specifically pity and fear—but it also allowed for the catharsis or purging or cleansing of these negative emotions. To Aristotle, experiencing a tragic play doesn’t encourage the passions, but instead rids or relieves the audience member of them. He argues that it is healthy to be purged of any excess of emotion, and, therefore, tragedy and the tragic poets or playwrights are beneficial to and belong in the ideal state!
Do you agree? How does the experience of a tragic play effect you?
Source: Translation of Aristotle by G.M.A. Grube from Michael J. Sidnell’s Sources of Dramatic Theory 1: Plato to Congreve. Cambridge, 1994, 41-43.
GLOSSARY
ARCHETYPE in literature, a typical character that seems to represent common aspects or universal patterns of human nature; e.g., the hero, the villain, the mentor, the mother figure, the innocent.
DRAMATIC IRONY a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience, yet unknown to the character.
HAMARTIA A fatal flaw that ultimately leads to the downfall of a tragic hero.
LYRE a stringed instrument like a small u-shaped harp with strings fixed to a crossbar, used especially in ancient Greece.
MORTAL a human being subject to death, often contrasted with a divine or god-like being.
MUSE in Classical mythology, any number of sister goddesses, all the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who presided over the various arts; e.g., Calliope, the goddess of epic poetry and mother to Orpheus.
SHADE in literature and poetry, a shade is the spirit or ghost of a dead person who resides in the underworld.
UNDERWORLD the regions below the earth’s surface, imagined as the home of departed souls or spirits; sometimes referred to as Hades.
UNIVERSAL THEME an idea that is central to human nature or the human condition and can be applied to any one regardless of cultural differences or geographic location; found throughout the literature of all time periods.
Aristotle’s 6 Essential Components of Tragedy
Aristotle believed Tragedy to be composed of six essential parts. In order of importance (according to Aristotle) they are…
Plot refers to the events of a play; what happens and when. Aristotle described this as “the soul of a tragedy.” After all, “without action there cannot be a tragedy”
Character was not as important as plot in Aristotle’s eyes, but still among the most important parts of the tragic effect. Characters are the agents of the actions and help round out the greater portrait of the tragedy.
Thought is sort of the reasoning behind the tragedy. What is the intention of what is being performed for an audience and what are we to take away? Thought is often equated with the idea of theme.
Diction refers to the specific language of the speech being performed and how that affects our interpretation. Aristotle called for a diction that was somewhere between “poetic” and “common.”
Song. The element of Song could be interpreted as the incorporation of music into a tragedy or the melody / rhythmic life of the actions, speech, and movements occurring onstage.
Spectacle speaks to the idea of theatricality and representing a story in a spectacular, audience engaging way. Aristotle believed this element to be “the least artistic” and “depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet.”
Source: Birch, Anthony. “Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama,” Mindtools.net. / Aristotle. “The Poetics of Aristotle,” Amherst.edu. Translated by S.H. Butcher.
Types of Greek Drama
Tragedy - Tragedies tended to center more beautiful and, occasionally, powerful characters in tales of love, loss, betrayal, and more. These plays had a tragic hero at the center who would often meet their doom as a result of their fatal flaw, also known as hamartia. Tragedy usually conveys a moral lesson for the audience. The most famous tragedians include Euripedes, Sophocles, and Aeschylus.
Comedy - These plays were more lighthearted and usually concerned ordinary people, sometimes mocking those in positions of power. Greek comedies were often satirical in ways and usually told stories of everyday life. Aristophanes is perhaps the best known comic playwright from ancient Greece.
In Ancient Greece, masks were used both for purposes of ritual and denoting character. "Greek masks" by Nagarjun is licensed under CC BY 2.0 - attribution for the above photo
Satyr - A Satyr is a mythical beast that is half human, half goat and would often appear in these plays of their namesake as characters or members of the chorus. Satyr plays were traditionally performed alongside tragedies and provided some comic relief, often riffing on the tales of classic, well-known tragic heroes.
It is safe to say that if Hadestown were performed at the Festival of Dionysus it would be considered a tragedy. Several of the characters are gods or the children of gods and the play deals with some pretty big themes including love and loss, but also power, the role of art/the artist, and rebirth.
Sources:
“The Different Types of Greek Drama and their importance,” PBS.org
Mark Cartwright, “Euripides,” Worldhistory.org
Mark Cartwright, “Sophocles,” Worldhistory.org
Mark Cartwright, “Aeschylus,” Worldhistory.org
Mark Cartwright, “Aristophanes,” Worldhistory.org
Evan Gottlieb, “What is Satire?” Oregon State Guide to Literary Terms