...Greek Tragedy Medea and Oedipus Rex are two of the most persuasive plays to exist in this world. They set out the establishments of what a catastrophe should be, and are contemplated everywhere throughout the world today. There are various correlations to be drawn between the two, in light of the fact that they vary, and are comparable, in various captivating ways. Before contrasting the two, in any case, it is essential to recognize what a catastrophe is. Aristotle gave what is currently apparently the most definitive meaning of disaster. As per him, a disaster was an impersonation, or "mimesis", of this present reality. He accepted that a disaster is the higher and more philosophical than even history itself. Additionally, he thought of it as the higher type of show, rather than satire, and utilized his definition to separate between diverse types of verse (epic and verse), and in addition dramatization (parody and catastrophe). Likewise, Aristotle recorded the six principle elements of a disaster, which are – Plot – Plot is the most critical of the considerable number of components, and is accordingly the first standard to be taken after. It is not the genuine story, but rather essentially the route in which the occasions of the catastrophe are displayed to the crowd. Character – This is an imperative component, and Aristotle composed an extraordinary arrangement about what makes a genuinely shocking character. As indicated by him, a terrible legend ought to be an aristocrat...
Words: 751 - Pages: 4
...These are the role of the gods, the difference between good and evil and human responsibilities. All three of these tragedies reveal the importance of the role the gods play to mankind. The gods have control over mankind and sometimes use them as pawns to achieve their ambitions; the gods also ensure that each individual’s fate is secured. The tragedies also reveal to the audience the difference between good and evil; quite often the individual’s good intentions are misconstrued and in turn cause them to do evil. Another common theme in the tragedies is the responsibility of humanity; although often tempted or controlled by the gods individuals need to learn to control their emotions and take responsibility for their own actions. The role the gods play is an essential part of the Greek tragedies and without them the stories would be drastically different. The role of the gods is to watch over the people and ensure that they fulfill their destiny. In the ancient times, they believed that each person’s life was determined by destiny or fate, which they could not escape; no matter what a person does to avoid their fate, the gods made sure that their destiny was fulfilled. An individual’s destiny is planned and organized, and it is the role of Zeus to supervise the mortals and ensure that each individual follows their destiny. In the book The Poetry of Greek Tragedy, Richmond Lattimore comments regarding Zeus, “he is the armed master, supreme because he possesses, and can wield...
Words: 2290 - Pages: 10
...Unit 1 Ancient Greek Tragedy Lesson 1: How do past narratives influence today’s ideas? Notes: Tragedies often deal with a lot of love, lost, pride, abuse of power, problematic relationships between humans and gods. Protagonist often commit a terrible crime without realizing how foolish or arrogant they have been, then the world crumbles around them. Satyr plays performed by half goat half men creatures called satyrs who often made fun of the plots and characters of tragedies. Satyrs play at intermissions of tragedies to give the crowd a fun break from the misery they've endured. Tragedy is derived from the greek term tragos oide, tragos meaning goat oide meaning song, Oides are often songs that singers would sing in competitions much like todays televised singing contests, but the top prize was a goat. Because they were a popular offering. Aristotle was a famous greek philosopher who had good ideas why people enjoyed tragic plays, he believed they were important because they show how good ordinary people can make terrible mistakes that can lead to their downfall. These events cause the protagonist to suffer or gain insight. The goal of the tragedy is to evoke fear and pity to the audience. Why wouldn't the audience endure a play that makes them feel all these painful emotions? Aristotle explain that pity and fear are natural human responses to pain and suffering. By the end of the play these feelings are replaced by another feeling called catharsis which is an...
Words: 1037 - Pages: 5
...The roles of women in ancient Greek tragedies . The ancient Greek society was a society dominated by men, even the plays and proses mostly constituted of heroics of men, like Hercules, Achilles and many other. In such societies , women were considered to be frail and were expected to be submissive to men, a prize of war for victors, and their main role was to support their husbands. However, in many tragedies, women were often depicted as major characters, inkling that women may not have been the weak the submissive characters as they were thought to be. Many well-known Greek plays contained several well-written, complex, and heroic female characters. Each female character took upon herself, the role of villain, the role of victim, and the role of heroine. The tragedies also revealed the problems women encountered in this era within marriage, inheritance and social life when they attempted to break out of their traditional gender roles. Clytemnestra, daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, was probably one of the most recognizable female villains in history due to her partaking in the murder of her husband Agamemnon and his female consort, Cassandra. . in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, she was depicted as brutal, treacherous, and cunning woman. Her speeches made the citizens and the audiences to be well-aware of how she would welcome her husband home. “Let there spring up into the house he never hoped To see, where justice leads him in, a crimson path. In all things...
Words: 2094 - Pages: 9
...Comparing the Women in Greek Tragedies If I compare “Jocasta” of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus with “Clytemnestra” and “Helen” of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and “Electra” of Euripides’ Electra, I see their roles as black and white. There is a great contrast between their characters and the roles they play in these tragedies. “Jocasta” seems to represent the typical Patriarchal society where men tend to dominate and women play a passive role. She does play a passive role in Oedipus Tyrannus as she is the queen who must marry whoever becomes the king. Oedipus was able to solve the riddle of Sphinx and was offered to marry Jocasta by the Theban elders. As an embodiment of the patriarchal values, she remains under the control of her husband, Oedipus. Jocasta is a typical woman with fairly ordinary desires of a queen. She wanted to raise a family and revel in its pleasures. She was happy and contented when she married Oedipus and he was able to provide her with four children. She does love him, prays for his well being, tries to pacify him while he is in great conflicts but her suggestions and advises are not given much priority by Oedipus. Oedipus keeps on investigating about Laius’ murder and his own parentage even when Jocasta expresses her distrust regarding the prophecies and advises him not to go into the depth of the things. She tries her best to stop Oedipus from seeking the truth but she is not paid any heed by Oedipus and he continues with his inquires. This...
Words: 821 - Pages: 4
...LAW OF TORTS, MV ACCIDENT AND CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS II AMBIKA NEGI PRN NO- 15010321035 BA LLB (A) ROLL NO- 35 UNDER THE GUIDANCE MRS. M. V. CHANDRAMATHI Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad Symbiosis International University, Pune CERTIFICATE The Project entitled- ‘Compensation to the motor vehicle victims- legislative and judicial approach” submitted to the Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad for Law of Torts, MV Accident and Consumer Protection Laws II as part of internal assessment is based on my original work carried out under the guidance of Mrs. M.V. CHANDRAMATHI. The research work has not been submitted elsewhere for award of any degree. The material borrowed from other sources and incorporated in the thesis has been duly acknowledged. I understand that I myself could be held responsible and accountable for plagiarism, if any, detected later on. Signature of the candidate Date: 14 August 2015 INDEX S.NO | PARTICULARS | PAGE NO. | 1. | TITLE PAGE | 01 | 2. | CERTIFICATE | 02 | 3. | ABOUT THE PROJECT | 04-08 | 4. | BIBLIOGRAPHY | 09 | Compensation to motor vehicles victims – legislative and judiciary approach. In order to give effective rights to the person injured or expired in an accident, Fatal Accidents Act, 1885 was enacted in India. This Act provided only a procedure and...
Words: 1430 - Pages: 6
...politics of greek tragedy ⁃ poets are considered as teachers (2) ⁃ good poetry could save the city, bad poetry could destroy it (4) ⁃ addressed towards the citizens of athens ⁃ political would be refereed as concern with human beings as part of a community according to Macleod (64) ⁃ A tragedy can thus be said to be more political the more it's male characters are engaged in the public life of the city. same goes for women ⁃ tragedies can be political in different ways ⁃ exercise of political power is one way which puts the head of the household of having power (example of this is on page 69) ⁃ issues of justice, is another form of different tragedies. judicial authority of court laws come into play. ⁃ Third different form of political drama is the life of the polis on a more personal level for its original audience members. Tragedy was understood to teach greeks to be good citizens. There are a few problems that derive from this. Free-born men in tragedies are usually kings and princes, Tragic heroes are heroic and elevated in character and they usually suffer from dreadful acts. ⁃ Lessons that are learned from tragic heroes are not to follow in their path because they do die. ⁃ any attempt to separate the domestic and the political in tragedy must be artificial (71) ⁃ the polis can be defined as both as a physical space and as the sum of its citizens (73) ⁃ the use of tragic space reflects the popular political assumptions of the ancient greeks. ⁃ tragedies...
Words: 749 - Pages: 3
...Greek Theater -----Theater began from myth,ritual and ceremony Western Classical Plays/Opera ------Thearter means “place of seeing” Ancient theater A.Greek theater began in ancient Greece. It began around 77 b.c. , with festivals honoring their many gods The three well known Greek Tragedy playwrights 1.sophocles 2.europides 3.aeschylus The three types of drama 1. Tragedy – serious play with sad ending 2. Comedy – light and amusing play with happy ending 3. Satyr play- comic play of Ancient Greece burlesquing a mythological subject and having a chorus representing satyr(forests god in greek mythology who have faces and bodies like men and ears , legs ,and tails like goat Tragedy - a compound of two Geek words “tragos” or “goat” and (ode) “meaning “song” referring to goats sacrificed to Dionysus (god of wine and fertility ) --the most admired type of play in Greece thespis -- “father of tragedy “, firsyt actor who introduced the use of masks Aristophanes – wrote most of the comedy plays where derived from imitation *** lysitriata – humorous tale about a strong woman who led female coalition to end war in Greece **** Cyclops – an adventure comedy by Euripides Roman theater * Started in 3rd century bc * It had varied interesting art forms ,like festivals performance of street theater , acrobatics , the staging of comedies...
Words: 296 - Pages: 2
...Which Play is More Tragic: Hamlet or Agamemnon In my opinion, the play Hamlet is more tragic than Agamemnon. They are both tragedies as they both fulfill Aristotle’s definition of tragedy as they both depict the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, which produces suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience. They also have all the elements of Greek tragedy such as hubris, catharsis, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and hamartia (“Ancient Greek Tragedy”). The most important reason that Hamlet is more tragic, in my opinion, is because the protagonist, Hamlet, is an integral part of the play and his character is much more developed. In Agamemnon , the protagonist, Agamemnon, is a secondary character to his wife who, in my opinion is the main character. Hamlet is a tragic hero, as is Agamemnon, following Aristotle’s criteria for the elements of a tragic hero. For example, they both evoke the audience’s pity and fear, have a major flaw of character and are destined to fall in some way (“Tragedy in Drama”). However, because Hamlet is the main character, we see, hear and understand more of his character. When Hamlet delivers his many dramatic soliloquies about mortality, betrayal, and the futility of life, he shows us his tortured world and the anguish, grief, and uncertainty which eventually takes over his life, leading to his death (“Hamlet Tone”). As the reader, I felt so much sympathy...
Words: 567 - Pages: 3
...History of Early Greek Drama Typically all humans enjoy a good laugh. After all, “Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems” (Smith). The attention of a human being is automatically grasped when it comes to dramatic and comedic situations. It is almost like the human brain has an on and off switched that is flipped on when drama is involved; or when something is funny. “Ancient greeks from the 5th century BC onwards were fascinated by the wuestion of the origins of tragedy and comedy” (Saskia). During the time origin of Athens greek theatre was still on the rise. Greek theater was in a way a celebration to honor the Greek Gods. “A Greek God, Dionysus, was honored with a festival called [by] ‘City Dionysia’” (Greece). At the Dionysus festival in athens there were three main people todirect and perform ech play. Usually the author of a play would be one of the cast members. There were three well known Greek tragedy play writers in the 5th century. A man by the name of Aeschylus was one of the manificent writers. “Aeschylus was the first of the 3 renowned prize-winning Greek writers of tragedy” (Gill). Because only three people were allowed to participate in a single play, Aeschylus acted in most of the plays he wrote. When Aeschylus died, it was allowed to replay his plays. The reason replying Aeshylus’s plays was because “…during the Classical perios, each tetralogy...
Words: 888 - Pages: 4
...major themes throughout Greek tragedies are fate and sight. Fate, described as unescapable, and sight, described as blindness vs. knowledge, both are incorporated into Sophocles’ play. The main character, Oedipus, is the king of Thebes and viewed as their savior against the sphinx. Oedipus the king, is one of the best known Greek plays, in my opinion, mainly because of Oedipus’ blindness to how his actions were making his fate come true. This particular play gives insight on the Greek concepts of fate and sight with the different prophecies told by an insightful yet blind prophet, Tiresias. Through many examples in this play, fate and sight are intertwined...
Words: 851 - Pages: 4
...Modern Performance and Adaptation of Greek Tragedy Helene P. Foley Barnard College, Columbia University “Leave it to a playwright who has been dead for 2,400 years to jolt Broadway out of its dramatic doldrums” begins a recent New York Times review (December 4, 1998) of a British Electra by Sophocles starring Zoe Wanamaker and Claire Bloom. This fall the Times has repeatedly remarked on the “deluge” of Greek tragedy in the 1998-99 theater season: the National Theater of Greece’s Medea, Joanne Akalaitis’ The Iphigeneia Cycle (a double bill that combines Euripides’ two Iphigeneia plays), a revival of Andrei Serban’s famous Fragments of a Greek Trilogy, and a four-and-a-half-hour adaptation of the Oedipus Rex were announced at the start of the season. Off-off Broadway versions will inevitably follow. The Brooklyn Academy of Music even hosted a dance/theatre piece based on the Eleusinian Mysteries. 1 The Classic Stage Company, an off-Broadway theater group devoted to performance and adaptation of Western classics, currently receives more scripts that re-work Greek tragedy than any other category of drama. 2 From a global perspective, New York is simply reflecting a trend set by important modern playwrights and directors worldwide. Greek drama now occupies a regular place in the London theater season. In the past twenty years, acclaimed productions have been mounted not only in Europe but also in Japan, India, and Africa. Translations are even beginning to proliferate in China, occasionally...
Words: 4799 - Pages: 20
...From 550 BC to 220 BC, the theatre of Ancient Greece blossomed. The god Dionysus was honored in a festival called Dionysia – from which the dramatic genres of tragedy, comedy and satyr were born. In this essay I will focus on Greek tragedy, with reference to Antigone, by outlining the basic use of dramatic style, staging including the use of masks in costume; as these features are typical of Greek theatre, but in particular I have chosen to illustrate the developments and changes in the genre of ancient Greek Tragedy, principally through the Aristotle’s commentary on the matter. Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone is an important and influential aspect of Greek theatre as he was one of the most celebrated dramatists in Athens. Antigone was written...
Words: 1562 - Pages: 7
...I believe that this statement ‘Tragedy shows us the unspeakable to prepare us for the worst’ is very true especially in relation to the films we have watched in the module course; Old boy, Far North and The Grizzly Man. In this essay I will discuss what is meant by the word tragedy, its origins, and what are the characteristics of this genre. I will also examine how the statement ‘tragedy shows us the unspeakable to prepare us for the worst’ is a true statement especially in relation to the module ‘Tragic Contexts’ and the films we have studied in this module. Though the origins of Tragedy are somewhat obscure it apparently started with the singing of a choral lyric in honour of Dionysus. This choral lyric was performed in a circular stage by a group of men who many have impersonated satyrs by wearing masks and dressing in goat-skins. This is why tragedy is derived from the Greek word tragoedia meaning ‘goat-song’. Scholars suspect that at that time a goat was either the prize in a competition of choral dancing, or the chorus danced around the goat before using it for a ritual sacrifice to the God Dionysus. As Dionysus was the Greek God of the grape harvest, winemaking, ritual madness and ecstasy. This is believed by Athenaeus of Naucratis who claims that the original form of the word tragedy was trygodia from trygos meaning grape harvest, as these events were first introduced during the grape harvest. In 335 BCE Aristotle provides us with the earliest surviving explanation...
Words: 1233 - Pages: 5
...Aristotle a Greek philosopher once explained a tragedy to be “the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself and incidents arousing pity and fear,” this simple definition of a tragedy ideally matches the structure of the play Oedipus Rex. This play consists of a king known as Oedipus who has been doomed with a horrendous fate. For example, his prophecy was: “As, that I should lie with my own mother, breed children from whom all men would turn their eyes; and that I should be my father’s murderer,” (42) this was brought upon him by the gods. Oedipus assumed that he could simply run away from this issue that is his destiny. But little did he know he had no power to alter the future, his fate rested in the hands of the Greek gods. The play clearly...
Words: 422 - Pages: 2
