greek theatre terms Flashcards
Anagnorisis
startling discovery; moment of epiphany; time of revalation when a character discovers their true identity.
- angnorisis occurs when Oedipus realises who he is (son of Jocasta and Laius)
Antagonist
chief opponent of the protagonist in a Greek play
Dionysus
- Patron of Greek drama
- God of wine and vegetation
- Son of Zeus and one of the most important Greek gods.
- his death and rebirth symbolised renewal, each Spring Greeks celebrated his resurrection.
Attica
Pennencula in SE Greece that included Athens.
the great period of Greek drama, 6th and 4th centuries BC is known as the Attic period.
Catharsis
a purification of emotions.
Aristotle (greek philosopher) used it to describe the effect on the audience of a tragedy acted out on a theatre stage.
- cleansing of emotions such as fear and pity
- releases tension
- audience transfers their own pity and fear into the main character
audience leaves as better persons intellectually, morally and/or socially.
Chorus
Bystanders in a play who present the odes on the action.
they sing the parados song when they enter
between episodes of action, they sing the stasimon
- to explain action
- to interpret action inrelation to the law (of state and Olympian)
- to foreshadow the fguture
- to provide moral guidance
- to serve as the actor in the play
‘- to sing and/ or dance
- to give the author’;s views
(essentially, they are like the narrator of modern films).
Deus ex machina
aka god from a machine, describing a contrives event, meaning a plot weakness in which a writer makes up an incident to further the action.
- audience considers the events improbable
- sudden and unexpected intervention by a god or divine figure
- unexpected saviour
dramatic irony
failure of a character to understand what is obvious to the audience.
Oedipus was unaware early on of what the audience knew, that he was married to his own mother, Jocasta.
Dithyramb
Choral hymn that praised Dionysus, sometimes told in a story. Inspired the development of tragis Greek plays.
Hamartia
a flaw in character or the misjudgement of the protagonist of a Greek tragedy.
- error, to make a mistake
hubris / hybris
great and/or excessive pride.
Hubris is often the character flaw (hamartia) of a protagonist in Greek drama
- considered a great sin, as it placed too much emphasis on individual will, downplaying the will of the state and endangering the community as a whole
- (pride makes people unwilling to accept wise counsel, so they act irrationally and make ‘bad’ decisions)
mask
face covering
- exaggerated features
mouth device to project the voice
- reveal emotion and personality, depicting the trade, social class or age of a character
Peripeteia
(in a tragedy) a sudden reversal of fortune from good to bad
ode
poem sung in a play or festival