Secondary Lit, Greek Theatre Flashcards

1
Q

the training of the chorus

A

usually the chroegos was concerned with the chorus however David Taylor wrote in his ‘Greek and Roman stage’ that “Sophocles would train the chorus himself”

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2
Q

According to David Taylor in ‘The Greek and Roman Stage’ what would the actors do before the performance

A

“before the festival the actors would show what to expect so that the audience can learn about the subject of the play”

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3
Q

what does Edith Hall say is a key theme in the Bacchae

A

“Women is a key theme in Euripides” he explores maternal suffering and “gives women different emotional sets”

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4
Q

What does Edith Hall say about the theme of viewing and vision

A

“Pentheus is desperate to see”
“Vision is deceitful”
“tragic theatre was hard to watch”

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5
Q

What does Richard Seaford say about Mystery Cult

A

that the mystery cults “are unfamiliar to our idea of cult”
“rehearsal for the next world to pass into eternal happiness”
“the earthquake is a reflection on the initiation ceremonies”

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6
Q

What does Richard Seaford say about transvestitism in mystery cult

A

“powerful shift in Pentheus as he changes his identities”

“in a mystery cult identities of male or female are dissolved”

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7
Q

What does Richard Seaford say about Dionysus and transvestitism

A

“Dionysus is androgynous”

“a fawn-skin would not cover Dionysus attractively adding to the androgynous look”

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8
Q

What does Richard Seaford say about Pentheus and transvestitism

A

Pentheus is enclosed and stubborn but this is “broken through dressing as a maenad when he is initiated”
“Pentheus is the opposite to the chorus” the chorus loose individuality by being maenads “like birds who rise in one motion” but Pentheus represents “isolated individualism”

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9
Q

What does Richard Seaford say about ‘Polis’ cult and women

A

“Polis city state drives women to the mountainside”
the “norms of the Polis were reversed”
“symbolic challenge to the intense patriarchy as they suckle animals to dissolve the distinction between” man/woman and human/animal

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10
Q

What does David Hodgkinson say about family in Bacchae

A

“Euripides was frequently concerned with the family and its relation with the state… family is central to the play”

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11
Q

What does David Hodgkinson say about the mother/son relationship in Bacchae

A

“opens with a son establishing honour to his mother… the play closer with a different scene, a mother claiming honour for killing her son”

“Pentheus was blind to not see Dionysus’ true ancestry…Agave was made blind to Pentheus”

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12
Q

What does Judith Mossman say about Dionysus

A

“When the god is at his most terrifying, we remain aware of his benefits; ecstasy, wine, freedom. When he seems harmless we sense his danger”
His mask would be “smiling, an outward sign of inward ambiguity… the smile of the matyr or the smile of the destroyer”
“it is unusual for a god to dominate the action for the rest of the play”
“Dionysus does not say he will kill Pentheus, he hides his emotions, and transforms weakness into strength”

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13
Q

What does Judith Mossman say about Power and Vulnerability in Bacchae

A

the shift of sympathy “we sympathise with Dionysus until Pentheus dresses as a maenad… it is easier for a mortal to sympathise with a mortal even an unpleasant one”
Importance of Pentheus “we expect Dionysus to appear after the earthquake to punish Pentheus”
“the messenger speech contrasts Pentheus’ lurid fantasies… showing the dual nature of Dionysus”

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14
Q

What does Scott Scullion say about Pentheus’ relationship with the women of Thebes

A

“Pentheus dislikes the corruption of the women of Thebes”

all of his objections (cults novelty, foreign provenance, Pentehus’ birth rite) are “merely a (215-25) which is a lingering description of what strikes him as the stranger’s sexual attractiveness”

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15
Q

What does Scott Scullion say about Pentheus’ as a voyeur

A

“Pentheus has little to say against the cult other than sexual wrong doing”

“Even when Pentheus undergoes his transvestitism, Dionysus does not have complete control over Pentheus”

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16
Q

What does Bernard Knox say about Euripides’ rhetoric

A

“rhetorical techniques in formal debate is not monotonous”

“Euripides is the creator of that three walled room where men and women destroy each other by their love and hate”

17
Q

What does Bernard Knox say about Euripides’ relationship with women

A

“Preoccupation with women’s loves and hates gave Euripides a reputation of a hater of women. Euripides’ plays a sympathetic rather than critical”
“in Madea; Euripides chose to emphasise the issue of women’s social subordination.”
quotes from Madea “of all the creatures that have life and intelligence we women are the most afflicted stock”
“buy an owner of their body”

18
Q

What does Bernard Knox say about Euripides and ‘Men as they are’

A

“Euripides’ treatment of myths suggests he asked ‘how would these people act and speak if they were our contemporaries?’ the result was disconcerting”

19
Q

What does Christopher Carey say about Greek Chorus

A

“Sometimes the emotional response or moral judgement of the chorus is mistaken”
“Sophocles has a chorus rejoicing before a tragedy”
“Chorus in Athenian comedy, the element of spectacle was even more marked”
“For public worship the chorus was an ideal instrument”
“the songs were dedicated to a human…rather than a god”
“the odes are much concerned with man’s relationship with god and man’s place in the world”

20
Q

What does Felix Budelmann say about Oedipus’ ongoing tragedy

A

“Oedipus Rex does not come to a complete halt when it does eventually stop, there is still plenty of unfinished business at the end”
“Many tragedies do not end when disaster strikes. They often continue well into the aftermath of the disaster- people mourn”
“the world of tragedy is a world of people who are all limited”

21
Q

What does Helen Morales say about Oedipus

A

“Oedipus shows weakness and frenzy when he blinds himself, showing his hysterical nature” (ancient greek word for uterus as women controlled by her uterus)
“Creon speaks to him in a way in which a father might speak to his daughter” (speaks of Oedipus’ sense of shame)
Oedipus Rex is “centrally concerned with identity; with what it means to be a man: human, king, father, husband, son”

22
Q

What does Rosie Wyles say about Aristophanes’ Frogs opening

A

“Xanthias calls Dionysus ‘master’ though comedy usually begins with two slaves talking”
“Xanthias is raised higher than Dionysus”
“often in the opening of a comedy a slave tells you what is going on but instead Aristophanes creates suspense”

23
Q

What does Edith Hall say about the distinctiveness of Aristophanes’ writing

A

“going down to the underworld is a comic trope”
“Aristophanes was not the hero in his own play”
“serious undertones which uses ordinary citizens to fix cities”
“each scene is inherently funny”

24
Q

What does Timothy Morton say about Aristophanes and non-verbal comedy

A

“non-verbal comedy: the comedy of gesture and movement”
the slave is the “‘unaccommodated man’… an eternal figure of the human struggling in the bizarre”
“what is going on is funny because it is obscure”
“no stage directions were recorded”
“when characters approach doors and knock at them. They always say roughly the same thing”

25
Q

What does Peter Wilson say in his article Athenian Tragedy at a Distance

A

“theatre- the place for gazing”
“siren-like powers of ancient tragic poetry…can lull us into believing in its own timelessness, its unchanging youthfulness and truth speaking across the ages”
“the audience of 15,000 people… could see one another as well as they could see the performers”
“what the tragic poet does is teach”
“sacrifice does not indicate the stable position of man… but rather points to his possible swing between excessive, god-like power and unruly, bestial violence”