The Nature of Tragedy. Flashcards
According to Aristotle, what are three key points to a good tragedy?
Suffering - invokes Pathos.
Recognition - a character moves from ignorance to understanding.
Reversal of fortune - a bit like a plot twist.
The Tragic Chorus had lots of roles! Can you name three?
Scene-Setting - setting location and explaining the setting.
Commentator - offering commentary/opinion.
Wider context - connecting events to myths or morale.
Can you name three more roles of a Tragic Chorus?
Bridging the gap - between actors and audience, explaining the significance.
Background mood - building tension or sadness.
Scene break - allowing actors to change costume.
What did masks do?
Could tell the audience which characters were being played.
Made it easier for the same actor to play different roles.
Masks could also change to reflect a change in a character.
What would actors wear?
Chiton - a full length, ornately decorated robe.
Himation - a cloak reaching down to the knees, they were often patterned to reflect the characters.
Kothornoi - soft leather thigh-high boots.
What is cartharsis?
The purging of emotion felt for a character after a play.
What were the two contexts wich actors were likely to sing in a play?
Monody - a solo song by an actor, often at great moments of distress.
Kommos - a formal song at moments of heightened emotion involving dialogue between the actor and the chorus.
By the early fifth century, what were the themes of Tragedies?
“Why do people suffer, and to what extent can they control their own destiny?”
The nature of heroism in the face of human suffering.
Tragedies often didn’t give easy answers to this, leaving characters’ fate unresolved.
What is cartharsis?
The purging of emotion (usually negative) felt for a character after the play.
What were the two contexts in which an actor might sing during a play?
Monody - a solo song by an actor, often sung at moments of great distress.
Kommos - a formal song at moments of heightened emotion involving dialogue between an actor and the chorus.
Many Escape Tragedies end on a more upbeat note, but still depicts some degree of suffering.
In Euripides’ “Helen”, she reunites with her husband Menelaus, but her lonliness, fear and grief are still shown.
Tragedy engaged with many themes:
1) relationships within the family, between the sexes.
2) Between mortals and immortals, the individual and the polis.
3) the conduct of the polis in home and foreign affairs.
Most tragedies are set against the backdrop of mythology - why?
The audience usually knew the plot already, and the tragedians could challenge their audience.
What is a tragic hero?
Someone of high status, who makes a serious mistake that will lead to a tragic outcome. They are not wholly good, nor are they wholly bad, but have a fatal flaw - their harmartia - that will lead to their downfall.
What does ‘peripeteia’ mean?
This is a terrible reversal of fortune in a tragedy.
Tragedies had events that led to tough decisions. There often weren’t conclosive endings, leaving the audience what?
Wondering what they would do.
Tragedies were either set far away or in myth and legend. Why?
Because they were often very disturbing.
What are ‘Episodes’?
Scenes of dialogue between actors.
What were choral odes/stasima?
Songs performed by the chorus.
After the prologue, the Chorus entered and performed their entry-song. What was it called?
The ‘Parados’.
Choral odes after the parados are known as what?
Stasima or Stasimon (depending on plural or singular).
What does Stasimon mean?
‘Standing song’ because the chorus remain in the orchestra and dance.
The spoken section of a play is fairly similiar to the pattern of real speech. What is the full name given to tragedy?
Iambic trimeter.
Playwrights would use dramatic irony. Why?
To enhance pathos and generate tension as the audience would see characters walking to their doom.
