Works Cited
“Aeschylus.” Google, www.google.com/amp/s/www.ancient.eu/amp/1-11058/. Accessed Apr. 15 2019
Broggiato, Maria1, maria.broggiato@uniroma1. i. “Eratosthenes, Icaria and the Origins of Tragedy.” Mnemosyne, vol. 67, no. 6, Nov. 2014, pp. 885–899. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1163/1568525X-12341419, pg 893
Euripides, https://www.theatredatabase.com/ancient/euripides_001.html. Accessed Apr.17 2019
Euripides, The Bacchae. http://www.kleal.com/Honors%209%20member%20area/The%20Bacchae.pdf. Accessed Apr. 17 2019
Freer, Ian. “Star Wars Archive: George Lucas 1999 Interview.” Empire, Bauer Media Group., 15 Mar. 2016, www.empireonline.com/movies/features/star-wars-archive-george-lucas-1999-interview/.
Horace, “Ars Poetica”. Horace, Ars Poetica, https://www.loebclassics.com/view/horace-ars_poetica/1926/pb_LCL194.447.xml. Accessed Apr. 16 2019
Fyodor Gostoyevsky, http://www.columbia.edu/~ey2172/dostoevsky.html. Accessed Apr. 17 2019
Greek & Roman Mythology-Greek Tragedy, http://www.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/tragedy/index.php?page=aeschylus. Accessed Apr. 16 2019
Karasavvas, Theodoros. “Eagle Mistakes Bald Head for a Rock: The Bizarre Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Aeschylus.” Ancient Origins, Ancient Origins, 1 Jan. 2018, www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/eagle-mistakes-bald-head-rock-bizarre-circumstances-surrounding-death-021785. Accessed Apr.17 2019
Rotstein, Andrea. 2016. Literary History in the Parian Marble. Hellenic Studies Series 68. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_RotsteinA.Literary_History_in_the_Parian_Marble.2016. Accessed Apr. 15 2019.
The Language of Sophocles, www.theatredatabase.com/ancient/sophocles_004.html. Accessed Apr. 16 2019
“Thespis”. Life of Thespis, 2010 http://www.ancientathens.org/people/thespis. Accessed Apr. 16 2019
Greek Tragedy
Examining the first tragedies and how the genre became what it is today
Star Wars: The Modern Tragedy
While doing an interview, the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, was asked about how he deals with the fact that he had almost completely missed his intended target audience. The movies were supposed to be seen as children's movies but instead they were reaching an older audience due to their excessive violence and their dramatic nature. George Lucas said that he could have made the movie more marketable by changing the characters but he decided not to because “It’s a tragedy. People think of the Star Wars movies as happy movies. What they’re going to do about a tragedy, I don’t know.”
I have never been a big Star Wars fan but after looking further into the franchise I was able to see how Star Wars was in fact a tragedy because it has the characteristics of one such as a story arc and the downfall of the tragic hero due to a mistake that he has made. Let’s take The Empire Strikes Back as an example. The movie opens up with Princess Leia along with her alliance stationed in a new base while Darth Vader is still searching for them. Additionally Luke Skywalker sees the force ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi and it instructs Luke to look for Yoda so that he can teach Luke how to be a Jedi. This would be the Exposition. Later in the movie, Luke lands on the swamp planet of Dagobah where he meets and becomes a student of Yoda. While he is training with Yoda, Luke’s friends Han and Leia get captured by Darth Vader. Luke gets a strong feeling that Han and Leia are in danger. This part of the story would be the rising actions. When Luke decides to disobey Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi by leaving the training to help his friends, this signals the climax of the story. The fight between Darth Vader and Luke represents the falling action. The fight culminates with Luke dropping from a great height that leaves him in critical condition, thus the denouement consists of Luke having his hand cut off, Luke knowing he is the son of Darth Vader, Luke almost dying, and him not having saved Han. His failure at the end was a result of his own mistake. Yoda had told him not to leave but his impatience lead Luke to disobey him and cause his downfall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjPUVzX-GDU
I have never been a big Star Wars fan but after looking further into the franchise I was able to see how Star Wars was in fact a tragedy because it has the characteristics of one such as a story arc and the downfall of the tragic hero due to a mistake that he has made. Let’s take The Empire Strikes Back as an example. The movie opens up with Princess Leia along with her alliance stationed in a new base while Darth Vader is still searching for them. Additionally Luke Skywalker sees the force ghost of Obi Wan Kenobi and it instructs Luke to look for Yoda so that he can teach Luke how to be a Jedi. This would be the Exposition. Later in the movie, Luke lands on the swamp planet of Dagobah where he meets and becomes a student of Yoda. While he is training with Yoda, Luke’s friends Han and Leia get captured by Darth Vader. Luke gets a strong feeling that Han and Leia are in danger. This part of the story would be the rising actions. When Luke decides to disobey Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi by leaving the training to help his friends, this signals the climax of the story. The fight between Darth Vader and Luke represents the falling action. The fight culminates with Luke dropping from a great height that leaves him in critical condition, thus the denouement consists of Luke having his hand cut off, Luke knowing he is the son of Darth Vader, Luke almost dying, and him not having saved Han. His failure at the end was a result of his own mistake. Yoda had told him not to leave but his impatience lead Luke to disobey him and cause his downfall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjPUVzX-GDU
Oedipus Rex
Sophocles’ most well known tragedy is without a doubt Oedipus Rex. It is often regarded as the best tragedy that has ever been written.
This tragedy follows the story about a man named Oedipus who is cursed with a great prophecy that states that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Upon learning about this prophecy, his father, King Laius decides to pierce Oedipus’ ankles and leave him to die. Oedipus is rescued and taken to Corinth where he is adopted by the king and queen. Oedipus himself learns about his prophecy and flees Corinth in order to avoid it from becoming true. On his journey Oedipus encounters King Laius and a few other men at a crossroads and he proceeds to kill all of them except one. He later encounters a Sphinx that has the city of Thebes captive and will only leave if someone answers its riddle correctly. Oedipus correctly answers its riddle to save the city of Thebes. As a reward for his heroics, Oedipus gets crowned as the new king and marries the queen Jocasta. It is after this chain of events that the prophecy, unbeknownst to any of the characters but not to the audience, is fulfilled. This is an example of dramatic irony.
The climax of the story occurs when Oedipus realizes that he was the one that killed Laius because everything that occurs from then on is a part of his downfall. The play ends in Oedipus gouging his own eye, the death of Jocasta, the exile of Oedipus, and Creon, Jocasta’s brother, becoming king.
This tragedy follows the story about a man named Oedipus who is cursed with a great prophecy that states that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Upon learning about this prophecy, his father, King Laius decides to pierce Oedipus’ ankles and leave him to die. Oedipus is rescued and taken to Corinth where he is adopted by the king and queen. Oedipus himself learns about his prophecy and flees Corinth in order to avoid it from becoming true. On his journey Oedipus encounters King Laius and a few other men at a crossroads and he proceeds to kill all of them except one. He later encounters a Sphinx that has the city of Thebes captive and will only leave if someone answers its riddle correctly. Oedipus correctly answers its riddle to save the city of Thebes. As a reward for his heroics, Oedipus gets crowned as the new king and marries the queen Jocasta. It is after this chain of events that the prophecy, unbeknownst to any of the characters but not to the audience, is fulfilled. This is an example of dramatic irony.
The climax of the story occurs when Oedipus realizes that he was the one that killed Laius because everything that occurs from then on is a part of his downfall. The play ends in Oedipus gouging his own eye, the death of Jocasta, the exile of Oedipus, and Creon, Jocasta’s brother, becoming king.
Sophocles
Born in 496 B.C. near Athens, Sophocles was the last one of the three great tragic poets. His plays were greatly influenced by Aeschylus. When competing with other playwrights, Aeschylus had never lost until he competed against a young Sophocles. Sophocles also showed great respect towards Euripides and upon hearing about his death, Sophocles had his chorus dress up in black in mourning for Euripides. He was often viewed as the most charming one of the three tragedians and his charm alone made him win over many admirers.
Sophocles’ tragedies started out as imitations of the ones written by Aeschylus but as he continued writing he started writing his plays in such a way that allowed him to express human character in a suitable manner. This meant that he tried to have the audience satisfied with how his characters were portrayed rather than creating characters in a way that satisfied himself. He is also described as infrequently introducing mental images in his audience so that when he does create imagery it becomes powerful and memorable. During his career as a tragic poet, Sophocles got the nickname “the Bee” because the ancient Greeks thought his words were so sweet that they his lips must have been “smeared with honey.”(Haigh 161). I thought that this was surprising because as a tragic poet, his plays had to deal with a lot of negatively-perceived emotions like pain, suffering and misery. His most famous tragedy Oedipus Rex has a lot of dark elements that it just added to my surprise.
Sophocles’ tragedies started out as imitations of the ones written by Aeschylus but as he continued writing he started writing his plays in such a way that allowed him to express human character in a suitable manner. This meant that he tried to have the audience satisfied with how his characters were portrayed rather than creating characters in a way that satisfied himself. He is also described as infrequently introducing mental images in his audience so that when he does create imagery it becomes powerful and memorable. During his career as a tragic poet, Sophocles got the nickname “the Bee” because the ancient Greeks thought his words were so sweet that they his lips must have been “smeared with honey.”(Haigh 161). I thought that this was surprising because as a tragic poet, his plays had to deal with a lot of negatively-perceived emotions like pain, suffering and misery. His most famous tragedy Oedipus Rex has a lot of dark elements that it just added to my surprise.
Euripedes
Euripides is another one of the three great tragic poets. There is not much known about his personal life because he never made his life very public. Nevertheless, he was not regarded as one of the three great tragic poets without reason. His tragedies were all very popular and he is famous for his use of realism in his plays. Euripides’ use of realism make his plays seem more modern in contrast to other ancient Greek plays. For example, his play The Bacchae, exhibits themes such as the role of women relative to men and the theme of acceptance which are topics that are seen in realism in more modern literature. The Bacchae is about the return of the god Dionysus to his homeland of Thebes where he learns that it is now prohibited to worship him and as a result, Dionysus decides to punish the entire city. There’s a part in The Bacchae where Dionysus states, “Onwards! My women Tmolus, you bulwark of Lydia, you, my sisterhood of worshipers whom I led from foreign lands to be in my company in rest and march..(1. Prologue. 54-58)”. This quote illustrates a significant difference from other tragedies being written at the time. In this quote the women have the backing of a god to rebel against their normal roles as housewives and instead go worship him. Although he was speaking to the maenads (his worshipers) Dionysus also made the women of Thebes put their social roles to the side to worship him instead. Women are seen as submissive in this play, however, the idea of women rebelling against not only their husbands but also their leaders, such as kings, was something that was unheard of at the time.
Aeschylus
Often called the father of tragedy, Aeschylus is one of the most influential tragedists in history. He was born in the year 525 B.C in the town of Eleusis, located in West Attica. Before he got into Greek theater, he served in the Athenian army and fought in the Persian War. Aeschylus is the oldest one of the three great tragic poets, the other two being the younger Sophocles and Euripides.
Aeschylus is said to have written over ninety plays during his lifetime although only seven of them are preserved today. His play The Persiae, a tragedy about the Persian War, is considered to be the first tragedy that was based on an actual historical event. He is the first known playwright to have more than one character in his play thus creating the concept of dialogue within Greek plays. Before he had done this plays consisted of only the chorus and one actor. It is for this reason that he is regarded as the first tragedian. It is clear that, like Thespis, he had a big impact on both Greek tragedy and on Greek theater.
Although we have learned to associate Oedipus with Sophocles, Aeschylus wrote a play about the same character nearly forty years before Oedipus Rex was written. One of the seven plays that are preserved is Seven Against Thebes. This play is split into two parts; the first focusing on Laius and the second focusing on Oedipus. While Sophocles focuses on Oedipus’ life, Aeschylus’ play focuses more about the aftermath that resulted from the fall of Oedipus.
Aeschylus eventually passed away in 456 B.C. and his death is believed to have been caused by traumatic brain injury. There are some historical sources that state that an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head and killed him. The Roman philosopher Pliny states in his book Naturalis Historia that Aeschylus was outdoors when this happened because he was attempting to avoid a prophecy that said he would be killed by a falling object. If this is true and not just a myth, then, like Oedipus, he attempted to avoid having his prophecy become true but eventually could not prevent it from being realized.
Aeschylus is said to have written over ninety plays during his lifetime although only seven of them are preserved today. His play The Persiae, a tragedy about the Persian War, is considered to be the first tragedy that was based on an actual historical event. He is the first known playwright to have more than one character in his play thus creating the concept of dialogue within Greek plays. Before he had done this plays consisted of only the chorus and one actor. It is for this reason that he is regarded as the first tragedian. It is clear that, like Thespis, he had a big impact on both Greek tragedy and on Greek theater.
Although we have learned to associate Oedipus with Sophocles, Aeschylus wrote a play about the same character nearly forty years before Oedipus Rex was written. One of the seven plays that are preserved is Seven Against Thebes. This play is split into two parts; the first focusing on Laius and the second focusing on Oedipus. While Sophocles focuses on Oedipus’ life, Aeschylus’ play focuses more about the aftermath that resulted from the fall of Oedipus.
Aeschylus eventually passed away in 456 B.C. and his death is believed to have been caused by traumatic brain injury. There are some historical sources that state that an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head and killed him. The Roman philosopher Pliny states in his book Naturalis Historia that Aeschylus was outdoors when this happened because he was attempting to avoid a prophecy that said he would be killed by a falling object. If this is true and not just a myth, then, like Oedipus, he attempted to avoid having his prophecy become true but eventually could not prevent it from being realized.
Greek Tragedy
Greek tragedy is one of the three genres of plays that were performed in ancient Greek theater along with Comedy and Satire. Tragedy is associated with strong emotions such as pain and misery. This genre is also characterized by the rise and fall of a hero. Every tragedy ends with the demise of the protagonist that was caused by his own mistake and some sort of death that ends up greatly impacting him. Generally, the protagonist is some kind of human that is viewed greatly but is not an equal to the gods. They can be a great leader, an honorable king, but they are never viewed as a god.
According to the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, all tragedies consisted of six parts: plot, characters, diction, thought, spectacle and song. Each tragedy also contains a plot arc made up of five parts: the exposition, the rising action of the tragic hero, the climax, the falling action of the tragic hero and the denouement. The plot arc is very important because the plot is said to be, as we learned in class, “the soul of tragedy” meaning that without it tragedy would be very different.
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“Pain and suffering are inevitable for persons of broad awareness and depth of heart. The truly great are... always bound to feel a great sense of sadness during their time upon Earth.”(317)
This is a quote from Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. This quote struck me when I first saw it and after learning more about Greek tragedy, I immediately thought about this quote because it reminded me of a typical tragic hero. Each protagonist is viewed as this gifted human being that is second only to the gods, however, every tragic plot arc ends with the hero experiencing a grave misfortune. This quote left me thinking that every single tragic hero’s mistake brings large consequences because of the high expectations that they are brought up with and accomplish until that point.
According to the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, all tragedies consisted of six parts: plot, characters, diction, thought, spectacle and song. Each tragedy also contains a plot arc made up of five parts: the exposition, the rising action of the tragic hero, the climax, the falling action of the tragic hero and the denouement. The plot arc is very important because the plot is said to be, as we learned in class, “the soul of tragedy” meaning that without it tragedy would be very different.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Pain and suffering are inevitable for persons of broad awareness and depth of heart. The truly great are... always bound to feel a great sense of sadness during their time upon Earth.”(317)
This is a quote from Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment. This quote struck me when I first saw it and after learning more about Greek tragedy, I immediately thought about this quote because it reminded me of a typical tragic hero. Each protagonist is viewed as this gifted human being that is second only to the gods, however, every tragic plot arc ends with the hero experiencing a grave misfortune. This quote left me thinking that every single tragic hero’s mistake brings large consequences because of the high expectations that they are brought up with and accomplish until that point.
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Works Cited
Works Cited “Aeschylus.” Google, www.google.com/amp/s/www.ancient.eu/amp/1-11058/. Accessed Apr. 15 2019 Broggiato, Maria1, maria.broggi...
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Euripides is another one of the three great tragic poets. There is not much known about his personal life because he never made his life ver...
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