Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism Tragedy Learning outcomes… • What is a tragedy? • What is the difference between a Greek tragedy and a Shakespearean tragedy? • To use terminology to identify the features of tragedy in my set texts Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The history of tragedy… tragedy NOUN 1An event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe. ‘a tragedy that killed 95 people’ mass noun ‘his life had been plagued by tragedy’ 2A play dealing with tragic events and having an unhappy ending, especially one concerning the downfall of the main character. ‘Shakespeare's tragedies’ 2.1mass noun The dramatic genre represented by tragedies. ‘Greek tragedy’ Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The history of tragedy… Origin The origin of the word ‘tragedy’ comes from the Greek ‘tragōidia, apparently from tragos ‘goat’. Scholars suspect this may be traced to a time when a goat was either the prize in a competition of choral dancing or was that around which a chorus danced prior to the animal's ritual sacrifice. Other interpretations could be ‘harvest song’. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The history of tragedy… The primary source of knowledge of Tragedies is the Poetics of Aristotle. Aristotle was able to gather first-hand documentation from theatre performance in Attica, which is inaccessible to scholars today. His work is therefore invaluable for the study of ancient tragedy, even if his testimony is open to doubt on some points. According to Aristotle, tragedy evolved from the satyr dithyramb, an Ancient Greek hymn, which was sung along with dancing in honor of Dionysus. The dithyramb was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism Satyr play The original Tragedy was brief and burlesque in tone because it contained elements of the Satyr play. Gradually, the language became more serious and the meter changed from trochaic tetrameter to the more prosaic iambic trimeter. The dithyramb was originally improvised, but later written down before performance. The Greek chorus of up to 50 men and boys danced and sang in a circle, probably accompanied by an aulos (instrument), relating to some event in the life of Dionysus.[ A Greek chorus is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action. The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison and sometimes wore masks. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The development of the Greek tragedy • Aeschylus was to establish the basic rules of tragic drama. He is credited with inventing the trilogy, a series of three tragedies that tell one long story, and introduced the second actor, making the dramatization of a conflict possible. Trilogies were performed in sequence over a full day, sunrise to sunset. At the end of the last play, a satyr play was staged to revive the spirits of the public, possibly depressed by the events of the tragedy. • Reforms of Sophocles: He introduced a third actor and introduced scenery and the use of scenes. The chorus became less important in explaining the plot and there was a greater emphasis on character development and conflict. The events that overwhelm the lives of the heroes are in no way explained or justified, and in this we see the beginning of a painful reflection on the human condition, still current in the contemporary world. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The development of the Greek tragedy • Euripides: Increased attention for feelings, as a mechanism to elaborate the unfolding of tragic events. • He turned the prologue into a monologue informing the spectators of the story's background • Introduced the deus ex machina (plot device whereby a seemingy unsolvable problem is suddenly and unrepentantly resolved) • gradually diminished the choir's prominence from the dramatic point of view in favor of a monody (song, lament) sung by the characters. • Euripidean drama is represented by the realism with which the playwright portrays his characters' psychological dynamics. The hero described in his tragedies is no longer the resolute character as he appears in the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles, but often an insecure person, troubled by internal conflict. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism In Summary • A form of drama based on human suffering • Performed in amphitheatres in ancient Greece • Is a performance, not a script • Originally used as a form of worship for the Greek god Dionysus • Included a chorus (up to 50 people who danced and sang) • In Greek tragedy, the focus is on man’s insignificance, emphasising that it is FATE or DESTINY that is the cause of bringing havoc and ruin to human life. It is the powerlessness of man against such uncontrollable divide orders that is the substance of Classical tragedy. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The history of tragedy… Aristotle His own definition: Tragedy is, then, an enactment of a deed that is important and complete, and of [a certain] magnitude, by means of language enriched [with ornaments], each used separately in the different parts [of the play]: it is enacted, not [merely] recited, and through pity and fear it effects relief (catharsis) to such [and similar] emotions. — Poetics, VI 1449b 2–3 What we know of tragedies today come from Artistotle’s works. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The history of tragedy… Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The Features Unity of Action • One single plot without any digressions • No sub-plots should interfere with the main plot Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The Features Unity of Time • Ideally 2-3 hours, the time taken for the play to be performed • Timespan of the play should not be any longer than 24 hours • Previous events leading up to the present situation were recounted on stage. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism The Features Unity of Place • Setting should be limited to one location • In comedy, it is often set in a street • Oedipus Rex is set on the steps before the palace Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism Othello Othello, apart from Act I in Venice, is located entirely within the fortress at Cyprus. Although logically the play covers an unspecified time lapse of, we presume, two or three weeks, it proceeds, more or less, by major scenes through the hours of the day, starting in Venice with the elopement after midnight, the Senate meeting at dawn, then at Cyprus with the morning storm and afternoon landings and developments, the fateful drinking party in the early evening and the murder at bed time. This is not to say that everything happens in the same day; it obviously cannot, but the impression is of an abstract day unfolding. The plot is fairly unified, focusing on Othello and his fate, and dealing with other people and events only in so far as they are relevant to this focus. Othello is about as near as Shakespeare gets to classical tragedy. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism An Inspector Calls Arguably we can read ‘An Inspector Calls’ as a tragedy because of the desperate and lonely fate of young Eva, and we can clearly see the three unities that make up the play’s structure: we follow the action as it happens – there are no flashbacks or gaps in the plot; the action happens over a period of several hours, no more than 24; and the stage is set in the Birling’s dining room, champagne and all. Tension seems to be at the heart and soul of this play and without the strict and sturdy walls of the three unities, perhaps as noted earlier, it might become “disturbed”. Not a breath is allowed to escape from the dining room and even Eric’s absence serves to perpetuate the palpable tension in the room; Gerald too is only allowed to leave with the permission of the Inspector who controls the action in the play and dictates its course irrevocably. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism Shakespearean Tragedy In comedy, the instincts that lead to disorder are laughed at. In tragedy, they are viewed seriously, with the dramatist fully considering the disruptive effects of people's behaviour. In Shakespeare's tragedies, the society in the play has shifted so far from any orderly standard of behaviour that it collapses into violence, and the main character is the principal victim of this violence. This evil results not just in the death of the tragic hero, but in the deaths of the innocent, who seek to be singled out for destruction for no other reason than that they are innocent. Terminology: tragedy, tragic hero, hamartia, hubris, imagery, dramatic irony, motif, symbolism Shakespearean Tragedy PATTERN OF SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY: Early on we meet the tragic hero, a great figure like a king or ruler. Through his own actions his life and the life of those around him is thrown into disarray. In every play, we are confronted with disorder in the central stages.