Comparative Coursework - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Comparative Coursework

Tragedy: Ancient and ContemporarySlide2

“Tragedy”

What does the word “tragedy” mean to you?

What do you think the basic “ingredients” of tragedy might be?

On what are you basing your answers?Slide3

Etymology of “tragedy”

In

Engish

, late

14c., "play or other serious literary work with an unhappy ending," from Old French

tragedie

(14c.), from Latin

tragedia

"a tragedy," from Greek

tragodia

"a dramatic poem or play in formal language and having an unhappy resolution," apparently literally "goat song," from

tragos

"goat" +

oide

"

song".

The connection may be via

satyric

drama, from which tragedy later developed, in which actors or singers were dressed in goatskins to represent satyrs. But many other theories have been made (including "singer who competes for a goat as a prize"), and even the "goat" connection is at times questioned. Meaning "any unhappy event, disaster" is from c. 1500.Slide4

Plot Summaries

The summaries describe one play by each of the following: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

These are the only tragedians, some of whose complete plays are still extant.

Much of what we “know” about tragedy is based on the plays the “big three” left behind.

We also have records, in which we find comments on other playwrights and plays, and a number of fragments.Slide5

Aeschylus:

525/24 (?) – 456/55

Sophocles:

496 (?) – 406/05

Euripides:

480 (485/84?) BCE – 407/6 BCE

Add 1 for the century:

Aeschylus, late sixth century to early fifth; Sophocles and Euripides fifth century.

As numbers go down, we get closer to CE (common era; birth of Christ); the lower the number, the later in the century we are (e.g. 496 = early 5

th

century; 408 = late fifth century)Slide6

Read the summaries

Based on these three summaries, what would you say some of the generic features of classical tragedy are?Slide7

Religion

Politics

Justice

Law

War/conflict

Loyalty

Duty

Gender

Myth

Happy/sad endings?

ClassSlide8

How well do these summaries fit Aristotle’s model?

Aristotle

: 385-322Slide9

Aristotelian Tragedy

A

genre

that ends in the fall (

often,

but not

always, the

death) of the

protagonist

(heroic main character).

Protagonist

should be someone of

noble standing

(e.g., royalty; ruling politician), whom the audience would admire.

The fall is caused by the

protagonist’s extreme arrogance (hubris).

Themes

of

violence

and

revenge

,

order

and

disorder

Presents one continuous course action that

is serious and complete, and which

leads to the bodily or mental purification (catharsis) of the audience by exciting in them pity and fear

Involves a

reversal of

fortune

(the

peripeteia

).

The

peripeteia

leads to a

moment of recognition

(

anagnorisis

),

in which the

protagonist

understands their

hubris

.

Aristotle says that the language of Tragedy should be pleasurable.

Renaissance readers of Aristotle interpreted from the

Poetics

three principles (“the three unities”):

Unity of time:

Tragic action should occur over no more than a twenty-four hour-period

Unity of place:

Tragic action should occur in a single location

Unity of action:

one main action, and therefore plot, which we follow through the protagonist; no subplots.Slide10

HW

Print and/or download the following copy of Aeschylus’

The

Eumenides

:

http://

classics.mit.edu/Aeschylus/eumendides.html

Links and Word file posted to my

wesbite

: olibelas.weebly.com

Google

“

Eumenides

text

MIT”

Either hardcopy or e-reader is fine, but bring a version of

the play with you.Slide11

Attic Tragedy: Historical Context

List the themes/issues that ancient tendencies tend to address (based on the three we have considered in summary-form)Slide12

Religion

Politics

Justice

Law

War/conflict

Loyalty

Duty

Gender

Myth

Happy/sad endings?

Class

Incest/unnatural relations

FamilySlide13

Attic Tragedy: Historical Context

Attic = of/from Athens

At this time, Greece is not a unified country as we know it today; the geographical area we think of as Greece was made up of city states

Fifth century Greece characterized by alliances, quarrels, battles/wars, especially by conflicts between Athens and Sparta

Tragedy emerges in a competitive context: performed for prizes at festivals of Dionysus

Paula

Debnar

(2005: 5) suggests that there are two main categories of tragedy:

1) the plays clearly refer to political events of fifth-century Athens, but place these in a mythological past

2) the plays do not overtly refer to current events, but place mythological stories/characters in the present day Slide14

People often see the timelines of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (collectively, 525-405/6) as marking the birth, rise, and fall of tragedy.

There is a temptation also to see this course of tragedy as roughly mirroring the rise and fall of Athens (defeated in 404)

Problem with this:

this is based on the tragedies still extant, not all tragedies written in ancient timesSlide15

War and Politics

The Peloponnesian Wars:

First Peloponnesian War: 460-446 BCE

Thirty Years’ Peace: Never complete end to hostilities; war begins again…

Second Peloponnesian War: 431-404 BCE

Leaders in the wars are Sparta and Athens; wars are over political influence/strength; economic strength/trade; geopolitical control

Sparta defeats Athens, 404Slide16

During the Thirty Years’ Peace, rule of Greece was shared between Sparta and Athens

Sparta was the leading hoplite (land-based/foot soldier) power

Athens led the naval powers

All-out war begins 431

By 413, Athens looks set for defeat; Sophocles is part of a council of elders appointed to govern the city

Athens falls to Sparta in 404Slide17

Tragedy & Democracy

In the early fifth century (490s), Persia, ruled by King Darius, defeated many Greek states

Sparta and Athens resisted

Athens continues to clash with Persia into the fifth century

Darius introduces democracy to many Greek states

In Athens, 462/62, a man named

Ephialtes

reformed the

Areopagus

(the highest judicial and legal body in Athens)

Power was taken away from the aristocratic ruling body and handed to the people (

demos

)

The transition was not easy –

Ephialtes

was murdered around a year after the reforms – but by mid fifth century, democracy had taken root.

However, at the time of the reforms, Athens seemed as if it might fall into civil warSlide18

Women & Tragedy

Athenian women:

Citizens due to fathers/husbands

Daughters of citizens could marry citizens and their sons would have citizen status

Were involved in religious festivals/rituals

Few legal rights (e.g. couldn’t inherit; could be called to court, but could not serve on juries)

Women had fewer rights than

metics

(foreign residents) and some slaves – no political rights

Little economic independence for wealthy women; however, poorer women may have been forced to work

Women from wealthy families in many ways excluded from public sphere (agora) (e.g. often didn’t do own shopping)

Given this, women in Attic tragedy are fascinating… Slide19

Review the summaries

In what ways might these stories echo the cultural scene of fifth century Athens? (You can think either in broad themes, or in terms of specifics)Slide20

If you were to update one of the stories, how would you go about it?

Think about where you would set it and why?

What position would your characters occupy, and why?

Which events/issues would you want it to reflect/echo?

E.g.

The Trojan Women

Set in a multinational corporation, just after a take-over

Who gets to keep their job?

Who will be “redeployed”?Slide21

The Eumenides

, by Aeschylus

What is a prologue?

What is the purpose of a prologue?

Why use a prologue?

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-

cross'd

lovers take their life;

Whose

misadventured

piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

The fearful passage of their death-

mark'd

love,

And the continuance of their parents' rage,

Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,

Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;

The which if you with patient ears attend,

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.Slide22

Year 13: September 2015Slide23

Seating plan

Fill out front of exercise books

Inside front cover: AS grade; A Level target grade

Homework

Review plot summaries of Aeschylus’

The

Eumenides

and Euripides’

Orestes

Download Euripides’

Orestes

from olibelas.weebly.com and read by

Mon. 21 September

Structure of Year 13Slide24

In pairs, remind yourselves of the basic plot of

The

Eumenides

What is the central problem?

What are the main arguments?

How is the problem to be decided/solved?

How does the drama reflect the social/political context of ancient Greece?Slide25

Week 2: The

Eumenides

2.1) Language: understanding, interpretation, analysis

What are the main difficulties presented by the language of the play?

Discuss for a minute

Note the main difficultiesSlide26

The main difficulties?

Vocabulary:

unfamiliar/antiquated lexis

Syntax/grammar/word order:

Familiar and new words arranged in “unusual” ways

Historical/cultural references:

meanings – connotative and denotative – “hidden” by unfamiliar “pop” culture

What can we do to tackle these difficulties?Slide27

Don’t let the text scare you

Easy to say. However…

It’s important to remember that understanding of most of our words’ meanings is developed not through memorizing dictionary-like definitions.

Much of our linguistic understanding is

normative

; that is, we obey the “rules” of use, without ever being explicitly taught the “rules.”

This means that when we encounter words, phrases, and sentences for which we have no rules, they fail to mean.

Part of the game here will be to memorize some facts about the play – historical facts, mythical aspects, new lexical meanings, etc.

But part of the game will also to be developing

coping strategies

.Slide28

Vocabulary

Break the word down

(are there elements that are familiar, and which might offer clues, even if the final form of the word is new?)

rit

es

rit

ual

Ask yourself if the word itself is new, or rather the context/way in which it is being used

E.g. the way we use the word “doom” now and the way it is used in the play; meaning of “blood-guilty”

Look the word up:

no shame in expanding our vocabularies

E.g. “fane” and “blazon” are relatively specialist/antiquated words, which probably don’t have many clues for readers todaySlide29

Historical/Cultural References

Familiarize yourself with/periodically revise the historical notes

Read the plot summaries more than once (remember, once you are familiar with the basic story, you can be selective as to which parts of the play you scrutinize in detail)

Spend a little time researching the myths that have been incorporated in the play(s): remember, the playwrights were authors of the plays,

not

of the (basic) stories

Train yourself into a certain type of attention, where you work from the “big” picture inwards:

Look at plot outline

Look at historical notes

Train yourself to be on the lookout for, e.g., references to/presentations of:

Democratic processes

War/conflict

Metaphors of naval/hoplite conflict/fighting

Ask yourself where we might find contemporary resonance (e.g. with concerns over law and order)Slide30

Syntax/Grammar/Word Order

This becomes easier after a little bit of slow practice:

“

O queen Athena, first from they last words

|

Will I a great solicitude remove.

|

Not one blood-guilty am I”

O queen Athena, first I will remove a great solicitude

[concern/worry/anxiety]

. I am not

[one who is]

blood-guilty.Slide31

Language Game

Write some straightforward sentences as you would speak. Construct them either as past or future:

Yesterday, I went to the shops.

Tomorrow, I will go to the shops.

Re-arrange them

à la

Greek tragedy.

Look up “fancy” alternatives for your verb and/or noun choices.Slide32

Orestes’ & Athena’s conversation

What is the general thrust of the speeches?

Are there any significant patterns in either speech?

What is the problem for Athena?Slide33

Writing: Analyzing

& Summarizing

It can be hard to

analyze

literary language when we don’t have a question/title focussing our attention.

However, there are certain points of language that will “jump out” at us irrespective of a focussing title/question.Slide34

Consider the significance of the this quotation?

ORESTES

Yea, for in her combined two stains of sin.

LEADER

How? speak this clearly to the judges' mind.

ORESTES

Slaying her husband, she did slay my sire. Slide35

We can explain the “logic” of Orestes’ claim, and thereby offer some form of

analysis:

Agamemnon was one man with multiple roles

He was a husband, a king, and a father

“sire” does a double duty, reminding us of its etymological connection to both nobility/seniority/authority (those worthy of respect; those who received knighthoods) and to fathers. Slide36

Take this model and finish it off:

Orestes claims that in his mother, Clytemnestra, there are “combined two stains of sin,” because, “[s]laying her husband, she did slay my sire.” There is a clever logic at work here: Agamemnon was one man with many roles – husband, father, king – and so the implication here is that Clytemnestra may, as it were, have killed one person, but more than one man: a “husband” and a “sire.” But “sire” does a double duty here, as it is etymologically linked both to fathers and fathering, and to nobility, seniority, and authoritative figures worthy of respect. It thus suggests that the privileged status Orestes accords Agamemnon is linked to his status as king and his position as father

.

(116 words)Slide37

Once we have a focus/topic/question, we can extend our analyses even further, because we then have a “so what?” to return at the end of each paragraph/section:

Orestes claims that in his mother, Clytemnestra, there are “combined two stains of sin,” because, “[s]laying her husband, she did slay my sire.” There is a clever logic at work here: Agamemnon was one man with many roles – husband, father, king – and so the implication here is that Clytemnestra may, as it were, have killed one person, but more than one man: a “husband” and a “sire.” But “sire” does a double duty here, as it is etymologically linked both to fathers and fathering, and to nobility, seniority, and authoritative figures worthy of respect. It thus suggests that the privileged status Orestes accords Agamemnon is linked to his status as king and his position as father

.

Patriarchy is therefore doubly reinforced by Orestes’ attitude towards his dead father, as kings are fathers and rulers of their people, just as the

paterfamilias

is the father and ruler of his home. It is interesting to note that in the trial scene, Aeschylus stages a challenge to patriarchal rule, but only in order for its justness to be upheld.

(176 words)Slide38

Think about the focus you might like to take, were you to write about this play.

Find 3-4 quotes (brief is good) that are linked, either to each other through language patterns (e.g. blood/“blood-guilt”) or thematically (e.g. they tell us something about class/power/gender etc.)

Write them down.

Analyze

in note form.

“Write up analysis,” using model as

a guide.Slide39

But when the thirsty dust sucks up man's blood

Once shed in death, he shall arise no more. Slide40

http://

www.ancient-literature.com/greece_euripides_alcestis.htmlSlide41

Coursework tasks/questions

In tragedy, “[t]he convergence between spectacle, verbal imagery, and mythical genealogy is such that it is often impossible to separate them” (

Saïd

2008). Discuss.Slide42

Antigone

(film):

https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bSnnufOx80&list=PLjAYlUiAhOZ5xJhxtxojqCKFnZs5-lzChSlide43

http://

www.ancientgreece.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg18/home.html