Greek+Drama


 * Like Soap Operas? Try them the Ancient Athenian Way!**


 * By Madeline**

A fact which might be surprising—when we entertain ourselves by watching dramas, we are making use of a legacy passed on from the ancient Greeks. This ancient civilization produced many innovations, one of which was theater. Their version of drama was very different from the drama we watch today on TV or even see in plays. Even with technical differences, the idea of putting on a play was a tremendous contribution to society. And it all started in Athens, thousands of years ago.

Greek drama began with an Athenian man named Thespis, which is why we use the word “thespian”. The choruses of ancient Greece sung songs called dithyrambs, passionate religious songs created to praise the god Dionysus. Thespis was the leader of one such chorus, and in the midst of a song, he began to imitate the hero they were singing about, speaking to the audience and strutting about. This was the birth of drama. Solon, another Athenian, after witnessing Thespis’ drama, objected to it. He said Thespis was being deceitful and lying to the people. The close-minded Solon would have been appalled at modern movies and television. Luckily for Hollywood, Thespis’s innovation became popular throughout Greece. After Thespis, came the playwright Phrynicus who produced a play which moved his entire audience to tears. In our day and age, we applaud work that stirs our emotions. But unfortunately for Phrynicus, his audience disliked how the play reminded them of their own misfortunes and Phrynicus was fined a thousand drachmas. The people then declared it illegal for his play to be produced ever again. After the times of Phrynicus was the period of the “Great Three” playwrights of ancient Greece—Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. This was considered the “golden age” of Greek drama (Hadas, 1965). Several children and grandchildren of the Great Three also became playwrights, following in their father’s footsteps ([|Hooker, 1996]). Plays continued to be written after the “golden age” but they are all lost to us today. After the death of the “Great Three,” for the first time choruses began to reproduce plays. Often in these productions, the actors would begin to enlarge their part. A magistrate was given the position of stopping the play if an actor improvised (Hadas, 1965).

Athenians held festivals biannually in honor of the god Dionysus (General Attic Drama). For Dionysus, Thespis created a contest of drama, since Greeks savored competition. And since he created it, he won the first prize ever awarded for it. For these contests, three poets were selected by the State to write plays. It was considered one of the duties of the government to entertain the people, and wealthy citizens paid for the plays as a type of income tax. Every citizen was given a chance to witness the performances. If one was too poor to pay, the state would provide the entrance fee. These festivals, occurring over the course of several days, were the only time in which an Athenian could satisfy his literary cravings. In their times, there were no books to read for pleasure. The lack of stories throughout the rest of the year enabled them to sit for days and continue to be entertained (Hadas, 1965). All of the plays were religious because the contest was in honor of Dionysus. So, by sitting down to watch a play, the Athenians were in turn worshiping their god. The statue of Dionysus stood in the orchestra (place where the chorus sang from) and the theater was considered his sacred temple ([|General Attic Drama]). Common religious themes in plays were connections between men and nature, men and the material world, men and gods. If someone committed a crime during the festival, they were punished doubly because it was considered a sin against Dionysus. Once, a man who struck another during the festival and was put to death as a consequence. But overall, their religion was very different from what people today think of as “religion.” In ancient Greece, men and gods lived separately. Men did not try to be like the gods and the gods did not concern themselves with ruling over men. Gods were thought of as immortal all-powerful humans, not omniscient, omnipresent beings (Hadas, 1965).

As well as being religious, the purpose of the plays was to entertain. Play productions in ancient Greece varied greatly from the plays we see today, though the purpose of entertainment is always in mind. The assemblies in Athens consisted of the entire city, so the theaters were enormous. The theater in Athens seats 17,000 people and others have room for up to 40,000 people. Gargantuan theaters were cut into the hillsides in the shape of a semi-circle, so that plays were always performed “in the round.” In order to capture the attention of every section of the audience, the actors had to move around, creating a more dynamic performance. This circular shape may also have helped to project the actor’s voices. Stone benches were used for seats, where the audience would sit all day long. If they were smart, they would bring cushions and food. At the bottom of theater, there was a stage called the orchestra. This is where the chorus, made up of 12 to 15 people, sang from. Behind the orchestra was a long wooden building called a skene. In the skene, props and costumes were stored. Actors also changed personages in this special building. Sometimes the skene was painted with simple images to show a city or the ocean, which is where the word “scenery” originated. When a character died, he was wheeled out from the center of the skene, on a platform, like a hospital gurney. The living actors entered from a section called the parados. If one entered from the left, it meant he was coming from the country. If he entered from the right, he was coming from a civilization center, like a city or harbor (Wright, 2008).

With the enormousness of the theater in mind, the actors wore gigantic masks to represent their characters. Facial features were exaggerated and every mask was a different color. This made it clear which character the actor was supposed to be, as well as making it easier to change characters. The shape of the mouths in the masks also helped to channel the actor’s voice, like a megaphone. Since the audience couldn’t see the actor’s face, all emotion had to be expressed through the voice. Masks were simply constructed from linen and plaster and painted (Wright, 2008). Before the famous Greek masks were designed, comic actors covered their faces, disgustingly enough, with the lees (the part which sediments on the bottom) of wine. The actors didn’t want to be recognizable, as comedy was often vulgar and bawdy ([|Bates]). Props were hardly ever used in Greek drama, but they did have a fascinating apparatus similar to a crane which was constructed to make it appear as if the actors playing gods were coming down from the heavens (Wright, 2008). Besides this, there was little action and violence was never acted out. Perhaps this was for religious reasons, but it is more likely that the ancient Greeks considered dramatic oration to have more of an effect on the audience than a representation of violence ever could (Hadas, 1965).

Aristotle, a Greek dramatist and critic of the 4th century B.C., observed plays of the golden age of Greek drama, as well as plays from his time period. He noticed reoccurring ideas in structure and layout of these plays and used these to create “rules of drama.” As part of his observations, he identified three unities of drama—the unity of place, time, and action. The unity of place limited the play to a certain general location. It wasn’t practical to move the chorus every time the setting needed to be changed. The unity of times means that all the events in the play take place in the course of approximately one day. The last unity, the unity of action, not particular to drama, states that the plot must contain a beginning, middle, and end. Aristotle deemed the plot of the play much more important than the characters. He was frustrated when the playwrights of his time tampered with plays simply to utilize the talents of a particular actor. Unfortunately, later dramatists took his observations as laws, following them so precisely that they were never truly creative. When playwrights tried something that deviated from what Aristotle’s rules dictated, a struggle developed between two factions—those who stuck with the rules and those who wanted to innovate. This war over Aristotle came close to destroying all of Greek theater ([|Bellinger]).

Fortunately, drama was preserved for the enjoyment of people today. There were three types of plays in ancient Greece—tragedy, comedy, and satyr (satire, a type of comedy)—the most popular of which was the tragedy. Tragedy relieved the people of emotions like fear and pity. The dramatists participating in the festival of Dionysus entered three tragedies and only one other type of play—a satyr. Tragedies don’t necessarily have sad endings. In fact, the Greek tragedy often ends happily ([|General Attic Drama]). It’s named after the song of the satyr (a half-man, half-goat creature) called trageodia. The plots of tragedies are often based on mythology. According to Aristotle, if the dramas inspired by common myths which the Athenians had heard all their lives, they would think events in the dramas were impossible (which is what we believe today). Tragedy happened when men displeased the gods, perhaps not intentionally, and were punished. The focus of the tragedy is not on men’s punishment, but rather on his merit which he uses to survive the ordeals fate has placed before him. The story is also usually oriented around a crime. The crime might be accidental or intentional; the latter generally believed to be the more dramatic of the two. The main characters are usually people of consequence, who experience a change from good luck to bad, whereas the opposite is true in comedy. The tragic hero is not the kind of hero we think of today. Tragic heroes are more ambiguous, not a cookie-cutter good or bad. They always have faults, which make them more sympathetic characters. Often the lesser characters and the chorus disagree with the hero, unfortunately for him ([|Bellinger]). It’s a common misconception that the hero’s flaw is what leads him to disaster. Aristotle’s rule of the “tragic flaw” is not always true (Hadas, 1965).

The three greatest writers of tragedies are said to be Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (Wright). Each has a different style and identifying characteristics in their plays. In ancient Greece, the poets were upheld like prophets and considered the teachers of the assembly. The Athenians would quote them after the festival and throughout the rest of the year. The great poets were considered the leading experts in both science and morality (Hadas, 1965). Unfortunately most of the plays of these greats were lost over the years ([|Downey, 2006]).

Only seven plays are left of Aeschylus’, who is the oldest of the great three. Aeschylus was the first playwright to add a second character to drama, thus creating dialogue. Most of the plays that he entered in the competition were related to each other. They feature the different characters, but the characters are related and might be dealing with the same problem. To Aeschylus, the plot was more important than the characters, and his plays usually involved a moral issue. He had a grand way of writing, with lots of imagery and a large vocabulary (Hadas, 1965).

Aristotle considered Sophocles to be the greatest of the three writers of tragedy for clear plot, beauty, and religious insights. Supposedly he was rich, as well as handsome. He served as a general in the Peloponnisan War, a member of the Senate later in his life, and a priest for a minor god. Twenty-four times he won 1st place in the playwriting contests for the festival of Dionysus, receiving 2nd for the rest of his entered endeavors. He wrote over 120 plays in his lifetime, remaining spry even in old age, outliving the younger Euripides (Downey). Only seven of Sophocles’ plays remain, three of which are categorized as the “Theban plays”—//Oedipus Rex// (also known as //Oedipus the King//), //Oedipus at Colonus//, and //Antigone//. Aristotle considers //Oedipus Rex// Sophocles’ masterpiece ([|Bellinger]). //Oedipus at Colonus// was the last play that Sophocles ever wrote and is hardly ever performed ([|Downey]). One of Sophocles’ important contributions to the structure of drama was the addition of the third character. After Sophocles added the third actor, that seemed to remain the limit for a while. There would be more characters, but all were played by the same three actors. In most of Sophocles’ plays, there is a particularly determined character who stays true to his beliefs until the end. This character is usually disliked by the others, but his persistence brings out the heroism in him. Sophocles’ plays tend to be more sophisticated than Aeschylus’ (Hadas, 1965). Sophocles left a legacy by presenting new contributions to the world of theater.

The youngest of the three great dramatists was Euripides. Sophocles said, “I show men as they ought to be, Euripides shows them as they are.” Euripides’ plays often focused on more contemporary ideas of his time, which is probably why he won fewer awards than Aeschylus and Sophocles. He was too modern. But later, after his death, his plays became more popular because they reflected the recently-accepted beliefs. His rise in popularity resulted in the preservation of his plays, so that today 18 of his plays remain rather than the seven preserved of Aeschylus’ or Sophocles’ (Hadas, 1965).

Comedy indulges the soul through laughter and mirth. It’s origins of comedy are simpler than those of tragedy, also beginning as a branch of a festival. It began in two cities by the names of Megaris and Sicyon. At the Phallic festival, people would go from town to town, sometimes in carts, yelling vulgar insults and rude abuse. At night, the young men would take torches and roam the town, shouting and led by someone playing the lute or flute. These groups were called comuses, which is where the name, “comedy” originated ([|Bates]). Eventually the ancient Greeks began pasquinades, which are anonymous public satires performed to make a political comment. After a while, comedy was recognized as a form of drama. It received a chorus, although it was smaller than the tragic one ([|MacLennan]). Before masks, the actors would cover their faces with the lees (sediment) of wine to disguise themselves, as what they were saying was often extreme and bawdy ([|Bates]). Plato defined comedy as any performance that had a tendency to cause laughter. He categorized ancient comedy into three groups—the old, the middle, and the new—based on differences in form (Hadas, 1965).

As an entirely separate form of drama, comedy also had a different structure from tragedy. They both begin with prologues then they both proceed with parodes, where the chorus sings. In comedy, the chorus defines their position at this point—for or against the hero. The ode consisted of 3 parts, the strophe, antistrophe, and epode. In the strophe, the chorus moved one way, in the antistrophe, the opposite way, and in the epode, they stood still. After the parode, the actors enter and debate on a particular issue. This part is called the Agon. The Parabasis follows the Argon, in which the Chorus members remove their masks and speak out to the audience. The leader of the chorus often ended this out of breath, with a long rambling speech. Throughout the play choral songs were sung that can be broken into four parts—the ode, the Epirrhema, the Antode, and the Antepirrhema. The ode is sung to a god, followed by the epirrhema, which is sung by the leader of one half of the chorus. The epirrhema is usually satirical and focused on the previously mentioned issue. In the antode, the half of the chorus answers its leader in a song similar to the ode. Finally, in the antepirrhema, the other half of the chorus answers. Intermixed with these songs are episodes, in which the actors usually argue about what has been discussed before. In tragedy, these episodes are put between “stasimons,” where the chorus is stationary and comments on what has been happening in the episodes. Typically, the chorus part was essential to the plot, although in Euripides’ plays, the music could have been completely separate. Finally, at the end of the play, the chorus sings an exit song called the exode, which was usually in a mood of celebration if the play was a comedy ([|MacLennan]).

Like tragedy, comedy also has a goal of educating (Hadas, 1965). Whereas tragedy educated the people about man’s dealings with hardship and external forces, comedy taught the assembly about society, politics, philosophy, poetry, and the good manners of their day. Comedy was not based on Mythology, like tragedy, but rather the dramatist invented the entire plot, although the characters were often more realistic than the larger-than-life ones featured in tragedy. The first comic poet was Susarion, but the most famous old comic poet is Aristophanes (Wright, 2008). He is the only Greek old comic writer whose plays have survived. In his plays, Aristophanes formulated plots by taking a conventional idea of his time, like “life in Athens is interesting” and flipping it upside-down (Hadas, 1965). In this particular play called //The Birds//, two men left Athens and ventured out, finding a city in the sky called, “Cloud Cuckoo Island.” Most of his plays have elements of fantasy in them (Wright, 2008). Aristophone is most famous for his obscenity, lyrical writing (which does not translate well into prose), and old-fashioned beliefs. He hated the newer ideas, like those that Euripides focused on, and often targeted Euripides in his humor. In the Peloponnesian war that Athens fought in, Aristophanes agreed more with their enemies than the Athenians themselves (Hadas, 1965). Unlike old comedy, new comedy centered more on everyday life. The master of new comedy is considered to be Menander, who influenced following Roman writers (Wright, 2008).

Whether it is comic or tragic, drama has influenced millions of viewers. In some ways, it has retained its religious sanctity. Churches put on Christmas plays. Theaters request silence during productions. If someone interrupts a movie, consequences are harsh. Stages today are smaller and more personal than those in ancient Greece, with fewer seats. But actors continue to wear disguises and demonstrate emotion through dramatic voices. Plays from the golden age of Greek drama continue to be performed. They have been translated into many languages and adapted for the modern audience. Over the years, the key elements of drama have remained the same. The Greek's gift of drama has transcended history and lives on in our lives today.

Works Cited Bates, Alfred. "Origin of Comedy." //TheatreHistory.com//. Web. 10 Dec. 2010 . Bellinger, Martha Fletcher. "Aristotle, Classic Technique, and Greek Drama." //Imagi-nation.com//. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. . Downey, Ed. "Sophocles." //EBSCOhost//. 1 Jan. 2006. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. . "General Characteristics of the Attic Drama." //Theatre Database//. Web. 10 Dec. 2010.. Hadas, Moses. //Greek drama// .New York: Bantam Books, 1965. Print. Hooker, Richard. "Greek Drama." //Washington State University - Pullman, Washington//. 1996.Web. 10 Dec. 2010. . MacLennan, Bruce. "Typical Structure of a Greek Play." //US 210 The Great Conversation//. Web.10 Dec. 2010. . Wright, Anne. "Drama." //Philosophy and Writing//. New York, NY: Sharp Focus, 2008. 20-37 Print.