PERIOD OF ENGLISH DRAMA

Greek Drama
BY GROUP 1:
Bayu Putra Pradana
Ivan Revandya
Michelle Angelita S
Sabtrinovyanda
Shafa Az-Zahra
PERIOD OF ENGLISH DRAMA

Table of Contents
The Etymology of Greek Drama - Greek 03
Tragedy

The Start of Greek Theatre 04

Characteristics of Greek Theatre 05

06
The Actors

The Dramatic Structure 07

Characteristics of Greek Tragedy 08

Characteristics of a Tragic Hero 09

Major Playwrights during The Greek Era 10

Major Works during The Greek Period 12

Popular Works during The Greek Period 13

 The word "tragedy" is derived from the word τραγῳδία
('tragoidia') which built out of two Greek words:
τράγος (tragos) or "goat" and ᾠδή (ode) or "song". It
literally means 'goat song', referring to the dramatic
plays of the ancient Greeks named such for the actors
who dressed in the skins of goats to represent satyrs,
which are goat-like mythological deities.

A tragedy was characterized by a protagonist whose

flaw in character leads to a series of events that
cause his downfall, a trope that began with the Greek
dramatists.

The Etymology of
Greek Drama - Greek Tragedy
PERIOD OF ENGLISH DRAMA
 The Start of Greek
Theatre Greek theatre began in the 6th century
BCE. Its mark is when it institutionally
became a part of a festival called The
Dionysia.

The Dionysia was a large festival in

ancient Athens in honor of the god
Dionysus, the God of wine. The central
events of which were the theatrical
performances of dramatic tragedies and,
from 487 BC, comedies. It was the second-
most important festival after the
Panathenaia.
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THE FOUR MAJOR QUALITIES OF GREEK DRAMA

1. Performed for special occasions (Festivals to

worship the Gods)
2. Competitive (playwrights competed, as did
actors for the prizes were awarded for the best
show)
3. Choral singing was important (Singing was a
large part of the drama, the chorus was all men
and varied from 3 - 50 people)
Characteristics
4. Closely associated with religion. (Stories were of Greek
based on myth and history.)
Theatre
 The Actors
1. The actors wore large, colorful,
decorative robes

2. They wore extra-large white gloves

3. They wore masks that had over-

exaggerated features and contained
largemouths that were shaped like a
megaphone

4. They wore large, platform shoes

5. They were all men, and only one-three

actors played all of the parts

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 The Dramatic Structure
Of Greek Tragedy

The Prologue
The opening portion of the play that sets the scene and contains the exposition.

The Parados
The entrance song of the chorus

Episodes
⁃ Scenes in the action of the drama.
⁃ The episodes are performed by the actors.
⁃ There are usually four episodes in a Greek tragedy.

Stasimon (Odes)
⁃ Choral passages alternating with the episodes of the plot of the drama.
⁃ The chorus sand and danced these tragic odes.
⁃ There are usually four stasima in a Greed tragedy.

The Strophe & The Antistrophe

⁃ During the strophe, the chorus dances one way around the orchestra.
⁃ During the antistrophe, the chorus changed directions and went the opposite way
around the orchestra.
The Exodos
The concluding section of the tragedy ends with the chorus singing their final
PERIOD OF ENGLISH DRAMA lines as they exit.
 22
/
09

1. Late point of attack

2. Violence and death offstage
3. Frequent use of messengers to relate
information
4. Continuous time of action
5. Single setting
6. Stories based on myths
7. Focus is on the psychological and ethical
attributes of characters, not physical and
sociological.

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 Characteristics of a Tragic Hero
01

The tragic hero is a character

of noble stature and greatness.

02

The character must occupy a high

position in society.

03

The tragic hero is good, but

they are not perfect.

04

The audience should be able to

identify with the hero.
 rights during The
layw Gree
or P k
aj Era
M
There are three major kinds of play that
emerged during the Greek Era, they are:
tragedy, comedy, and satyr play

PERIOD OF ENGLISH DRAMA

 GREEK TRAGEDY OR ATTIC
TRAGEDY
A form of theatre from Ancient
Greece and Anatolia. It reached
its most significant form in
Athens in the 5th century BC. One
of the most famous plays that
included in the genre of tragedy
is Oedipus Rex that was written by
Sophocles.
GREEK COMEDY
Ancient Greek comedy was one of
the final three principal dramatic
forms in the theatre of classical
Greece. It is conventionally
divided into three periods: Old
Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New
Comedy. One of the most famous
plays from Greek comedy is The
Wasps by Aristophanes.
SATYR PLAY
It is a combination between
tragedy and comedy. It is kind of
a reverse style of Attic tragedy
because it included comedy that
actually the contra of tragedy,
but the people decided to combined
the two genres. One of the plays
that survived until now is Cyclops
by Euripides.
 Major Works during The Greek
Period
1. The Odyssey, Homer
Odyssey is the second major epic of Homer’s
epic. It has had a tremendous influence on
literary paradigms since ancient times and
inspired Joyce’s Ulysses to contemporary poetry.
Such as the Caribbean poet Derek Walcott (Derek
Walcott) "Omeros" (1991). According to scholars,
Homer himself was influenced by Near Eastern
mythology for his stories about war, adventure,
love, and the return to Ithaca. Ten years after
the end of the Trojan War, there is still no
sign of Odysseus. When his wife Penelope
repelled 108 suitors, her son Telemachus sought
the advice of the gods.
Greek History
2. The Argonautica (c 246 – 221 BC),
Apollonius Rhodius
The only surviving Hellenistic epic, this 800-
line poem tells the story of Jason and Argonaut
who traveled to the distant Colchis to retrieve
the golden wool. Apollonius (Apollonius) through
the study of geography, ethnography, and
comparative religion to provide the text of the
academic view of today's popular mythology. The
main focus of this poem is the relationship
between Jason and Medea (before and after), and
Apollonius is considered one of the first
writers to study the "pathology of love". This
poem has both an adventure story and a romantic
history, and it provides Virgil with an example
of his Roman epic poem "Aenede".
Goulcrest Learning Center
 THE ORESTEIA, AESCHYLUS
This trilogy of Greek tragedies closely
follows the cursed family of Atreus's house.
Won the first prize at the Dionysian Music
Festival, the first play "Agamemnon" tells
the story of King Argos. King Argos returned
home and deceived his wife in an attempt to
murder him at the expense of his daughter. As
Agamemnon's children Electra and Orestes
began to murder their mothers, the second
group of "Libation Bearers" took more
revenge. Justice and consequences are
particularly important in the third drama
"Youmanides" because Orestes paid the price
for the crimes of the family.
MEDEA, EURIPIDES
Enthusiasm, betrayal, justice, and
revenge-before the invention of the
soap opera, Euripides' story of women's
contempt began to be accepted by the
public. Jason of the Gold Digger may
have defeated the Sleepless Dragon and
captured the golden wool, but he never
thought of the destruction caused by
leaving his wife Medea to another
woman. As a model of early feminist
writings, the play has always been the
most frequently performed tragedy in
Greece in the entire 20th century.
OEDIPUS REX, SOPHOCLES
The frequently quoted tragic story of
King Oedipus is probably the most
famous story in all Greek mythology.
Oedipus Rex’s Athens tragedy is the
second part of Sophocles’ unfortunate
king’s series, and despite his best
efforts to defeat the pesky Oracle, he
eventually killedhis father and married
his mother. The protagonist’s fault
contributed to his downfall. This is an
example of classic tragedy. Aristotle’s
poetics uses drama as a template to
discuss classic structures and plots.
 ANK YOU
TH
Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_ancient_Greece
https://www.kqed.org/perspectives/201601135587/tragedy#:~:text=The%20word%20'tragedy'%20is%
20built,%2C%20goat%2Dlike%20mythological%20deities.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/our-top-ten-greek-tragedies-in-writing-1.2275105