Tragic Greek dramas featured tragic heroes‚ mortals who suffered incredible losses as a result of an inescapable fate or bad decisions. According to Aristotle‚ a tragic hero is a character‚ usually of high birth‚ which is pre-eminently great‚ meaning they are not perfect‚ and whose downfall is brought about by a tragic weakness or error in judgment. The three Greek heroes Oedipus‚ Medea and Agamemnon‚ who each killed a member of their family‚ carry most of the qualities that make up a tragic hero:
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The Greeks’ history began around 700 B.C. with festivals honoring their many gods. One god‚ Dionysus‚ was honored with an unusual festival called the City Dionysia. The revelry-filled festival was led by drunken men dressed up in rough goat skins (because goats were thought sexually potent) who would sing and play in choruses to welcome Dionysus. Tribes competed against one another in performances‚ and the best show would have the honor of winning the contest. Of the four festivals in Athens (each
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means of control in Greek society. The fervor of speech retains a feminine connotation because women were deemed duplicitous and conniving on a much broader level than men ever were. Masculine speech encompassed more political or public matters. Aeschylus develops this notion through Clytaemestra’s character by offering her a voice of intelligent deception‚ so illusory to the point of being masculine. In each play of The Oresteia‚ Clytaemestra employs specific rhetorical devices tailored to the audience
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From Aeschylus’ Oresteia to Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra: Text‚ Adaptation and Performance[1] ©Alison Burke‚ The Open University‚ UK Introduction The Royal National Theatre’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra at the Royal National Theatre (London 2003–4) downplayed the relationship between O’Neill’s trilogy and Aeschylus’ Oresteia. Rather than following the stage directions of O’Neill‚ which are evocative of classical staging conventions‚ the RNT production
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| Aeschylus’ Oresteia: Agamemnon | Close Reading Essay| | | “Now you pass judgment! Exile from this land‚ the hatred of the people‚ public curses. But him! What charges did you ever bring against him? For all he cared he might as well have been killing an animal. Oh‚ he had plenty of sheep to choose from‚ but he sacrificed his own child‚ my labor of love‚ to charm away the cruel storm-winds of Thrace. He was the one you should have banished from this land‚ as punishment
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The chorus‚ in tragic plays of ancient Greece‚ is assumed to have developed out of Greek hymns and drama. It presented experience and also abstract information to help the audience pursue the performance‚ commented on main themes‚ and demonstrate how a model audience might respond to the tragedy as it was presented. Greek choirs also stood for the common public of any specific story. Most of the time they communicated in song form‚ but every now and then the messages were spoken. The chorus also
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Historic playwrights such as Sophocles‚ Euripides‚ Aeschylus‚ and Seneca were described as prolific philosophers and geniuses of their times. These men actively participated in the politics surrounding them‚ and were respected and revered in their society. Each had their own individual style and portrayed their personalities through each of their noted works. Nevertheless‚ as with a majority of playwrights throughout history‚ most fodder for their plays have been adaptations of previous plays written
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of theater and its many accomplishments greatly influenced the modern day theater and entertainment. Staring with the evolution of theater and how it evolved from religious groups in ancient Greece. There were also many great playwrights‚ such as Aeschylus‚ Sophocles‚ and Euripides‚ who opened the doors to a world of art. Even the construction of a play and the major types of plays‚ such as tragedy and comedy‚ are still used to this day. The way the characters or actors and costume evolved from such
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Justice and Gender in the Oresteia Justice and gender are put into relation with each other in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. In this trilogy‚ Greek society is characterized as a patriarch‚ where the oldest male assumes the highest role of the oikos (household). The household consists of a twofold where the father is the head‚ and the wife and children are the extended family. The head of the oikos is the only one who possesses the authority to seek justice. This is because the father acquires the authority
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Clytemnestras flaw was that she could not see past her own grief‚ anger‚ and how her husband had killed their daughter. Her anger and grief are displayed by her emotional words‚ "Like a swan she wailed her last call for her loved one while she drowned."(Aeschylus). Both of their flaws were indeed tragic‚ but more to others than themselves. Almost all characters from Greek tragedies have some sort of rank or ability‚ Medea and Clytemnestra were no exception. Medea was not only a sorceress‚ but also a respected
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