Summary Greek theatre - literary techniques, structure of the plays and dramatic conventions
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Course
Greek theatre
Institution
OCR
Book
OCR Classical Civilisation AS and A Level Components 21 and 22
Notes on: - plot structure , plot devices - including messenger speeches, agon, parabis, use and choice of language, literary devices & descriptive techniques - including imagery and dramatic irony, characterisation - including the role of the chorus, styles and techniques of the different playwrig...
Literary techniques, structure of the plays & dramatic conventions
Plot structure
- Basic structure – alternating episodes (scenes of dialogue between actors) and choral odes (songs
with dancing performed by the chorus)
Structure of a tragedy
- Ancient play usually opens with a prologue – opening of the play which sets the scene
May be monologue addressed to audience / dialogue between two characters
- Chorus enter and perform the parados – first ode performed by chorus while coming into the theatre
- Tragedy continues with alternating episodes and choral odes
- Stasimon – odes after the parados
Chorus remain in the orchestra & would be dancing
- Exodos – final episode after the last choral ode
- Play normally ends with a short comment by the chorus – sum up the action/give a general moral
Structure of a comedy
- Less set than tragedy
- Series of episodes punctuated by choral interludes
Not necessarily after each episode like tragedy
- Comedy contains a parabasis – chorus address audience directly
- Agon – formal debate where the playwright can showcase opposing arguments
Plot devices
- Greek audience would have anticipated certain formal features
Messenger speeches
- Important events in tragedy usually happen off-scene & are reported by a messenger
- Violence rarely portrayed on-screen – messenger speech where audience learns fate of the characters
- One of most common features of tragedy
- Gives audience a chance to imagine things in more detail
Tragedians forced their audience to imagine the horrors for themselves
- Draw a moral about what we can learn from the horrific events
Messenger speeches of Bacchae
- 1st speech – opportunity to describe bacchic worship from a neutral bystander POV
Speech highlights beauty of Bacchism
Grisly depiction of violence that the bacchants resorted to when threatened
o Attack herdsmen’s cattle & rip them to shreds
- Sense of harmony turning to violence – foreshadows what will happen to Pentheus when he spies on
the bacchants
- 2nd speech – share his experience of watching them in secret only to be horrified by what happens
Creates a horror show – describes the bacchants ripping Pentheus to pieces & playing with his
dismembered body
Details of body parts – confront how appalling Pentheus’ fate is
Messenger speech of Oedipus
- Harrowing description of events inside the palace after Jocasta & Oedipus have learned the truth
- Describes Jocasta’s anguished lament, Oedipus’ anger, discovery of Jocasta’s corpse & horrific sight of
Oedipus using pins from her robe to blind himself
Agon
- Found in both comedy & tragedy
- Let playwrights show off their skills as rhetoricians & reflect the techniques of real-life debaters
Oratory was important in Greek education
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