100% satisfaction guarantee Immediately available after payment Both online and in PDF No strings attached
logo-home
Previously searched by you
Previously searched by you
logo
Summary Greek theatre - social and political themes in comedy CA$10.99   Add to cart
Quickly navigate to
Preview
  2.  
  3. OCR
  4.  
  5. Classics: Classical Civilisation
  6.  
  7. Greek theatre

Summary

Summary Greek theatre - social and political themes in comedy
 7 views  0 purchase
  • Course
  • Greek theatre
  • Institution
  • OCR
  • Book
  • OCR Classical Civilisation AS and A Level Components 21 and 22

Notes on: - ancient religious concepts, beliefs & practices - including role of the gods and death & the afterlife, representation and satire of tragedy, importance of the polis (city) - including the position & role of men, women and slaves in society and political ideas & ideals

Preview 1 out of 3  pages

Document information

  • No
  • 1.6
  • May 17, 2024
  • 3
  • 2023/2024
  • Summary

Subjects

  • social themes
  • greek theatre
  • comedy
  • political themes

Connected book

book image

Book Title:

Author(s):

  • Edition:
  • ISBN:
  • Edition:

More summaries for

  • Greek theatre - pots and vases
  • Greek theatre - the nature of tragedy
  • Greek theatre - the nature of old comedy
All for this textbook (7)

Written for

  • A/AS Level
  • OCR
  • Classics: Classical Civilisation
  • Greek theatre
All documents for this subject (26)

Seller

avatar-seller
clempitrat

Content preview

Social and political themes in comedy

Representation of satire and tragedy

- Comedy’s interest in tragedy – reveals how central tragedy was to Athenian cultural life
- Frogs – plot dominated by personalities of individual tragedians & the idea that tragic poetry can save
Athens
- Tragedy is not just for enjoyment – it has a civic function
- Ancient poetry should fulfil a didactic function – aim was to offer moral guidance and make them
better citizens
- Agon – tragedy is central theme
- Euripides – a tragedian should be admired because he makes the people better
- Aeschylus – ‘children have teachers to instruct them, young men have poets’
 Claims Euripides has corrupted Athenian morals by presenting wicked deeds on stage
 Argues a tragedian should hide bad behaviour
- Satirises tragedians as individuals
 Presentation needs to be viewed with scepticism – personalities of Euripides and Aeschylus
derived from stereotypes about their work
- References to well-known characteristics about contemporary tragedians
- Focus on Aeschylus and Euripides – formation of canon of three great tragedians was underway
 Sophocles died shortly before frogs was performed
 Dionysus – makes I clear these are the only playwrights worth considering truly great
- Sustained and sophisticated parody of the style of individua tragedians – high level of knowledge from
Aristophanes’ audience
- Chorus encourage tragedians not to worry as audience will follow
 Designed to flatter audience

Ancient religious concepts

The role of the gods

- Dionysus of comedy is a buffoon
- Mocking gods in context of comedy was not considered blasphemous by the Athenians
 Especially Dionysus – comedy uses his unusual status to make him the target of mockery
- Aristophanes’ presentation of Dionysus – draws on tradition of finding humour at the god’s expense
- Comedy gives license to make jokes that would otherwise be considered inappropriate
- Aristophanes overturns traditional attributes of Dionysus
 Dionysus feels as much pain as his slave
 Forced to row himself to hades and does not know how to do it properly
 He is a coward
 Out of shape
- Dionysus represents a kind of everyman figure – audience can sympathise with and laugh at
- Dionysus – reflects traditional idea of gods as saviours
- Torchlight procession that play ends with – creates a mood of holiness
 Reminiscent of real-life rituals

Death and the afterlife

- Depicts a traditional poetic view of the afterlife
 Portrays dead as ghosts with their own personalities and memories
- Frogs – dead live the same way as they lived when alive
 Both playwrights keen to return to the world of above
- Charon as ferryman is traditional
- Allusions to other myths about thee underworld
- Many elements are gently parodied – bleak waters of underworld filled with singing frogs

The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.

Quick and easy check-out

Quick and easy check-out

You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.

Focus on what matters

Focus on what matters

Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!

Frequently asked questions

What do I get when I buy this document?

You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.

Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?

Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.

Who am I buying these notes from?

Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller clempitrat. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.

Will I be stuck with a subscription?

No, you only buy these notes for CA$10.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.

Can Stuvia be trusted?

4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

77764 documents were sold in the last 30 days

Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now

Start selling
CA$10.99
  • (0)
  Add to cart