plz, i need help,tell me some information about drama [الأرشيف]

White Lily

05-18-2007, 08:35 PM

Here u r some information about greek drama. It is quoted from encarta encyclopedia

DVD]. If u have any further questions feel free to ask any time

NB the main focus of this article is showing examples of the most prominant genres of drama. Tragedy and comedy

The drama had been developing meanwhile in Athens during the 6th century bc. In its earliest form, the drama consisted of a chorus of men who sang and danced choral odes. Later, an actor who engaged in dialogue with the chorus was added.

A. Tragedy

Sophocles, considered one of the greatest of all Greek dramatists, introduced several important advances into Greek theater during the 5th century bc. His richly developed characters often exhibit tragic flaws that ironically support their unwelcome destinies. In Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King), Sophocles dramatized the famous story of Oedipus, the Greek mythological figure who killed his father, the king, and married his own mother. The blind prophet Teiresias speaks the words in this excerpt at the point in the play when he is asked to divine who has offended the gods by killing the former king (recited by an actor).

Tragic drama as we know it today is said to have been originated in the 6th century bc by Attic poet Thespis, who is credited with introducing spoken passages for an actor to complement the lyric utterances of the chorus. Athenian poet Aeschylus included the role of a second actor. His tragedies, numbering about 80, treat such lofty themes as the nature of divinity and the relations of human beings to the gods. Only seven of his tragedies are extant, including Prometheus Bound, the story of the punishment of Prometheus, one of the Titans, by the god Zeus; and the Oresteia, a trilogy portraying the murder of the Greek hero Agamemnon by his wife, her murder by their son, Orestes, and Orestes’ subsequent fate.
GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE
From The Eumenides
The Eumenides (458 bc) is the final play of the Oresteia, a dramatic trilogy by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus that covers the life of Orestes, son of the mythological King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. In the first play, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra and her lover murdered Agamemnon. In turn, Orestes murdered his mother in revenge and was relentlessly hounded by the Furies, three avenging goddesses. In the following excerpt from The Eumenides, Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom, hears arguments from both the Furies and Orestes as she presides over his arraignment.

The second great Greek tragedian was Sophocles. The meticulous construction of his plots and the manner in which his themes and characters aroused both pity and fear led Aristotle as well as other Greek critics to consider him the greatest writer of tragedy. These qualities are especially conspicuous in Oedipus Rex. Of the more than 120 plays that Sophocles wrote, only seven tragedies, a satyr play (a type of comedy), and more than 1000 fragments are extant. His special contribution to tragedy was the introduction of a third actor on the stage, an innovation that was adopted by his older contemporary Aeschylus.
GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE
From Oedipus Tyrannus
Oedipus Tyrannus, also known as Oedipus Rex, is one of seven tragedies by the Greek playwright Sophocles that have been preserved in complete form. Oedipus, having discovered that in the past he unwittingly killed his father and married his mother, has blinded himself. Staggering on stage, he speaks with the chorus of citizens from the city of Thebes and bemoans his tragic fate. In Greek drama, the chorus is a group of performers who typically act as a single body witnessing the dramatic action, occasionally interacting with the main characters and often providing commentary on the unfolding events.
Euripides, a younger contemporary of Sophocles, was the third great Greek playwright. He wrote about 92 plays, of which 18 tragedies (one of doubtful authorship) and one complete satyr play, The Cyclops, are extant. His works are considered more realistic than those of his predecessors, especially in the psychological insight of his characterizations. Because of this, some critics consider him the most modern of the Greek tragedy writers. His major works include Medea, about the revenge taken by the enchantress Medea on her husband, Jason; and Hippolytus, about Phaedra’s love for her stepson, Hippolytus, and his fate after rejecting her.
B. Comedy
GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE
Aristophanes: From The Frogs
Many of the comedies by the 5th-century-bc Greek playwright Aristophanes lampooned cultural icons and addressed tensions between the old and the new. In The Frogs (405 BC), Aristophanes conceived of an absurd contest in the underworld between the two tragic dramatists Aeschylus and Euripides. Dionysus, the Greek god of wine in whose honor dramatic festivals were held, refereed the contest. In the following excerpt, Aeschylus is portrayed as an ill-tempered and outdated traditionalist, while Euripides is presented as a glib, sophisticated modernist. Although the literary criticism in the play is primarily comical, it also offers invaluable insights into contemporary opinions about the reputations and writing styles of the prominent Greek tragedians.
One of the greatest comic poets was Aristophanes, whose first comedy, Daitaleis, now lost, was produced in 427 bc. Using dramatic satire, he ridiculed Euripides in The Frogs and Socrates in The Clouds. These works represent the genre known as Old Comedy.

Later Greek comedy is grouped into two divisions: Middle Comedy (400-336 bc) and New Comedy (336-250 bc). In Middle Comedy, exemplified by two later works of Aristophanes—Ecclesiazusae and Plutus, both written between 392 and 388 bc—personal and political satire is replaced by parody, ridicule of myths, and literary and philosophical criticism. The chief writers of Middle Comedy were Antiphanes of Athens and Alexis of Thurii, who were active in the 4th and early 3rd centuries bc; only fragments of their works are extant.

In New Comedy, satire is almost entirely replaced by social comedy involving family types, plot and character development, and the themes of romantic love. The chief writer of New Comedy was Menander. His comedies had a strong influence upon the Latin dramatists of the 3rd and 2nd centuries bc, notably Plautus and Terence. One complete play by Menander, The Curmudgeon, is extant, and extensive portions of other plays survive as well.