Greek Theater: Tragedy Essay

In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth portrays a person whose pride eventually takes them down. His pride is encouraged by his success in battle and by three witches who try to manipulate Macbeth by prophesizing that he will soon be king. Macbeth becomes so power-hungry as a result of the witches prophecy that he kills the current king Duncan for the throne, and kills his close friend Banquo and the family of Macduff in order to keep the throne after he becomes paranoid that he will be killed for his mistakes. Macbeth encompasses the elements of a Greek tragedy: hamartia, a fatal flaw, anagnorisis, a critical discovery made by the character, and catharsis, the realization and acceptance of the character’s fate. These elements are present throughout the play and bring to light the fact that an excessive amount of pride can lead to a person’s downfall.

When considering ancient Greek life, theater was massively important. This is apparent by the Theater of Dionysius’ placement in the city state of Athens, with its close proximity to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The Acropolis by definition meant the high point of the city state, and was on a plateau. Its raised status highlights its importance, thus radiating that importance onto nearby structures as well. Although the Greeks valued rational and reason, they also valued their emotional side as well. All plays were dedicated to the god of emotion – Dionysius. Much of what we know of the comedic aspects of Hellenic Greek theater productions comes from the plays of the playwright Aristophanes. Aristophanes’ plays express to the

In the preface to the play, the Holt McDougal Literature textbook characterises a tragic hero as the “main character who comes to an unhappy or miserable end, a person of importance in society, [and one who] exhibits extraordinary abilities but also has a tragic fall ... that leads directly to their downfall (p. 343).” Macbeth, fulfilling the defined criteria, is thus labeled a tragic hero. His importance in society is quickly apparent: not only does he have status as the Thane of Glamis, but he is revered for his honorable service in the war, and is rewarded with a second title: Thane of Cawdor. In Act II, Macbeth becomes the most important person in medieval Scotland when assuming the throne of king over the peoples. However, this rapid progression through the ranks comes at a great price: the morals and

Ancient Greek Theater is the first historical record of “drama,” which is the Greek term meaning “to do” or “to act.” Beginning in the 5th century BC, Greek Theater developed into an art that is still used today. During the golden age of the Athenians plays were created, plays that are considered among the greatest works of world drama. Today there are thousands of well-known plays and films based on the re-make of ancient drama.

Ancient Greek culture has influenced our modern culture in many ways from philosophy to medicine to government. We still use many of their concepts, technology, and even alphabet system. Without ancient Greece, our modern world would not have advanced as far. A significant contribution of the ancient Greek culture to the world today is the Greek theater, more specifically the structure of tragedy. Some contributions are the structure of tragedy in modern literature, rise of opera, and the creation of the theater.

In the ancient world of the Greeks the everyday sculptors and play writers were focused on sculpting and plays; they would never be able to fathom the effect that they would have on the future of the world. The philosophers of the time maybe had a glimpse of the possibility. The Greek art made a standard for the future. The Greeks created drama. Ancient Greek art and drama is the foundation for today’s art and theatre has influenced it in numerous methods.

Aristotle’s criteria for a tragedy involves three main subjects: values, characters, and a conclusion; William Shakespeare’s Macbeth incorporates these critical topics. The values are supernatural powers, which determine what is right and what is wrong. The character in a tragedy must be noble by birth and by action. In the conclusion, the character must understand why he or she fell, accept the punishment, and order must be restored. By including these, Macbeth fits Aristotle’s criteria for a tragedy.

Shakespeare bases his eponymous protagonist on the Aristotelian concept of the tragic hero and through his realistic characterisation of Macbeth portrays the issue of heroism. Macbeth's status in society as Thane of Glamis and according to King Duncan 'valiant cousin, worthy gentleman', all expressions of praise, positions Macbeth on the brink of possible downfall. Macbeth is a person of higher social

Shakespeare's play, “Othello, the Moor of Venice,” is a powerful example of a tragedy and it’s main character, Othello, is an excellent illustration of what Aristotle constitutes as a tragic hero. The play imitates life through basic human emotions such as jealousy and rage. In addition, Othello is far from being a perfect character - another quality that meets Aristotle's requirements. Othello also matches Aristotle's ideas of tragic hero because our Othello realizes the error of his ways, causing us to feel sympathy for him. If we carefully examine the third scene in the third act, we can see how Othello fits into Aristotle's definition of tragic hero. This passage reveals how much Othello has deteriorated as far as his ability to reason

It takes both the audience’s pity and fear to make a tragic and heroic character become a tragic hero. Macbeth earns both. The audience can fear Macbeth because they know that he is capable of murder. He lacks the ability to stand up to Lady Macbeth when he knows something is not morally right and that is frightening, but even after all the pain and suffering of other characters the audience

Greek theatre and medieval drama were both very popular artistic events in their own periods of performance. However, from ancient Greece to the renaissance, time has set them apart in terms of methodology; their practitioners use a creative process based off of different mindsets. Therefore, the significant time lapse between the two genres has had an evident impact on the way theatre was perceived and presented. In comparing aspects such as religious motivations, conditions of violence and character development, the distinct theatrical natures of Greek theatre and medieval drama will be made apparent.

     "The arts of the western world have been largely dominated by the artistic standards established by the Greeks of the classical period" (Spreloosel 86). It is from the Greek word theatron, meaning a place for sitting, that we get our word theater. According to James Butler, "The Greeks were the first people to erect special structures to bring audiences and theatrical performers together" (27). "The theaters were normally located near a populated area at the bottom of or cut out of a carefully selected, sloping hillside overlooking a seascape, a plain, or a city" (Butler 30). "They eventually with few exceptions consisted of three distinct parts: theatron

Macbeth’s major flaws are his ambition and impressionability. Due to their flaws, a Tragic Hero’s actions are often atrocious and cause them to battle with their conscience after their desires have been accomplished. These battles with their conscience evoke empathy from the audience. A Shakespearean Tragic Hero will always lose their life in the end of the play as a result of re-establishment of what is good in the play. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the title

The advent of modern theater as we know it today began with the worship of Dionysus: the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theater and religious ecstasy in Greek mythology and a weeklong competition that welcomed the Spring in ancient Greece. Many great playwrights were introduced to the World by the means of this weeklong competition including Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Sophocles is perhaps one of the pioneers of the genre of tragedy and his plays Oedipus Rex, Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus have for centuries inspired contemporary playwrights and theater artists to venture deeper into the understanding of the complex idea of the individual versus fate. In this essay I intend to examine Aristotle’s Poetics and the five principles

Tragedy as a form works differently than modern drama when compared to the ancient Greeks. When it comes to modern drama, the main character is usually an ordinary person, someone who is middle class. Where as with Greek tragedy, the main character is someone important and noble, such as a king or queen. Modern drama revolves around everyday problems such as social, economical, or personal conflicts. Greek Tragedies seem to be very linear. It’s mostly about the hero making a bad decision from the beginning of the play, which leads to his or her downfall in the end. Although, they were of higher ranking, ancient Greek’s beliefs made the main character powerless to avoid their fate, which was controlled by the gods. As far as conventions go, Greek Tragedies are very unified. The tragedy of the royal protagonist will go through only one time span, a day or less, one setting, and one story. In a modern tragedy, however, the ordinary protagonist’s story goes through multiple realistic settings and a realistic time line. Also, the story would contain multiple plots, which may contain flashbacks.