Antigone Background Notes Part I: Greek Drama: Out of Ritual Dionysian Celebrations ● Greek drama grew out of religious rituals honoring Dionysos ● She was the Greek goddess of wine and fertility ● By the 5th century B.C. the tradition had become a large outdoor festival ● The plays were divided into three categories: ○ Tragedies ○ Comedies ○ Satyrs The Ancient Theater of Dionysos Features of the Ancient Theater ● All of the actors were male. ● The Chorus, which chanted or sung its lines, was made up of young boys. ● The actors could play multiple roles by switching masks. ● The masks had special mouthpieces that amplified the actors’ voices. Antigone Background Notes Part II: Vocabulary So what is a tragic hero anyway? Tragedy When a character (usually a good and noble person of ■ high rank) is brought to a disastrous end in his or her confrontation with a superior force (fortune, the gods, social forces, universal values), but also comes to understand the meaning of his or her deeds and to accept an appropriate punishment (The Norton th Introduction to Literature, 7 ed). The Tragic Hero: According to Aristotle Usually of noble birth - rich and famous 1. Hamartia – the tragic flaw that eventually leads to his 2. downfall- a character flaw Peripeteia – a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero’s 3. tragic flaw- the hero loses everything The tragic hero must have an understanding of what they 4. have at the end Catharsis: audience must feel pity and fear for this character. 5. Other Terms: Hubris: excessive pride (can be a tragic flaw) Foil characters: two characters that highlight or emphasize opposite characteristics in each other Antigone Background Notes Part III The House of Thebes Oedipus ● A king of the ancient Greek city Thebes ● Famous for unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother ● Has his own play Oedipus Rex Note: We will read his story, but not the play.