Learning to read ancient tragedy: why is Greek tragedy so difficult for us to read?

§ difficulty of language:

• high poetry, indeed (in part) song: the language is densely textured
• highly allusive: many references to classical myths, strange Greek customs
  
  
§ difficulty of the different stage conventions


• formal, stylized, not much action
• lots of talk, not much interaction
• examples: opening speeches of the Oedipus Rex
• the messenger 's speech, a set piece where the messenger tells at length what happened offstage (we'll become very familiar with this!)
  
  
§ difficulty in imagining the performance


• Athens as a performance culture
• Pnyx: the public assembly
• Areopagus: the lawcourts
• festivals
• symposium
• open air
• 15,000 spectators

 

[Class notes:

§ we will be looking at the beginnings of western drama from a variety of perspectives, including

• literary (what do the plays mean?)
• socio-historical (what is specificly ancient and Athenian about this art form?)
• essentialist (why do we like to watch dramas full of pain and suffering?)
• performative (what makes this good theater)?

§ films (good & bad: can both be helpful) to help us with:

• performance
• socio-historical reconstruction
• modern appropriations of ancient tragedy
• film versus stage (film qua film, stage qua stage)
• nature of tragedy: audience reactions to tragedy]