Antigone: Origins of Greek Tragedy

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2 HOW TO BEST USE THIS RESOURCE We appreciate your purchase of this TOP Writing Academy product. Use the guidelines below to maximize the effectiveness of this resource in the classroom. INCLUDED WITH THIS PACKET Terms of Use CCSS Alignment Informative Articles Student Note Sheets TEACHER S GUIDE Suggested Instructional Ideas Carousel Activity: Divide into groups. Give each group a large piece of butcher paper. Give each group one of the 4 articles. Have them read the article, take notes on the note sheet, and then recreate their notes on the butcher paper. Display the butcher paper posters around the room, and have the students wander the room to complete their note sheets from the posters. Student Homework: Assign the articles and note sheets as a homework assignment Student Classwork: Have the students work alone or in pairs to complete the note sheets. Read the articles aloud to the class and stop to discuss important elements and have students complete the note sheets. Contact us at topwritingacademy@gmail.com with any questions you may have. Again, thank you for your interest in our store and for respecting these terms 2

3 Terms of Use We appreciate your purchase of this TOP Writing Academy product. Please read the following information before distributing these materials to your students or peers. Purchase of this digital product includes a single-teacher, one classroom license. Photocopying these resources is permitted to the one teacher that purchased this individual license, and for their independent classroom use. Reproduction of the entire or part of these resources for sharing with other educational professionals, departments, school systems/districts, tutors, homeschooling, or profit and commercial sale is strictly prohibited. Multiple licenses can be purchased for a discount through the original purchasers TPT account. This entire product or any portion of the product may not be distributed, posted, stored, displayed, or shared electronically, digitally, or other in any other medium, without documented permission from TOP Writing Academy. Contact us at topwritingacademy@gmail.com with any questions you may have. Again, thank you for your interest in our store and for respecting these terms 3

CCSS Standards Alignment R Recognize purpose, tone, point of view E Evaluate evidence and support A Analyze use of rhetoric D Develop questions and judgments CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.

4 CCSS Standards Alignment R Recognize purpose, tone, point of view E Evaluate evidence and support A Analyze use of rhetoric D Develop questions and judgments CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington's Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech, King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail"), including how they address related themes and concepts. 4

5 The Origins of Drama Twenty-five hundred years ago, two thousand years before Shakespeare, Western theatre was born in Athens, Greece. Between 600 and 200 BC, the ancient Athenians created a theatre culture whose form, technique and terminology have lasted two millennia, and they created plays that are still considered among the greatest works of world drama. Their achievement is truly remarkable when one considers that there have been only two other periods in the history of theatre that could be said to approach the greatness of ancient Athens - Elizabethan England and, perhaps the Twentieth Century. The greatest playwright of Elizabethan England was Shakespeare, but Athens produced at least five equally great playwrights. The Twentieth Century produced thousands of fine plays and films, but their form and often their content are based on the innovations of the ancient Athenians. The Cult of Dionysus The theatre of Ancient Greece evolved from religious rites which date back to at least 1200 BC. At that time, Greece was peopled by tribes that we in our arrogance might label 'primitive'. In northern Greece, in an area called Thrace, a cult arose that worshipped Dionysus, the god of fertility and procreation. This Cult of Dionysus, which probably originated in Asia Minor, practiced ritual celebrations which may have included alcoholic intoxication, orgies, human and animal sacrifices, and perhaps even hysterical rampages by women called maenads. The cult's most controversial practice involved, it is believed, uninhibited dancing and emotional displays that created an altered mental state. This altered state was known as 'ecstasis', from which the word ecstasy is derived. Dionysiac, hysteria and 'catharsis' also derive from Greek words for emotional release or purification. Ecstasy was an important religious concept to the Greeks, who would come to see theatre as a way of releasing powerful emotions through its ritual power. Though it met with resistance, the cult spread south through the tribes of Greece over the ensuing six centuries. During this time, the rites of Dionysus became mainstream and more formalized and symbolic. The death of a tragic hero was offered up to god and man rather than the sacrifice of say, a goat. By 600 BC these ceremonies were practiced in spring throughout much of Greece. The Dithyramb An essential part of the rites of Dionysus was the dithyramb. The word means 'choric hymn'. This chant or hymn was probably introduced into Greece early accompanied by mimic gestures and, probably, music. It began as a part of a purely religious ceremony, like a hymn in the middle of a mass describing the adventures of Dionysus. In its earliest form it was lead off by the leader of a band of revelers, a group of dancers, probably dressed as satyrs dancing around an altar. It was probably performed by a chorus of about fifty men dressed as satyrs -- mythological halfhuman, half- goat servants of Dionysus. They may have played drums, lyres and flutes, and chanted as they danced around an effigy of Dionysus. Some accounts say they also wore phallus-like headgear. It was given a regular form and raised to the rank of artistic poetry in about 600 BC. Introduced into Athens shortly before 500 BC, dithyramb was soon recognised as one of the competitive subjects at the various Athenian festivals. For more than a generation after its introduction the dithyramb attracted the most famous poets of the day. By this time, however, it had ceased to concern itself exclusively with the adventures of Dionysus and begun to choose its subjects from all periods of Greek mythology. In this way, over time the dithyramb would evolve into stories in 'play' form: drama.

6 THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREEK THEATRE By 600 BC Greece was divided into city-states, separate nations centred in major cities and regions. The most prominent city-state was Athens, where at least 150,000 people lived. It was here that the Rites of Dionysus evolved into what we know today as theatre. Since Athens was located in a region called Attica. Greek and Athenian theatre are sometimes referred to as Attic Theatre. Thespis In about 600 BC, Arion of Mehtymna (Corinth) wrote down formal lyrics for the dithyramb. Some time during the next 75 years, Thespis of Attica added an actor who interacted with the chorus. This actor was called the protagonist, from which the modern word protagonist is derived, meaning the main character of a drama. Introduce a second speaker and one moves from one art, that of choric chant, to another, theatre. Tradition ascribes this innovation to one Thespis, and even gives him a date; he is said to have performed Athens about 534 BC. Whether this is true of not, his name has achieved immortality in theatrical jargon - 'actors' and 'Thespians' are synonymous. Athenian Drama Competitions In 534 BC, the ruler of Athens, Pisistratus, changed the Dionysian Festivals and instituted drama competitions. Thespis is said to have won the first competition in 534 BC. In the ensuing 50 years, the competitions became popular annual events. A government authority called the archon would choose the competitors and the choregos, wealthy patrons who financed the productions. Even in ancient Greece, the funding of the arts was a way of tax avoidance. In return for funding a production, the choregos would pay no taxes that year. Amphitheatres During this time, major theatres were constructed, notably the theatre at Delphi, the Attic Theatre and the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens. The Theatre of Dionysus, built at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, could seat 17,000 people. During their heyday, the competitions drew as many as 30,000 spectators. The words theatre and amphitheatre derive from the Greek word theatron, which referred to the wooden spectator stands erected on those hillsides. Similarly, the word orchestra is derived from the Greek word for a platform between the raised stage and the audience on which the chorus was situated. How Plays Were Performed Plays were performed in the daytime. The annual drama competitions in Athens were spread over several, entire days. Actors probably wore little or no makeup. Instead, they carried masks with exaggerated facial expressions. They also wore cothornos, or buskins, which were leather boots laced up to the knees. There was little or no scenery. Initially, most of the action took place in the orchestra. Later, as the importance shifted from the chorus to the characters, the action moved to the stage.

7 TRAGEDY Between 600 and 500 BC, the dithyramb had evolved into new forms, most notably the tragedy and the satyr play. Tragedy, derived from the Greek words tragos (goat) and ode (song), told a story that was intended to teach religious lessons. Much like Biblical parables, tragedies were designed to show the right and wrong paths in life. Tragedies were not simply plays with bad endings, nor were they simply spectacles devised to make 'em laugh and make 'em cry. Tragedy was viewed as a form of ritual purification, Aristotle's catharsis, which gives rise to pathos, another Greek word, meaning 'instructive suffering'. They depicted the life voyages of people who steered themselves or who were steered by fate on collision courses with society, life's rules, orsimply fate. The tragic hero or protagonist is typically a character of noble birth or high standing in their society. The tragic hero or protagonist is one who refuses out of either weakness or pride to submit to or accept fate: what for us now might better be described as the objective realities of life. Most often, the protagonist's main fault (hamartia Greek for tragic flaw) is hubris, a Greek, and English word meaning false or overweening arrogance or pride. It could be the arrogance of not accepting ones destiny (i.e. as in Oedipus Rex), the arrogance of assuming the right to kill (Agamemnon), or the arrogance of assuming the right to seek vengeance (Orestes). Whatever the root cause, the protagonist's ultimate collision with fate, reality, or society is inevitable and irrevocable. This leads to a reversal or catastrophe where the hero suffers a downfall from his high standing and envied position. As the tragedy comes to an end, there is recognition where the hero realizes that his own flaw or error has caused their downfall. This recognition always occurs to late not allowing the hero to escape the consequences of their actions. The Culture That Created Tragedy Tragedy did not develop in a vacuum. It was an outgrowth of what was happening at the time in Athens. One hand, Greek religion (see Bullfinch's Mythology. It is in library) had dictated how people should behave and think for centuries. On the other, there was a birth of free thought and intellectual inquiry. Athens in the fourth and fifth centuries BC was bustling with radical ideas like democracy, philosophy, mathematics, science and art. In these respects -- a blossoming of free thought after years of religious dictatorship -- ancient Athens resembled Renaissance England, which not coincidentally spawned the next great era in theatre. In essence, the ancient Athenians had begun to question how nature worked, how society should work, and what man's role was in the scheme of things. Tragedy was the poets' answer to some of these questions -- How should one behave? How can one accept the injustices of life? What is the price of hubris? Read a soliloquy from a Greek tragedy, or from Hamlet or Macbeth, and what you will hear is these questions being asked. The Form of Tragedy The traditional tragedy in Aeschylus' time (circa 475 BC) consisted of the following parts: 1. Prologue, which described the situation and set the scene 2. Parados, an ode sung by the chorus as it made its entrance 3. Five dramatic scenes, each followed by a Komos, an exchange of laments by the chorus and the protagonist 4. Exodus, the climax and conclusion

8 Aeschylus, the First Playwright Until 484 BC the Athenian drama competitions consisted of a trilogy of dithyrambs and a satyr play. Their style of presentation was choral rather than dramatic. However, around 484 BC there appeared on the Athenian theatre scene a playwright named Aeschylus. Aeschylus turned the dithyramb into drama. He added a second actor (the antagonist) to interact with the first. Heintroduced props and scenery and reduced the chorus from 50 to 12. Aeschylus' Persians, written in 472 BC, is the earliest play in existence. Aeschylus' crowning work was The Oresteia, a trilogy of tragedies first performed in 458 BC. They tell the legend of Agamemnon, the Greek war hero who was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra, and the pursuit of justice by his children, Orestes and Electra. Thematically, the trilogy is about the tragedy of excessive human pride, arrogance or hubris. The Periclean Age Aeschylus' death in 456 BC coincided with the beginning of the Periclean Age, a period during which Athens' population grew to 150,000, its government embraced democracy (although twothirds of its population were slaves), and the arts flourished. In a span of 60 years, Thucydides and Herodotus wrote their histories, the sophists, Socrates and Plato expounded their philosophies, and Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes wrote some of the world's best plays. Sophocles In 468 BC, Aeschylus was defeated in the tragedy competition by Sophocles. Sophocles' contribution to drama was the addition of a third actor and an emphasis on drama between humans rather than between humans and gods. Sophocles was a fine craftsman. Aristotle used Sophocles' play, Oedipus Rex for his classic analysis of drama, The Poetics. Sophocles' plays are suffused with irony. In The Oedipus Trilogy, Oedipus seeks the truth about his father's murder. The truth that awaits him, however, is that he is the murderer. Sophocles' plays are about the folly of arrogance and the wisdom of accepting fate. Sophocles believed in the Greek gods, but his plays are suffused with existential insights that have been voiced many times since. Euripides Although far behind Sophocles in the medal count with a mere five, Euripides has since eclipsed both Sophocles and Aeschylus in popularity. The modern attraction to him stems largely from his point of view, which finds a strong echo in modern attitudes. His plays were not about Gods or royalty but real people. He placed peasants alongside princes and gave their feelings equal weight. He showed the reality of war, criticised religion, and portrayed the forgotten of society: women, slaves, and the old. Euripides is credited with adding to the dramatic form the prologue, which "set the stage" at the beginning of the play, and the deus ex machina (god in the machine), which wrapped up loose ends at the close. There is instead a poignant realism, such as in this scene from the anti-war Trojan Women, in which a grandmother grieves over the daughter and grandson she has outlived. During his life, Euripides was viewed as a heretic and was often lampooned in Aristophanes' comedies. Extremely cynical of human nature, he became a bookish recluse and died in 406 BC, two years before Sophocles.

Note Sheet Use the information sheets to fill in the worksheet below. The Cult of Dionysus. Who was Dionysus? What was the role of Ritual Celebrations? What is Ecstasis and its role?

9 Note Sheet Use the information sheets to fill in the worksheet below. The Cult of Dionysus. Who was Dionysus? What was the role of Ritual Celebrations? What is Ecstasis and its role? What is Catharsis and its role? Describe the Dithyramb as ceremony? Describe the Dithyramb as competition? Golden Age of Greek Theatre What were the contributions of Thespis? Describe the purpose of costume, props, masks.

Didactic/Moral Explain Hubris Explain Reversal (Peripeteia): Explain Recognition (Anagnorisis): The purpose of the Prologue/Parodos: The purpose of 5

10 Note Sheet Use the information sheets to fill in the worksheet below. Elements of Tragedy and the Tragic Hero Explain Tragos: The Tragic Hero s birth/circumstances Explain Pathos Explain Hamartia: Explain Tragedy as Didactic/Moral Explain Hubris Explain Reversal (Peripeteia): Explain Recognition (Anagnorisis): The purpose of the Prologue/Parodos: The purpose of 5 scenes and the Exodus Aeschylus Influence Dythyramb: Major Influences (Shakers and Movers) Antagonist Props Scenery and Chorus His Major Work Sophocles Influence Oedipus Trilogy Use of Irony: Euripides Influence: Realism and Real People Deus Ex Machina

Introduction to Greek Drama. Honors English 10 Mrs. Paine

Introduction to Greek Drama. Honors English 10 Mrs. Paine Introduction to Greek Drama Honors English 10 Mrs. Paine Origin of Drama Drama was developed by the ancient Greeks during celebrations honoring Dionysus. Dionysus is the god of the vine, which produces