I have written before about the three major Greek Tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Aeschylus and Sophocles both fought in Greek battles; Sophocles and Euripides were both child dancers at festivals. But what they really all had in common was Greek tragedy and theatre. A blog by Special Collections Information Assistant Anne Marie McHarg.
Plate of Agamemnon Scene 4 showing Clytemnestra with Agamemnon's body from Compositions from the tragedies of Æschylus / designed by John Flaxman; engraved by Thomas Piroli (1795) [Ref. ND497.F41 FLA]
Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from ancient Greece which reached its height in 5th century BC. These works are sometimes called Attic tragedy after the area they originate from.
Aristotle was the Father of Theatre, and it was from his writing that tragedy evolved from the satyr dithyramb, an ancient Greek hymn which was sung along with dancing in honour of Dionysus. This term meant “song of the goats”, referring to the chorus of satyrs.
Tragic plots were mostly based on myths and legends from the oral traditions of the epics which were passed down through the centuries. It was actors like Thespis who brought the plays to life, he was the first person to represent a character in a play rather than speaking as himself. This took place in 534BC and according to Aristotle, he was the first to win a dramatic contest. The word thespians for a group of actors derives from his name.
Aristotle writes in his Poetics that tragedy was an “improvisation” by those who led off the dithyramb. It was usually short and felt something of a parody because it contained elements of the satyr play. Over time the language became more sombre, and the meter changed from trochaic tetrameter to the more straightforward iambic trimeter.
It was Aeschylus who laid down the basic rules of the genre of tragic drama. He also invented the trilogy, a series of three tragedies that told one continuous story, and introduced a second actor, making the play more dramatic with conflict and high tension played out. One such trilogy was the Oresteia, consisting of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides. These plays took a full day to perform, from sunrise to sunset. At the end of the day a satyr play would be performed giving the audience something light-hearted to lift their spirits after the depressing events in the tragedy.
Over the years, we can see the evolution of the recognised elements of tragic drama: dialogue, contrasts and theatrical effects, and the development of younger playwrights who brought their own dramatic complexity to the plays. Aeschylus remained faithful to depicting strict morality and intense religiosity, while musically tied to the nomoi, the rhythmic and melodic structures developed in the archaic period.
Sophocles was the second tragic playwright to make his mark. He introduced a third actor, increased the complexity of the plot, and developed a range of characters with whom the audience could identify. In Plutarch’s Life of Cimon, he tells the story of the young, talented Sophocles triumphing against the famous and unchallenged Aeschylus. As well as adding a third actor he increased the number of chorus members to fifteen and introduced scenery and the use of scenes.
Although Sophocles added more members to the chorus it became less important in explaining the plot and far greater emphasis placed on character development and conflict. In Oedipus at Colonus, the chorus repeatedly sings “not to be born is best.” The events that engulf the play’s hero are not explained or rationalised at all and we can see Sophocles starting to reflect on the pain of the human condition.
The third tragic writer was Euripides. His plays were different from Aeschylus and Sophocles’ in three major ways. Firstly, he turned the prologue into a monologue telling the audience the background story. Secondly introduced the Deus ex Machina and slowly the choir’s presence begun to lose its status and was later dropped. Thirdly, Euripides’ dramas represented the realism with which the playwright portrays his characters. The hero in his tragedies is no longer the resolute character that Aeschylus and Sophocles portray in their plays, but someone with insecurities and troubled by internal conflict.
Unlike Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides uses female protagonists as the heroine of some of his plays. The three main females are Andromache, Phaedra and Medea. They show the tormented sensitivity and irrational impulses that collide with the world of reason.
Compositions from the tragedies of Æschylus / designed by John Flaxman; engraved by Thomas Piroli.
Aischylou Tragōdiai 7 : Prometheus desmotes, Hepta epi Thebais, Persai, Agamemnon, Choephoroi, Eumenides, Iketides. Scholia eis tas autas tragodias. = Aeschyli Tragoediae VII. Quæ cùm omnes multo quàm antea castigatiores eduntur, tum verò vna, quæ mutila & decurtata prius erat, integra nunc profertur. Scholia in easdem ... / Petri Victorii cura et diligentia
Sophoclis Tragœdiæ septem : cum versione Latina, notis, et deperditorum dramatum fragmentis
The Hecuba of Euripides : From the Text and with a translation of the Notes, Preface, and Supplement of Porson ; Critical and Explanatory Remarks, Original and Selected ; Illustrations of Idioms from Matthlae, Dawes, Viger, Hermann, etc. : A Synopsis of Metrical Systems / Examination Questions, and Copious Indexes by the Rev. J.R. Major
Plays by Sir John Vanbrugh (two volumes) including translations of Euripides into English
Plays by Thomas Middleton including translations of Euripides into English
A blog by Special Collections' librarian Anne-Marie Mcharg.