Ancient Greek Theatre Essay

In this essay I’m going to be writing about Ancient Greek Theatre the origins of it and how effects the modern world Theatre. The question I’m going to answer in this essay is how did Greek Theatre represent Greek culture? I’m going to use a variety of sources in this essay to provide historic information about Ancient Greek Theatre. I’m also going to look into the culture’s practices of citizenship, philosophies, gender, faiths, or origin myths. To begin with I’m going to start with the origins of how theatre started. Western Theatre was born in Ancient Greece in between 600 and 200 BC. Ancient Greek Theatre was a mixture of myths, philosophies, social commentary, dance, music and etc. But it begins as a religious ceremony. 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. Athenians plays fo cused on the God Dionysus, which was a God of many things including fertility, agriculture, and sexuality. Athenians plays were legendary and were known to be the greatest works of world drama. The Athenians created the world of tragedy’s in plays which is a common concept in plays in the modern day world. Tragedy derived from the word tragos which meant goat and ode which means songs it was meant to teach religious lessons. Tragedies were viewed as ritual purifications. It dictated how people should behave and it also inquired free thought, in Athens it brought radical ideas of democracy, philosophy, mathematics and arts. It boasted philosophers like Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Democritus. The traditional tragedy in Aeschylus’ time (circa 475 BC) consisted of the following parts the prologue which described the situation and the set, and then there was parados an ode song that the chorus would sing when they made their entrance. Then there were the five dramatic scenes and lastly the exodus which is the climax and the conclusion. Around 484 BC there was a new playwright named Aeschylus which turned the dithyramb into drama. Aeschylus most prevalent work was The Oresteia. Aeschylus makes a point that has been used by Historians, Dramatists, Psychologists and Crime Writers; that the root of evil and suffering is usually human arrogance. In 468 BC Aeschylus was defeated and then there competition was Sophocles. Sophocles contributed the addition of a third actor and an emphasis on drama between humans rather than between humans and gods. Sophocles’ plays are about the folly of arrogance and the wisdom of accepting fate. Sophocles believed in the Greek gods, but his plays are covered with existential insights that have been pronounced many times since. Euripides was popularity surpassed Sophocles and Aeschylus. His plays were about real people he placed peasants alongside princes and gave their emotions equal weight. Tragedy’s wasn’t the only theatre in Athens there was also Comedy. Greek Comedy’s had two periods which was Old Comedy and New Comedy. In the comedies they used three actors a chorus who sang, danced and sometimes participated in the dialogue. The New Comedy was more aimed at the common people than the religious lessons. Menander was the creator of most of the popular comedy playwrights in that era. His characters wore classic models and the style he used created in emphasis on mistaken identity, romance and situational humor became the model for succeeding comedy, from the Romans to Shakespeare to Broadway. There were rules that they had to follow in theatre which was called the three unities. The three unities were time, place and action. The unity of time limits the duration of an action roughly, of a single day. The unit of place makes sure all actions were located in one place. The unit of subject represents every aspect of a play and how it relates to one topic. One must remember that Aristotle was providing these ground rules during the fourth century B.C.E. At the time, plays were performed outdoors and the use of multiple settings would be expensive and complicated to produce. The audience would likely get confused in the process of changing sets and props. Greek theatre had a major impact on the modern world because tragedies are used in most of the plays in the modern world. For example, The Death of a Salesman’s is a tragedy because the dad ends up dying at the end of the play. Tragedy’s gives modern day plays their edge; they are called dramas in the modern world. The definition of a Drama is A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and ac tion. This describes what the Greeks believed tragedy’s was. Then they helped the modern theatre world evolve into a greater aspect of life. The Greeks had men playing all the roles in the plays and had chorus was used to tell the stories and maintain a since of ceremony and ritual. It established the mood though rhythmic chanting and dancing. It connected the artist by making responses and asking questions. In modern theatre we used dancing and chanting and chorus for our musical plays and for the regular plays we use music to connect the audience with the mood of the play. Also instead of a chorus to narrate the play we just use a regular person to narrate the play. The answer to the question how did Greek Theatre represent Greek culture? Is Greek Theatre showed how the Athens was very religious and they used the tragedies of theatre to tell people how to ask and also give people a voice. Greek Theatre playwrights represented how the society behaved in that era. They used religious traditions as a main part of the plays which slowly disappeared later on the era and culture transformed into playwrights that dealt with common people instead of Gods and how you should worship them. Greek theatre was greatly influential in the modern world and the plays are still used today. Bibliography 1. Ceehorn, Ashley. What Are the Three Unities in Greek Theater? Read more: What Are the Three Unities in Greek Theater? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8187974_three-unities-greek-theater.html#ixzz1bh3UB4gq. N.p.: eHow Contributor, 2011. 2. Http://anarchon.tripod.com/indexGREEKTH.html. 2004. 3. Girard, Phyllis M. Greek Theatre: A Reflection of Ancient Greek Society (A Program Alternative for High School Gifted Students). Programs for Gifted Students. N.p.: Guides – Classroom – Teacher, 1978. 4. Phillips, K. Ancient Greek Theatre. 2000.