Between myth and plot: necessary mediations in Sophoclean tragedy (original) (raw)
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Judith Owen 2006 Book review Josh Beer Sophocles and the tragedy
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2006/2006.03.42/, 2006
This book is part of a series that presents the 'cultural and political context' (p. vii) of selected highpoints of Western drama, and the series is 'primarily aimed at students of the theatre' (p. xii). With this as his brief, Beer (B.) has chosen Sophocles as the classical playwright around which to structure his discussion of the wider context of fifth-century Greek tragedy. And in this he succeeds admirably. His introductory chapters form a comprehensive but readable account of the various components of the production of Greek tragedy and its political, religious etc. context. Although this information can be found in other introductions to Greek tragedy, its comprehensiveness is an advantage for those 'students of the theatre' who may not been aware of the other available introductions. After the three introductory chapters, B. has a chapter per play, in which he summarises the action and shows how the contemporary socio-political context resonates within it. B. achieves what he sets out to do: the book provides a good account of the political context of Sophocles' plays pitched at a level suited to undergraduates.
Le présent article cherche à établir les influences possibles sur la théorie aristotélicienne de la tragédie. Les études érudites des influences textuelles en poétique ont jusqu’ici essayé de mettre en lumière ce que les théories post-aristotéliciennes de l’art doivent à l’Art Poétique d’Aristote, comment elles s’en écartent ou lui résistent. Cependant, la question de savoir à qui/quoi la théorie d’Aristote pourrait être redevable est restée marginale jusqu’à ce jour. Ce travail tente de combler ce vide épistémologique et heuristique. Il soutient que, comme Aristote a écrit son ouvrage au moins deux siècles après l’institutionnalisation de la tragédie en Grèce, sa théorie formaliste doit avoir été influencée par la pratique des plus grands poètes tragiques de l’âge d’or de la tragédie classique grecque. Pour étayer cette opinion, l’article essaye de dépister et d’illustrer les principes aristotéliciens de la construction dramatique dans Œdipe Roi de Sophocle, une tragédie qui est ici considérée comme l’une des influences majeures probables sur l’Art Poétique d’Aristote.
Women in Greek Tragedy Today: A Reappraisal
Theatre Research International, 2007
Reacting to the concerns expressed by Sue-Ellen Case and others that Greek tragedies were written by men and for men in a patriarchal society, and that the plays are misogynistic and should be ignored by feminists, this article considers how female directors and writers have continued to exploit characters such as Antigone, Medea, Clytemnestra and Electra to make a powerful statement about contemporary society.
Acting Tragedy in Twentieth-Century Greece: The Case of Electra by Sophocles
2011
This thesis discusses the acting techniques employed by actors for tragedy on the Greek stage during the twentieth century. It argues that there were two main acting schools-'school' here meaning an established unified style of acting shared by a group of actors and directors. The first, starting with the 1936 production of Electra by Sophocles directed by Dimitris Rontiris's at the National Theatre of Greece and running through roughly to the late 1970s, developed from a vocal/rhetorical/text-based approach. The second, established by Karolos Koun's Theatro Technis in 1942 and which can be said to have ended with his death in 1987, was based on a bodily/physical one. The thesis examines the ways in which these two schools combined and influenced acting, creating new tendencies in the last three decades of the twentieth century. The focus here is on tragedy because this genre is presented on the Greek stage regularly, and, therefore, it is an eloquent example of the evolution of acting in Greece. Sophocles's Electra has been chosen as a case study not only because the play was frequently staged throughout the twentieth century, but primarily because it was acted and directed by important actors and directors who occupied quite different positions within the Greek theatre field. Thus it is a play that provides the most potent example of the development of the acting schools in question. This thesis is an empirical study using Greek actors and directors as its primary source. In giving them a strong voice, it follows their creative process and their perception of their roles and productions. At the same time, it provides a historical context for understanding the conditions of Greek theatre life and their impact on Greek actors and their work.
Can a Woman Speak … or The Voices of the “Other” in Greek Tragedy
The production and performance of Greek tragedies in the fifth-century Athens was a male enterprise as theatre along with other social and political institutions remained an “exclusive ritual” where its “celebrants were all male.” Greek tragedies were preoccupied with masculine dilemmas of identity, while women excluded from the social and political arenas take a marginal place, being less differentiated as individuals than men. Not only women were denied property, education and vote rights but their speech and actions were limited so that a man was allowed ‘to speak’ for a woman in public. There were no “women’s voices to be heard in the theatre of Dionysus” (Griffith 117), despite the fact that a number of roles in the tragedies were female. In impersonating women, male actors used any means (gestures, steps, costumes) other than relying on female voice and language. The Athenian society shaped the identity, behavior and verbal expression of women different from men. Words appropriate for men’s speech would be improper and outrageous for a woman. Female speeches in tragedy include laments of grief, loss of the family or a beloved, prayer to gods for help. One of the symbols of female virtue along with chastity, obedience and modesty included silence, as the “highest prestige (doxa) a woman can earn is not to be mentioned in public” (Bouvrie 54). Women become the force of disruption and challenge of moral and cultural values in Greek tragedies. Those women who have access to language and take actions outside oikos “represent the greatest and most puzzling deviation from the cultural norm” (Foley 4). The goal of this paper is to examine how by means of language women ‘voice’ and fulfill the moral and social agency in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Sophocles’ Antigone and Electra, and Euripides’ Medea and Hecuba.
The Fourth National Conference on English Studies and Linguistics, 2018
The word 'fate' has been one of the oldest concepts dominating the minds of all philosophers and thinkers with different interpretations. Given that ancient Greece played a leading role as a center of art and philosophy, the meaning of fate became an undetectable part in people's belief. This article follows a descriptive and analytical method and in the beginning takes a look at the philosophers' idea about fate. Afterwards, the meaning of fate in tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles is surveyed. At last, the trilogies of these two playwrights as well as the characteristics of Gods and heroes in their tragedies are addressed. The basic goal of this essay is to identify the source of God's will in the mentioned tragedies. Although in ancient Greece ideology, Gods are the ruler of universe who dominate human being and his life, tragedy is a ground of conflicts of wills (from God's side or hero's side) revealing actions and reactions in the field of fate believed to be a mysterious and powerful force controlling even Gods.
Review of Sophocles & the Greek Tragic Tradition (CR 2011)
The Classical Review / Volume 61 / Issue 01 / April 2011, pp 36 - 39
Sophocles (S.) Goldhill, (E.) Hall (edd.) Sophocles and the Greek Tragic Tradition. Pp. xvi + 336, ills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Cased, £55, US\$99. ISBN: 978-0-521-88785-4.