Greek Tragedy

Definition and Nature

"Tragedy, then, is a process of imitating an
action
(mimesis)
which
has
serious
implications, is complete, and possesses
magnitude; by means of language which has
been made sensuously attractive, with each of
its varieties found separately in the parts;
enacted by the persons themselves and not
presented through narrative; through a course of
pity and fear completing the purification
(catharsis, sometimes translated "purgation") of such emotions." Aristotle
(384-322 BC), Poetics1
The performance of stories was intended to move audiences to new levels of
understanding. When the bard uses the emotional and dramatic power of mimesis
to recreate mythological events, the audience is able to experience these emotions
themselves without actually suffering the consequences. In this way, they undergo
a form of emotional purging through tears, laughter, and new insights. 2
According to Aristotle, tragedy has the power to lift an audience to heights of
intense pleasure. Audiences as large as 30,000 would gather in performances as a
means of celebrating the most profound religious and civic beliefs held by citizens.
Tragedy back then was combined acting, poetry, music, and dance. 3
Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some
combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's powerful wish
to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty
(flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or
nature. Aristotle says that the tragic hero should have a flaw and/or make some
mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but he / she must undergo a
change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or
recognition (anagnorisis--"knowing again" or "knowing back" or "knowing
1 Tragedy: The Basics. http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Tragedy.htm. Web.

2 Wallbank, T. Walter., Schrier, Arnold., Maier, Donna., and Guttierez-Smith, Patricia. History and Life The World and
Its People. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company. 1984. Print.

3 Wallbank, T. Walter., Schrier, Arnold., Maier, Donna., and Guttierez-Smith, Patricia. History and Life. Glenview,
Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company. 1993. Print.

throughout" ) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle quite
nicely terms this sort of recognition "a change from ignorance to awareness of a
bond of love or hate.4

4 Tragedy: The Basics. http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Tragedy.htm. Web.

Origins
The Greek word for tragedy is tragoidia (tragos=goat; ode=song). Some
ancient and modern scholars have theories on the origins of Tragoidia 5:
1.) A goat was the original prize for the tragic competition.
2.) The fact that Dionysus is accompanied by goat-men (satyrs) combined
with Aristotles pronouncement that tragedy originated from something
rather satyric.
3.) Seaford: Tragedy developed out of a choral performance at the sacrifice of
a goat.
4.) Winkler: epheboi (young men aged 18 and nineteen) was to serve as the
choreutai in the dramatic festivals. Tragos is the colloquial term for boys
going through puberty, in terms of a breaking voice, the smell and lewd
behavior of an adolescent male. Goat is a metaphor for these men.
The dithyramb was a choral song in honor
of the gods, usually Dionysos. It was performed
by groups of male singers in competition, and the
songs themselves praised the gods or told
mythological stories. The dithyramb continued as
an artistic form well into the fifth century and was
even part of the City Dionysia, but this older form
also had an influence on Greek drama in placing
choral song and dance as a central part of the
development of tragedy and comedy.6
Eventually, the content of the dithyramb was widened to any mythological or
heroic story, and an actor was introduced to answer questions posed by the choral
group.

Performance7
Greek tragedies
state religious festival
contest between three
days. Often, the three
5

were performed in late March/early April at an annual

in honor of Dionysus. The presentation took the form of a
playwrights, who presented their works on three successive
plays featured linked stories. The Greek theatre was in the

Storey, Ian C., and Allan, Arlene. A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 2005. Print.

6 Meineck, Peter. Greek Drama: Tragedy and Comedy Course Guide. New York University. 2005. Print.
7

Tragedy: The Basics. http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Tragedy.htm. Web.

open air, on the side of a hill, and performances of a trilogy and satyr play probably
lasted most of the day. Performances were apparently open to all citizens. The
theatre of Dionysus at Athens probably held around 12,000 people.
All of the choral parts were sung (to flute
accompaniment) and some of the actors' answers to the
chorus were sung as well. The play as a whole was
composed in various verse meters. All actors were male
and wore masks, which may have had some amplifying
capabilities. A Greek chorus danced as well as sang. (The
Greek word choros means "a dance in a ring."). Choral
songs in tragedy are often divided into three
sections: strophe ("turning,
circling"), antistrophe ("counter-turning,
countercircling") and epode ("after-song"). So perhaps the chorus
would dance one way around the orchestra ("dancing-floor") while singing
the strophe, turn another way during the antistrophe, and then stand still during
the epode.

The Tragic Hero and the Plot8

The tragic hero is "a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice
nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness
but because of some mistake."
a.) a great man: One of those who stand in great repute and prosperity. The
hero is neither a villain nor a model of perfection but is basically good and
decent.
b.) mistake (hamartia): This Greek word, which Aristotle uses only once in
the Poetics, has also been translated as "flaw" or as "error." The great man
falls through--though not entirely because of--some weakness of character,
some moral blindness, or error. We should note that the gods also are in some
sense responsible for the hero's fall.
The best tragic plot is single and complex, rather than double ("with opposite
endings for good and bad"a characteristic of comedy in which the good are
rewarded and the wicked punished). All plots have some pathos (suffering), but a
complex plot includes reversal and recognition.
a.) reversal (peripeteia): occurs when a situation seems to developing in
one direction, then suddenly "reverses" to another.
8

Tragedy: The Basics. http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Tragedy.htm. Web.

b.) recognition (anagnorisis or "knowing again" or "knowing back" or

"knowing throughout" ): a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond
of love or hate.
c.) suffering (pathos): Also translated as "a calamity," the third element of
plot is "a destructive or painful act." The English words "sympathy,"
"empathy," and "apathy" (literally, absence of suffering) all stem from this
Greek word.

Works Cited
Books:
Meineck, Peter. Greek Drama: Tragedy and Comedy Course Guide. New York
University. 2005. Print.

Storey, Ian C., and Allan, Arlene. A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing.
2005. Print.

Wallbank, T. Walter., Schrier, Arnold., Maier, Donna., and Guttierez-Smith, Patricia.

History and Life.
Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company. 1993. Print.

Wallbank, T. Walter., Schrier, Arnold., Maier, Donna., and Guttierez-Smith, Patricia.

History and Life The
World and Its People. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company. 1984.
Print.
Web:
Tragedy: The Basics. http://faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/Tragedy.htm. Web.