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CLS 267:
GREEK TRAGEDY |
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| Topics, Assignments, Notes |
I. The Nature of Aesthetic Expression
- September 9-14: Required Reading: Susanne Langer,
“Expressiveness in Art” (excerpt from Problems of Art: Ten
Philosophical Lectures. New York, Scribner, 1957).
II. Conditions of Greek Theatrical
Performance
September 21-23: Dionysus and Greek
Drama; Dramatic Festivals and Competitions
September 23-28: Structure of the
Greek Theater; Staging, Actors, Masks
- Required Reading: Graham Ley, A Short Introduction to the Ancient
Greek Theater, 17-48
- Links:
- Theatre at Athens (a project of
Theatron Ltd.). This site offers several excellent CAD reconstruction models of
the Theater of Dionysus at Athens during different periods in its history. To
view these, click on Gallery, then Theater at Athens. This site
also provides a 3-D model of the Pronomos vase, an excellent source of
information about ancient masks and costumes; to view this, go to the Theatron
site, click on Gallery, then Online Virtual Reality, then View
VRML Model under The Pronomos Vase.
- 3-D
Reconstruction Model of the Theater at Epidaurus (Foundation of the
Hellenic World). To fully appreciate this excellent model your browser needs a
VRML player, which works best if you follow the pre-set sequence. You can,
however, click on several static views of the model without the VRML player,
The animation also includes a reading of some passages from Aristophanes’
Peace. You can also read a
description of
the theater with dimensions and other information.
- The Theatre
of The Sanctuary of Asklepios at Epidaurus (Hellenic Ministry of Culture);
included some good overview photos
- Skenotheke:
Images of the Ancient Stage (University of Saskatchewan)
- Slide Show of Greek
Theaters with images from the Perseus Project (Sebastian Heath, University
of Michigan)
- Introduction
to Greek Stagecraft (Didaskalia: Ancient Theater Today)—includes a 3-D
model of a mask
September 30: Tragic Form and
Conventions
- Required Reading: Graham Ley, A Short Introduction to the Ancient
Greek Theater, 48-56
- Assignment: go to the Speakeasy Studio and Cafe, enter the
“McManus: Greek Tragedy” studio, and post a written reflection on one
of the two tables in Event 1: Greek Theatrical Performance.
- Links:
III. Aeschylus
- Required Reading: Background and Images for
the Oresteia
- Links:
- Aeschylus'
Agamemnon (The Classics Pages, by Andrew Wilson; this page begins a
series of pages covering the whole trilogy)
- Study
Guide for the Oresteia (Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Temple University)
- “Behind The
Mask of Agamemnon” (Archaeology 52. 4, July/August 1999)
- Course
Readings for the Oresteia (University of California, Berkeley)
- Clytemnestra
(Women in the Greek World course notes by David Noy, University of Wales
Lampeter); an excellent resource with many quotes from ancient authors
- “The
Heart of the Matter: Gods, Grief, and Freedom in Aeschylus’
Oresteia,” by Michael R. Deschenes
- “Klytaimestra:
A Study of Aeschylus' Agamemnon 1372-1576” (senior thesis at Reed
College, no author cited)
- The
Oresteia (modern production at the Playhouse Theater, University of
Washington)
- The
Oresteia: World Premiere of Translation By Peter Meineck, lighting design
by Ann Courtney (photos of modern production, University of South Carolina)
- The Oresteia
(photos from modern production by American Repertory Theater, at Loeb Drama
Center, Harvard University)
October 5-14: Agamemnon
- Required Reading: Aeschylus I: Introduction,
Agamemnon; Study Questions for the
Agamemnon
- Assignment (due Oct. 12): go to the
Speakeasy Studio and Cafe, enter
the “McManus: Greek Tragedy” studio, and follow the instructions
there for posting an essay on one of the two tables in Event 2.1:
Aeschylus’ Oresteia.
- Brief Assignment (due Oct. 19): go to the
Speakeasy Studio and Cafe, enter
the “McManus: Greek Tragedy” studio, and post on the
Theater/Acting/Stagecraft table a reaction to the videotaped segment of Peter
Hall's dramatization of the Agamemnon that we viewed in class on October
14. Specifically, explain how you personally responded to the way this modern
production adopted one or more of the conventions used in ancient Greek
theater.
October 19-21: Libation-Bearers
- Required Reading: Aeschylus I: Libation Bearers;
Study Questions for the Libation Bearers
- Assignment (due Oct. 21): go to the
Speakeasy Studio and Cafe, enter
the “McManus: Greek Tragedy” studio, and read over the postings of
your classmates on the Imagery and Themes of the Agamemnon. Choose one
of the postings by a classmate (do not respond to your own writing!) and use
the Respond to this Piece in the Writers’ Exchange box to describe how the
Libation Bearers further develops and/or changes this pattern of imagery
or theme. As before, be sure to give specific examples from the text.
- Links:
October 26-28: Eumenides
- Required Reading: Aeschylus I: Eumenides;
Study Questions for the Eumenides
- Links:
- Structure of
the Eumenides (Walter Englert, Reed College); you will not be able
to see the images; just click “cancel” when asked for a Reed password
- Apollo (from
the Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, by Carlos Parada); see also
Delphi
- Athena (from
the Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, by Carlos Parada)
- Erinyes, the
Furies (from the Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, by Carlos Parada)
PAPER 1 (due November 2): This should be a
formal, typed paper. It is a critical and interpretive essay rather than a
research paper, but you must use proper methods of quotation and documentation
for the play, including full bibliographical information on the text in a
“Works Cited” page and citation of line numbers in the paper. It is
perfectly acceptable—indeed, I recommend strongly that you do this—to
read over and draw ideas from the Speakeasy postings of your fellow students.
However, you must give credit to your classmates whenever you use one of their
ideas.
Choose one of the Oresteia’s dominant patterns of imagery
or themes. Trace the development of this imagistic pattern or theme throughout
the trilogy, citing and discussing specific examples from each of the three
plays. Obviously you won't be able to cite all the examples in the trilogy, but
pick what you feel are the most significant examples in each play. What
does this pattern or theme contribute to our understanding of the characters
and actions of the trilogy? to the overall meaning of the play? How does it
illustrate Susanne Langer's theories about the role of art as expressive of
feeling rather than logic?
IV. Sophocles
November 2: Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy and Sophocles' Oedipus the
King
November 4-9: Sophocles' Antigone
- Required Reading: read Sophocles I: Antigone by November 4;
Background on Oedipus and Antigone;
Study Questions for the Antigone
- Assignment (due Sunday Nov. 7): go to the
Speakeasy Studio and Cafe, enter
the “McManus: Greek Tragedy” studio, and post on the
Theater/Acting/Stagecraft table a reaction to the videotaped segment of the BBC
production of the Antigone that you viewed in class on November 4 .
Specifically, compare this modernized dramatization with the version of the
Agamemnon you saw. What was gained (or lost) by the lack of masks, the
use of female actors, the presence of costumes and dialogue that suggest modern
situations and events?
- Assignment (due by Wednesday evening Nov. 10): In order to assess
the characterization and motivations of Antigone and Creon and role that
dramatic one-on-one confrontations play in revealing these (see the
study questions on character), the class will
engage in a role-playing activity. We will form 6 teams of two. The first two
teams will role-play a modern version of the confrontation between Antigone and
Ismene, the second two one between Antigone and Creon, and the third two one
between Creon and Haemon. Each team member will adopt one of the two characters
in their confrontation. The team members will connect from two different
computers in the chat room of the appropriate table in our
Speakeasy Studio and conduct a
conversation on a modern situation that in some way mirrors the situation
dramatized in the play. Their simulated confrontation should reveal their
adopted personalities and motivations in the same way that the confrontations
in the play do (including the role that imagery plays in the characters of
Antigone and Creon). At the beginning of the chat, each team member should
specify the role she is adopting (e.g., “This is group 3.” “I am
Antigone” and “I am Creon”). The Speakeasy will preserve a
transcript of the role-playing session so that I and the rest of the class can
read it.
- Links:
- Structure of
the Antigone (Walter Englert, Reed College); you will not be able to
see the images; just click “cancel” when asked for a Reed password
- Sophocles’
Antigone from
Diotima's
Anthology of Translated Materials (translated by Wm. Blake Tyrrell and
Larry J. Bennett, with copious notes and an introduction covering translation
issues, historical context, details of the dramatic festivals, etc.)
- Antigone (The
Classics Pages, by Andrew Wilson)
- Sophocles'
Antigone (summary by David L. Silverman, Reed College)
- Study Guide for
Sophocles’ Antigone (Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Temple University)
- “Til Death Do
Us Part: Marriage and Funeral Rites in Classical Athens,” by Jana
Shopkorn
- “‘Antigone’ Packs
Contemporary Bite” (review of a contemporary performance by Philip
Brandes, Los Angeles Times 29 September 1995)
- Antigone Rising
(“This all-female band has much in common with its Sophoclean
namesake—drive, ambition and a strong desire to succeed.” )
November 11: Women in Tragedy and Athenian Society
- Required Reading: Helene Foley, “The Conception of Women in
Athenian Drama,” in Reflections of Women in Antiquity, ed. Helene
Foley (New York: Gordon and Breach, 1981), 129-36; Sue Blundell, “Women in
Drama,” in Women in Ancient Greece (Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1995), 172-80.
- Links:
- Women in the Greek
World (course notes by David Noy, University of Wales Lampeter)
- “Daughters
of Demeter,” by Marilyn A. Katz (from Becoming Visible: Women in
European History, ed. Bridenthal, Stuard and Wiener [Houghton, Mifflin.,
1998] 47-75)
- “Women,
Children and Men” by Marilyn A. Katz, (Chapter 5 in The Cambridge
Illustrated History of Ancient Greece, ed. Paul Cartledge [Cambridge
University Press, 1998], 100-138)
- “The
Male Actor of Greek Tragedy: Evidence of Misogyny or Gender-Bending?,”
by Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz (Didaskalia Supplement 1, May 1995)
- “Is
There a ‘Thesmophoria’ in This Text?: Women's Spheres in
Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae and Thesmophoriazusae,” by
Denise E. McCoskey (John J. Winkler Memorial Prize Essay, 1992)
November 16-18: Sophocles’ Women of Trachis
November 23: Euripides’ Electra
November 30-December 2: Euripides’ Medea
- Required Reading: read Euripides I: Medea;
Background and Images for the Medea;
Study Questions for the Medea
- Links:
- Medea (from
the Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, by Carlos Parada); see also
Argonauts
- Jason
and the Argonauts (Poseidon Project)
- Mythological
Background to Euripides’ Medea (John Porter, University
of Saskatchewan)
- Medea
(Roger Dunkle, Brooklyn College)
- Teaching Euripides'
Medea (collection of links, Laurel Bowman, University of
Victoria)
- Medea and Phaedra
(course notes by David Noy, University of Wales Lampeter)
- “‘...and a
chorus of Corinthian women...’: Use of the Chorus in Recent Productions of
Euripides’ Medea,” by Ruth Hazel (abstract, 1996)
- Chorus as
Actor in Euripides’ Medea, by Charles Segal (abstract)
- “Medea Blitz:
Be Aware of Greeks Bearing Gifts,” by Sam Whitehead (interview with
Neketi Kontouri, director of National Theater of Greece's modern production of
Medea)
- “The
eternal madness of Medea,” by Jeffrey Cottrill (discussion of modern
production of Medea at the University of Toronto)
- Medea: The
Musical (recent production in Los Angeles, includes many interesting
links)
- Medea
(modern performance at Trent University)
- Medea
(review of modern production in Dallas/Fort Worth by Lawson Taitte)
- Medea in
Athens (a modern “idea Play” by Grippy and Cormo)
December 7: Creative Projects and written character studies due; see
syllabus for instructions. Here are
examples of the creative projects:
December 9-14 Euripides’ Bacchae
- Required Reading: read Euripides V: Bacchae;
Background and Images for the
Bacchae; Study Questions for the
Bacchae
- Links:
- Dionysus
2 (from the Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, by Carlos Parada)
- Dionysos
in Western Art (Mythmedia, University of Haifa)
- Images of
Dionysos (Laurel Bowman, University of Victoria); see also
Dionysos
texts
- Euripides’
Bacchae (John Paul Adams, California State
Northridge)—outline of play's structure, additional notes
- Euripides’
Bacchae (online resources for text by Steve Esposito, Boston
University)
- “Divine
Madness” (introduction to the Bacchae by Gregory Nagy,
Harvard University)
- “The
Bacchae: Was Euripides a Disciple of Dionysus?” (a very
interesting website created by Brigid Marasco, when she was an undergraduate at
the University of Melbourne; an example of a well-designed student web project)
- “A View of Apollo and
Dionysus” by R.H. Albright
- “Apollo vs Dionysus:
The Only Theme Your Students Will Ever Need in Writing about
Literature” by Michael Thro (VCCA Journal 10.2 [1996]):
11-18)
- The
Bacchae (modern production by American Repertory Theater at
Loeb Drama Center)—includes production photos,
interview with
director and designer, and
review
from Boston Phoenix
- “Bacchae
blends new science, ancient drama by Katie Grove (The
Technique, Winter 1998)—describes Georgia Tech performance of the
Bacchae that integrates multimedia with the drama
- The Bacchae
(modern production by Cumquat Theatre, Australia)
Final Project will be due on Thursday,
December 23, by 4:00 pm.
revised July, 2002
Barbara F. McManus
CLS 267 Syllabus
