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English 112 Lecture notes. Module 1: Introduction to Greek Theatre: Classical Greek theatres and performance conventions Greek theatre:  Earliest European theatre o The earliest we have plays from: ergo, it’s the start of the theatrical tradition. o Classical creak drama is performed, read & imitated by the Romans, Medieval & Renaissance playwrights and into the modern period.  Classical Greek drama begins in the city-stat of Athens o 5th century BCE (534 BC) o 2,500 years ago  Genres: Greeks establish two main dramatic genres or forms: o Comedy o Tragedy Genres:  The philosopher Aristotle, in the poetics – the first person to describe a theory of drama. o Describes & defines comedy and tragedy o Tragedy: Tragoidia in Greek  Sad tales that end in death and general destruction  Purpose of tragedy: catharsis (purgation) healing of the audience via pity and fear  Plots drawn from epic personalities and matching strengths and flaws  -- Harmartia – term meaning “tragic flaw” or “fatal error of judgment”  Plots deal with major ethical issues, huge destructive events, often fated  Gods are in conflict with humans, often cursing them or blighting their fats: King Oedipus is cursed by the gods which is why he kills his father and marries his mother.  Aristotle uses Oedipus as his model for tragedy o Comedy:  Aristotle defines comedy in much less detail  Comedy: added (about 440 BCE) comedy is “tales of common/base people”. It often satirizes sexual/social norms, sometimes mocks the powerful  Stories of ordinary people, set I the present day  Plots deal with sex, misbehaviour, often features or sometimes just the hero getting the girl  Comedy is generally but not always funny Athenian theatre:  Aristotle in the poetics, claims that drama started in a ritual for the god Dionysus o Dialogue between the chorus and a chorus leader: instead of just reciting the epic poem, one member of the chorus would speak the

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“lines” of the main character, and tell the story in dialogue with the rest of the chorus Athenian plays were staged during a civic festival called the City Dionysia in honour of the god Dionysus.

Lecture #1: Antigone  Problems and questions about the play: o The plot is pretty thin, there are very few events  We meet Antigone and her sister Ismene at the play’s opening. Antigone tells her sister about Creon’s decree and declares that she is going to bury Polynices anyway  Antigone does the funeral rituals for her brother Polynices and is caught by the guards and sentences to death by Creon and buried alive.  Tiresias, the prophet, tells Creon that he’s arranged the gods and Creon changes his mind, and goes to free Antigone and bury Polynices. Antigone has already hung herself and Creon’s son, her fiancé, has killed himself. Finally, when Creon’s wife hears about the news about her son, she kills herself and Creon is left with a “life that is warped part cure”  Most of the action is characters reacting the actions of other. What’s the point of the play, if were not following events?  Sophocles Addresses several elements: o 1) plays a continuation of Oedipus’ tragedy (even though it was written first) o 2) unlike Oedipus, its driven by human conflict (tragic characterization)  Oedipus was cursed by the gods and HAD to fulfill his prophecy – his tragedy is about him finding out what he has done  This play is a more human tragedy, caused by human will and stubbornness  Antigone believes one thing; Creon doesn’t HAVE to rule that Polynices won’t be buried  Either of them can step back from their decision at any time  This is why Haemon argues with his father and Ismene argues with her sister.  Ironically, Creon does change his mind, too late o 3) It’s a tragedy of ideas: its driven by themes and concepts  First play written about individual conscience vs collective law (individual vs society)  Do you obey human law or divine law?  Debates are over who’s in charge and why, and where authority really rests  The law (Creon, the king) or tradition (you bury the dead to please the gods and the ancestors) Links to Oedipus:  This play takes place after Oedipus has discovered his crimes and identity and has banished himself.  The characters are Oedipus’ family: o Antigone and Ismene are Oedipus and Jocasta’s daughters

Polynices and Eteocles (who are both dead at the opening of the play) are their sons o Creon, now king of Thebes, is Oedipus brother-in-law, Eurydice, who appears at the very end of the play, is his wife o Antigone is engaged to Creon’s son Haemon o Teiresias is a soothsayer, a prophet – the same prophet who told Oedipus that he had married his mother and killed his father Creon is now kind of Thebes; Polynices & Eteocles were supposed to share the throne, instead they fought a war o Polynices & Eteocles have fought on opposite sides of a civil war and killed each other o Creon has declared that Polynices body is going to rot on the battlefield This is where the action begins o

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Thematic connections with Oedipus Tyrannos:  Oedipus’s curse, actions and fate help lead to his children’s destruction o No children are cursed, and so is Thebes itself. o NOTE: this is why Antigone’s first lines are “do you know / of any suffering from our father sprung / that Zeus does not achieve for us survivors? o Her fate is directly linked to the actions of Oedipus o Her fate is linked to her stubbornness which we are told she shares with her father: “the girl is bitter. She’s her father’s child / she cannot yield to trouble; nor could he  Their father was fated to commit parricide and incest; the children are the result of incest  The children don’t violate natural law to the same extent, but! o Brothers killing each other is ‘unnatural’ o Teiresias tells Creon that he violated the natural order by not burying Polynices and burring Antigone alive. “You’ve confused the upper and lower worlds / You’ve sent a life to settle in a tomb / you keep up here that which belongs below / the corpse unburied, robber of its release” o This mixing of categories is the reason Creon is punished, losing his son and wife to suicide  Creon’s suffering parallels Oedipus’s suffering o Both men end their plays humiliated and in mourning, having lost their families  Teiresias foresees the destruction of both Creon and Oedipus Tragic characterization:  Big question: whose tragedy is this? WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST? o PROTAGONIST – ‘main character’ – the person whose choices drive the action o Antigone is title character (usually means they are protagonist)  Her action triggers the action – she starts things by disobeying Creon’s orders  She dies in the play, the usual fate of a tragic hero  She is entombed halfway through, and doesn’t act after that o Creon survives until the end of the play (he has the last few lines) o Loses his entire family

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He does it TO HIMSELF; he doesn’t expect the tragedy, and it blindsides him  Antigone knows that she’s going to die, and she is willing to do it  Creon losses are unexpected and seem more painful Oedipus’s tragic fate was set by the gods – they cursed him at birth, and he fulfilled it Antigone & Creon cause their own suffering by their own choices  Both – rigid, stubborn, self-righteous, will not change their minds  Both have other characters try to talk them out of their decisions  Both driven by absolute conviction that they are right  Very similar people – even though Creon declares that he can’t be beaten by a woman (and a young girl, at that) the two are very similar  Both abuse those who love them and try to change their minds  Antigone jeers at Ismene calls her a coward and won’t let her die with her  Creon humiliates his sone and calls him a women slave

Why does Creon make his choices? Loyalty to the city of Thebes He’s the kind (he’s only just taken the throne) and he’s trying to do his job o His reasons are clear: the city depends on him o Polynices attacked the city and was a traitor o Remaining unburied is a punishment now (of his body) and in the afterlife (he can’t enter the afterlife if he’s not buried) o Polynices was Creon’s nephew – so he’s violating family ties and loyalty in making this judgment, but says “he who counts another greater friend / than his own fatherland, I put him nowhere” “nor could I count the enemy of the land / as friend to myself” o He’s declaring that he’s ignoring the kinship bonds he has with Polynices; his loyalty is to the city of Thebes, not his family o Danger is that someone else might try to overthrow the city if he doesn’t punish treason appropriately o BUT he’s ignoring tradition and the will of the gods

Antigone:  Antigone is loyal to two things: o 1) Her family over the law: she’s Oedipus’ daughter and Polynices sister, and she’s defined by this  The chorus says “this girl is bitter. She’s she father’s child. She cannot yield to trouble; nor could he” o 2) She’s also loyal to the gods and tradition  Adamantly loyal to the dead: all of her family except Ismene are dead, in caring more about honouring the dead she’s honouring her family, who are all dead  Images link her to death; she’s married to death’ when she’s buried alive o “not for me was the marriage-hymn, nor will anyone start the song/ at a wedding of mine. Acheron that is death is my mate”

The same images show up in her first exchange with Ismene; she says “longer the time in which to please the dead/than that for those up here’ o She declares that she’s already linked to death; “my life died long ago/ and that has made me fit to help the dead” She’s also speaking for the gods: this seems less important to her, personally, but it’s the gods who destroy Creon She mostly refers to the gods when she’s talking to Creon: when he first confronts her, she says “it was not Zeus who made that order/ Nor did that justice who lives with the gods below/ mark out such laws to hold among mankind” She doesn’t discuss the gods when she does to her death: she says she’s coming to her father and her mother and to her brother She puts ‘her brother’ in a special, irreplicable, category! (incest?) She’s motivated entirely by family ties; she dies, at least in part, because they’re all dead Ironically, Antigone gets the fate she expects o She declares that she only cares about family ties, kinship, and tradition o She expects to be executed for violating Creon’s decree Creon doesn’t expect his tragedy o He’s upholding the law at the expense of family ties o He declares that he’s deliberately violating family and kinship ties in punishing both Polynices and Antigone o He will not spare her because she is his niece, and he will not be swayed by the fact that she’s his son’s fiancé o As a result, he loses his immediate family: his son and his wife both commit suicide Antigone is punished for violating the law; Creon is punished for violating kinship and tradition o

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Driven by Ideas:  Two central “good: motivations are in conflict o Neither Antigone nor Creon are fighting for wrong principles  Both are wrong in being inflexible and arrogant  Several conflicting themes: o Individual vs the collective o Public goof vs the private good o Human law vs divine law o Order and authority vs loyalty & love  Several of these concepts are gendered: Antigone, as a woman, is connected with family, the traditions of honouring the gods, and the private sphere, and of course ‘love’  This is why Creon attacks Haemon as ‘girlish’ and ‘childish’ – he’s speaking in defense of Antigone’s actions, and on behalf of the population of Thebes Concepts and themes:  Play is a tragedy of ideas: its driven by themes and concepts o First play written about the conflict between individuals conscience vs collective law (individual vs society) o Do you obey human law or divine law?

Debates are over who’s om charge and why, and where authority really rests  The law (Creon, the king) or tradition (you bury the dead to please the gods and the ancestors) or the Gods? No real villain in the play: Two “good” motivations are in conflict o Neither Antigone nor Creon are fighting for wrong principles  Upholding the law and being an unbiased ruler is right & just  Honouring your family and burying your brother is right and just o Two good principles each destroy the other  NOTE: this kind of thing happens all the time in tragedy (Romeo and Juliet) Beyond their characters, though, there are several conflicting themes that the play explores The play stages debate between o Authority (obedience) and rebellion/civil disobedience o The individual will vs the collective consensus o The public good vs the private good o Human law vs divine law The concepts aren’t just linked with Antigone & Creon – the guard, Haemon and the chorus also raises these issues Antigone’s conflict with Creon is obviously the core of these concepts o She’s acting against his decree, because of loyalty her brother and her family: therefore. She’s acting against public law on behalf of private loyalties o She does this because of her personal conscience. She declares that her personal conviction overrides Creon’s authority – so it’s an act of civil disobedience as well as an act of private family loyalty Several of these concepts are gendered: Antigone, as a woman, is connected with family, piety, the private sphere o Women in classical Greece were expected to limit their lives to the ‘household’ – to the interior, private sphere. Antigone acts in the public sphere, but she does so for the most private of reasons – to bury her brother o This is partly because her family’s personal space is the public sphere: everything her family has done has had a direct impact on the city of Thebes o This is why Creon attacks Haemon’s arguments on behalf of Antigone as ‘girlish’ and ‘childish’ – Haemon is speaking in defense of Antigone’s actions and on behalf of the population of Thebes, speaking about the townspeople’s emotional reactions o

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Haemon:  Haemon’s argument with his father sharpens the play’s focus on authority and rebellion  Creon moves farther into ‘dictator’ territory in the exchange o He demands that Haemon choose between Antigone and his father and when Haemon says that he’ll be loyal to Creon, he prises him as a ‘dutiful obedient son’ o Creon then declares that authority of the ruler is absolute, even when their commands are wrong: “the man the state has put in place must have/ obedient hearing to his least command/ when it is right, and even when it is not

He links unquestioning obedience in citizens to the obedience of troops in battle Haemon tries to save Antigone, by arguing that people of Thebes support her: “the whole town is grieving for this girl/ unjustly doomed, if ever women was/ to die in shame for glorious action done” o He argues that he’s speaking out of loyalty to Creon, trying to help him by getting him to be flexible  “father, your welfare is my greatest good… then do not have one mind, and one alone/ that only your opinion can be right”  Imagery of trees, ships The core of Haemon’s argument is that Creon needs to listen to the people of Thebes – that is, that authority is not absolute but rules with the consent of the governed, and Creon needs to listen to the people in order to be a successful ruler o No city is property of a single man, if you’d rule a desert beautifully alone 

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The debate eventually breaks down into a long episode of Stichomythia:  Alternate single-line exchanges between two speakers – Creon and Haemon alternate lines back and forth  Creon has a number of these exchanges; with Antigone, with Haemon and with the guard  Stichomythia makes the conflict between two speakers clear, but also links them: it’s like watching a tennis match Here, Creon moves from declaring the authority of the law to declaring his own absolute authority  When Creon next sees Haemon it’s in Antigone’s tomb, where Haemon kills himself

Guard, Ismene, Chorus  Exchanges with the guard and the chorus are less central  Guard: ordinary guy, just trying to save himself  His reluctance to appear before Creon lets us know how Creon is seen by his subjects (ex: Haemon and Antigone are right)  Happy to let Antigone take the blame and die if it means he doesn’t have to o Like Ismene, the Guard contrasts with Antigone  Chorus: also, resist but subtly Teiresias:  In a different category from the other characters: he’s not Creon’s ‘subject’ and he doesn’t have to obey him o Speaks for and about the gods, and is able to contradict Creon o Comes with the news that the gods are not accepting sacrifices: they are angry because Polynices is not buried o Stubbornness and stupidity are twins o Like Haemon, declares that he speaks for Creon’s own good: “I speak for your own good, and I am right”  Teiresias’s power= he’s speaking for the gods, with divine authority  Antigone has cursed Creon as she goes to the tomb – linked to this

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Answer to ‘who is the ultimate authority’ is the gods o Creon’s fate shows this

The Chorus: What are these guys doing here?  The Greek chorus is probably the most alien element of the play to a modern audience o The chorus is 15-20 identically costumed young men who dance, speak and sing in unison; they sometimes have exchange with the actors, but they’re not actually acting parts or speaking lines o They are present on the Orchestra or dance floor throughout the performance o According to Aristotle in the poetics, drama developed from the performance of the Dythrambic chorus; this means the chorus is the original oldest element of Greek drama o Over the years, the chorus size shrinks and their role changes, but they are still central to the performance – they’re the heart of the play Function of the chorus  The chorus performs three functions in Greek plays o Structure: the songs of the chorus separated the ‘scenes’ that the actors perform. They divide the action, in the same way that act breaks do in the modern theatre o COMMENTARY: the songs often comment on the events of the previous scene; the chorus respond to what they’ve seen and heard or provide information that will help the audience understand the events o CONTEXT: the chorus provides a context for the actors in two ways:  It often performs the role of ‘the community’, presenting the voices the perspectives of the city or the public  It reacts to what it sees and hears from the actors, often providing cues to the audience for how to respond o The chorus allows us to see the play as taking place among a larger community and provides clues as to how that community sees the events of the play Structure:  The chorus often acts as ‘living stage directions’ – directing the audience’s attention to events, identifying characters who enter (when Haemon enters, the chorus tells us that this is Creon’s one surviving son (pg 22 line 26), and telling us where exiting characters are going  As well, the songs of the chorus break the play into ‘scenes’ o Antigone has six chorus song:  Describes the war, victory over Polynices (pg 5)  Describes and praises human intelligence (pg 12)  Describes the powers of fate and the gods (pg 22)  Compares Antigone’s death to that of demi-goddesses and mythical figures (pg 32)  Praises Dionysus, the god of theatre, and links the god to power of Thebes (pg 38)  Practically, the songs mean the three actors are given a chance to rest, and change costumes and masks (there are only three actors: doubling means one actor will play several different roles – the same actor could play both Ismene and the Guard, as they’re never on stage together)

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It also gives the audience a change to reflect on the previous scene, and to absorb the chorus’s response to it

Commentary:  The songs are poetic and allusive; in translation they’re made much harder to understand. They’re not supposed to be clear descriptions!  Each of the songs connect to or comments on the vents of the previous exch...