Drama 115

Front 1

• Akropolis

Back 1

literally means “high city,” early settlers put their cities on high ground for defense purposes, the most well-known acropolis is in Athens

Front 2

• Allegory

Back 2

a literary work that is coherent on at least two levels simultaneously: a literal level consisting of recognizable characters and events and an allegorical level in which the literal characters and events represent moral, political, religious, or other ideas and meanings

Front 3

• Amphitheatre

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open-air venue for viewing events, including theatrical performances, most of the Greek amphitheatres were like modern day amphitheatres with the audience on one side usually in a semi-circle fashion

Front 4

• anarchic comedy

Back 4

type of comedy genre which uses a nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness humor which is often used to insult some sort of authority figure

Front 5

• Apollo

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in Greek mythology, the God of music, poetry, and oracles, light, among other things, son of Zeus

Front 6

• Aristotle

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well-known Greek philosopher and teacher who is well known for being one of the major critics of Greek drama, developed an idea of principles for Greek tragedies

Front 7

• Aside

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a short speech made by a character to the audience which by convention, the other characters onstage cannot hear

Front 8

• Athena

Back 8

goddess of strategic warfare and heroic endeavor, patron goddess of Athens; the Parthenon was built to worship her

Front 9

• autos sacrementales

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act or ordinance pertaining to the sacrament, a dramatic representation of the mystery of the Eucharist; form of dramatic literature which was unique to Spain during Calderon’s time

Front 10

• blank verse

Back 10

an unrhymed verse form often used in writing drama, composed of ten-syllable lines accented on the even syllables

Front 11

• carros

Back 11

movable platforms that were used in Calderon’s sacramental plays that were used in open squares in honor of the Eucharist

Front 12

• catharsis

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the feeling of emotional purgation of release that, according to Aristotle, an audience should feel after watching a tragedy

Front 13

• champ/chump

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types of comic heros
champ: clever hero who gets away w/ everything; looked up to
chump: clown figure

Front 14

• City Dionysia

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also known as Great or Greater Dionysia, the most important of the four Athenian festivals in honor of Dionysus, this spring festival sponsored the first tragedy competitions; comedy was associated with the winter festival, the Lenea

Front 15

• Climax

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the turning point in a drama’s action, preceded by the rising action and followed by the falling action

Front 16

• Collaboration

Back 16

when two or more people or groups work together for a common purpose or goal; need the teamwork in order to succeed

Front 17

• Comedia

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a three-act play from the Spanish Golden Age which combined both dramatic and comic elements, the main characters noblemen and ladies work from a plot which includes love, jealousy, honor, and possibly some patriotism

Front 18

• convention

Back 18

any feature of a literary work that has become standardized over time, such as the aside or the stock character, often refers to an unrealistic device

Front 19

• corrales

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public theatres in Spain

Front 20

• demos

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the population of an ancient Greek state, considered a politica entity; population, the common people

Front 21

• deus ex machine

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-Latin for “a god out of a machine,” in Greek drama, a mechanical device called a mechane could lower “gods” onto the stage to solve the seemingly unsolvable problems of mortal characters, also used to describe a playwright’s use of a forced or improbable solution to plot complications-for example, the discovery of a lost will or inheritance that will pay off the evil landlord

Front 22

• Dionysus

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Greek nature god of wine, mystic revelry, and irrational impulse, Greek tragedy probably sprang from dramatized ritual choral celebrations in his honor

Front 23

• Dithyramb

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Ancient Greek choral hymn sung and danced to honor Dionysus; originally devided into an improvised story sung by a choral leader and a traditional refrain sung by the chorus, believed by some to be the origin of Greek tragedy

Front 24

• Dramaturgy

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the art of writing plays

Front 25

• “dran”-

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Greek term meaning “to do,” where the word “drama” derived from

Front 26

• ephemera

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temporary, short lived-all that is left is the memory of the action

Front 27

• epic poetry

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characteristic of Greek Drama; lengthy narrative poetry usually involving a hero; orally narrated poems from 8th century BC Greece, element of performance b/c narrator would occasionally switch voices but main focus was on narrative

Front 28

• Eros

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cupid (God in Lysistrata)

Front 29

• Exposition

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the presentation of essential information, especially about events that have occurred prior to the first scene of a play. The exposition appears early in the play and initiates the rising action

Front 30

episodic structure

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almost the opposite of climactic structure; leisurely plot, many characters, expansion: time, setting, events, multiple narratives, web/network of experience: interrelationships, GOAL: breadth and varietyeros-cupid-erotic force

Front 31

• exposure/deflation

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objective of comedy; comic satisfaction when a subject is exposed/brought down/experiencing low self esteem

Front 32

• The Globe

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a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on June 29, 1613

Front 33

• Hamartia

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an error or wrong act through which the fortunes of the protagonist are reversed in a tragedy

Front 34

• Homer

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epic poet, the Iliad and the Odyssey; Homeric myths/epic poetry(8th Century)

Front 35

• Humanism

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a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal human qualities, particularly rationality.

Front 36

• inversion

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reversal of what is important- how easily the women overpowered the men (Lysistrata)

Front 37

• irony

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knowing more than the characters-lets us see differently than the characters in the play; the use of words to suggest a meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning

Front 38

• komoidia

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Greek for song of the revelers-know very little about origin of comedy; each tragedian wrote a satyr to finish off three tragedies

Front 39

• licensed theatres

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theatres leased by government-censorship of plays

Front 40

• liminality

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a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective, conscious state of being on the "threshold" of or between two different existential planes,

Front 41

• metatheatre

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reflexivity-convention of drawing attention to a drama as a work of drama rather than referring to theatre as allusion to life;

Front 42

• mimesis

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the Greek word for “imitation” Aristotle used the term to define the role of art as an imitation of an action

Front 43

• morality play

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didactic late medieval drama that uses allegory to dramatize some aspects of the Christian moral life

Front 44

• normative comedy

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comedy that allows us to find humor and poke fun at things but is not driven toward promoting change

Front 45

• objectivity

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minimizing emotional identification; principle of comedy

Front 46

• old comedy

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Greek comedy of the fifth century B.C. that uses bawdy force to attack satirically social, religious, and political institutions. Old Comedy is usually associated with Aristophanes

Front 47

• oikos

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feminine-keeping up the house, domestic sphere, private sector; (humans) women in the play (Lysistrata)

Front 48

• orchestra

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literally the “dancing place;” the circular stage where the Greek chorus performed

Front 49

• Parthenon

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on top of Akropolis, Athena's temple

Front 50

• Pathos

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the quality of evoking pity

Front 51

• Peloponnesian War

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(431-404 B.C.) Medea; war Athens waged; they thought it would be a quick victory against Sicilians, however, the war was waged for 20 yrs; at one point the Sicilians beat the Athenians & the people of Athens began to question the govt.

Front 52

• Plato

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teacher of Socrates; The Republic (375 BC)- in ideal society, there wouldn’t be any theaters: the true nature of reality lies behind our senses, theater gives us some degree an imitation or illusion of world we live in, fictional representation, theater’s danger is that it engages our emotions and passions, dangerous power of reason

Front 53

• Poetics

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written in 335 BC by Aristotle; provokes emotion but to evoke catharsis-used to release emotions to cleanse them out of our system

Front 54

• polis

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city state (Athens); Athena=protector of Polis

Front 55

• recognition

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also known as anagnorisis; Greek term for a character’s discovery or recognition of someone or something previously unknown; paves the way for reversal of fortune

Front 56

• Renaissance

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"rebirth"; performing conventions - 1) outdoor, daytime performances 2) male actors 3) platform stage: neutral, fluid, flexible 4) small emphasis on spectacle beyond color and costume 5) no “fourth wall” illusion

Front 57

• Reversal

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also known as peripeteia, a reversa of fortune, for better or worse for the protagonist; used especially to describe the main character’s fall in Greek tragedy

Front 58

• satyr play

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a comic play performed after the tragic trilogy in Greek tragedy competitions; provides comic reliefe and was usually a farcical boisterous treatment of mythological material

Front 59

• semiotics

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study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs and symbols, both individually and grouped into sign systems

Front 60

• shareholding companies

Back 60

component of theatre production in which companies make productions; other 2 components are The Globe & licensed theatres

Front 61

• skene

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building or scene house in the Greek theatre that probably began as a dressing room and was incorporated into the action as part of the scenery; changing room

Front 62

• soliloquy

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speech in which an actor, usually alone onstages, utters his or thoughts aloud, revealing personal feelings

Front 63

• sophists

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school of philosophy in 5th century who were good orators were able to point out relativity of truth by arguing persuasively both sides of any subject

Front 64

• Spanish Golden Age

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1580-1680 (prolific period--30,000 plays); historical context of Life is a Dream

Front 65

• Stichomythia

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dialogue in which two speakers engage in a verbal duel in alternating lines

Front 66

• surprise

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one of the keys to comedy; the element of surprise

Front 67

• theatron

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"seeing place;" spectator area in Greek Amphitheatre

Front 68

• Thespis

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credited as the first tragedy writer; changed the nature of the form by stepping out of the chorus and taking a solo; 1st actor

Front 69

• Thucydides

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very first historian in Greece, history of Peloponnesian wars; Talks about young and old fell in love with enterprise: twisting of natural association of eros into natural destruction; Showdown between life & death, war & peace

Front 70

• Tragedy

Back 70

serious drama in which a protagonist, traditionally of noble position, suffers a series of unhappy events culminating a catastrophe such as death or spiritual breakdown

Front 71

• tragic hero(ine)

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character who makes errors in judgment that lead to his or her downfall

Front 72

• utopia

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paradise

Front 73

• verisimilitude

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the degree to which a dramatic representation approximates an appearance of reality

Front 74

• Zeus

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king of the Gods; god of the sky and thunder; supreme high god that notoriously had many mortal sexual partners; would stray from wife Hera and appear in human form to seduce women