English Tragedies

Front 1

Lenaia

Back 1

a short celebration held in January, comedies developed from this festival

Front 2

Dionysia

Back 2

the religious festivals of ancient Athens held to celebrate the god Dionysus, tragedy developed as part of the City Dionysia in March-April

Front 3

dithyramb

Back 3

an ancient Athenian poetic form sung by choruses during the earliest Dionysia, tragedies originated from the dithyramb

Front 4

hubris

Back 4

arrogant pride, insolence, contemptuous violence

Front 5

trilogy

Back 5

a group of three literary works, usually related or unified. For the ancient Athenian Dionysia, each competing dramatist submitted a trilogy (3 tragedies) and a satyr

Front 6

satyr

Back 6

a comic and burlesque play submitted by the ancient Athenian tragic dramatists along with their trilogies of tragedies

Front 7

Aeschylus

Back 7

one of three tragic playwrights, added a second actor

Front 8

Sophocles

Back 8

one of three tragic playwrights, added a third actor, created scene design, and enlarged the chorus from twelve to fifteen

Front 9

Euripides

Back 9

one of three tragic playwrights

Front 10

catharsis (purgation)

Back 10

Aristotle's concept that tragedy, by arousing pity and fear, regularizes and shapes the emotions, and that therefore tragedy is essential in civilized society

Front 11

muthos

Back 11

Aristotle's word for plot - the plan or groundwork for a story...

Front 12

mimesis (representation)

Back 12

the Aristotelian idea that dram (tragedy) represents rather than duplicates history

Front 13

peripeteia (reversal)

Back 13

Aristotle's term for a sudden reversal, when the action of a work, particularly a play, veers around quickly to its opposite

Front 14

anagnorisis (recognition)

Back 14

Aristotle's term describing the point in a play, usually the climax, when a character experiences understanding

Front 15

pathos

Back 15

the "scene of suffering" in tragedy, which Aristotle defines as "a destructive or painful action, such as death on the stage, etc.

Front 16

seriousness

Back 16

the first part of Aristotle's definition of tragedy, showing human character at its most elevated and significant

Front 17

complete

Back 17

the second aspect of Aristotle's definition of tragedy, emphasizing the logic and wholeness of the play

Front 18

magnitude

Back 18

the third part of Aristotle's definition of tragedy, emphasizing that a play should be neither too long nor too short, so that artistic balance and proportion can be maintained

Front 19

song (melos)

Back 19

a lyric poem with a number of repeating stanzas, written to be set to music

Front 20

hamartia (tragic flaw)

Back 20

the error or frailty that causes the downfall of a tragic protagonist

Front 21

tragic dilemma

Back 21

a situation that forces the tragic protagonist to make a difficult choice, a "lose-lose" situation

Front 22

Theater of Dionysus

Back 22

the ancient Athenian outdoor theater where Greek drama began

Front 23

skene (tent)

Back 23

a building in front of the orchestra containing front and side doors from which actors can enter and exit in ancient Greek theaters

Front 24

orchestra (theater)

Back 24

dancing place, the central circle where the chorus performed in ancient Greek theaters

Front 25

deus ex machina

Back 25

"a god out of the machine," the entrance of a god to unravel the problems in a play

Front 26

buskins

Back 26

elegantly laced boots worn by the actors in ancient Greek tragedies

Front 27

prologue

Back 27

in ancient Greek tragedy, the introductory action and speeches before the first entry of the chorus

Front 28

stichomythy

Back 28

dialogue consisting of one-line speeches designed for rapid delivery