Greek Drama

Front 1

Approximate date for Aristotle.

Back 1

330 BC

Front 2

Work by Aristotle studied in class

Back 2

The Poetics

Front 3

Three common means for poetry as a whole

Back 3

1. Language
2. Rhythm
3. Harmony

Front 4

Three types of characters/agents

Back 4

1. Higher than average (idealism)
2. Average (realism)
3. Lower than average (caricature)

Front 5

Difference in manner between epic and drama

Back 5

Epic contains both narrative & speeches - drama is entirely acted

Front 6

Two origins of poetry

Back 6

1. Human instinct to imitate
2. Human pleasure in observation of imitation

Front 7

Origins of tragedy and four stages of its growth

Back 7

1. Improvisations - imitations
2. Dithyrambs - chorus of 50 priests of god Dionysius
3. Thespis - first actor
4. Aeschylus - playwright - introduces 2nd actor, reduces chorus to 15
5. Sophocles - playwright - 3rd actor, scenery, plurality of episodes, chorus of 12

Front 8

Define tragedy

Back 8

Imitation of an action that is serious and also as having magnitude, complete in itself, in language with pleasurable accessories, in dramatic not narrative form with incidents arousing pity and fear to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions

Front 9

Six parts of every tragedy

Back 9

1. Plot
2. Characters
3. Diction
4. Thought
5. Spectacle
6. Melody

Front 10

Most important of the six parts

Back 10

Plot

Front 11

Three parts this part must have

Back 11

Beginning, middle, and end

Front 12

One unity Aristotle insists on

Back 12

Unity of action - one complete action

Front 13

Distinction between historian and poet

Back 13

Historian describes what has been; poet describes what might be

Front 14

Define peripety

Back 14

Reversal of hero's fortunes

Front 15

Define discovery

Back 15

Change from ignorance to knowledge, love to hate

Front 16

What is and what is not a tragic hero that produces the tragic effect?

Back 16

He is...a good man whose misfortune is a result of his error in judgement

He is not...a good man passing from happiness to misery

He is not...a bad man passing from misery to happiness

He is not....an extremely bad man falling from happiness to misery

Front 17

Define the tragic pleasure or tragic effect

Back 17

Pity and fear aroused in the audience

Front 18

Define complication

Back 18

All that precedes the crisis -- change in hero's fortune

Front 19

Define denouement

Back 19

Unravelling -- all that follows crises to the end

Front 20

Which is preferable - a likely impossibility or an unconvincing possibility?

Back 20

Likely impossibility

Front 21

Why does Aristotle view tragedy as superior to the epic even though he views the structure of Homeric poems as perfect as can be?

Back 21

Tragedy has more - music and spectacle, more concentrated and effective with greater unity