#greek drama

[amicus-noctis]

"Dionysus is a god, a god of transformation. To be in his presence is to lose oneself, to become one with the primal forces of nature."  

― Euripides, The Bacchae

Painting: "The Bacchanal of the Andrians" by Tizian

[dreadfuldevotee]

Do as you please, Live, by all means! The laws you will break are not of man's making

[thorinsghivashel]

Thorin Oakenshield can be considered a tragic character.

Analyzing Thorin Oakenshield as a tragic character through the lens of Greek tragedy provides a deeper understanding of his narrative arc and character development. Here’s a detailed analysis based on the principles of Greek tragedy:

Characteristics of Greek Tragedy

Noble Stature:

Greek tragedies typically feature protagonists of noble birth or high status.

Thorin's Noble Stature: Thorin is the rightful heir to the throne of Erebor, which establishes his noble lineage and royal status.

Hamartia (Tragic Flaw):

A tragic hero possesses a flaw or makes a mistake that leads to their downfall.

Thorin's Hamartia: Thorin's tragic flaw is his overwhelming greed and obsession with reclaiming the treasure of Erebor, particularly the Arkenstone. This greed blinds him to reason and leads to irrational decisions and conflicts.

Hubris (Excessive Pride):

Many Greek tragic heroes exhibit hubris, an excessive pride that often leads to their downfall.

Thorin's Hubris: Thorin's pride in his lineage and destiny to reclaim Erebor contributes to his downfall. His refusal to share the treasure and his stubbornness in negotiations with other parties reflect this hubris.

Peripeteia (Reversal of Fortune):

The hero's fortunes change dramatically, usually from good to bad.

Thorin's Peripeteia: Thorin's initial success in reclaiming Erebor turns sour as his greed alienates allies, causes internal strife, and leads to the siege of the Lonely Mountain. His fall from a respected leader to a paranoid and isolated figure marks this reversal.

Anagnorisis (Recognition):

The hero realizes their flaw or the true nature of their situation, often too late to avoid the consequences.

Thorin's Anagnorisis: Thorin experiences a moment of clarity on his deathbed, recognizing the destructive power of his greed and seeking reconciliation with Bilbo and others he wronged.

Catharsis:

The audience experiences a purging of emotions, particularly pity and fear, through the hero’s journey.

Catharsis in Thorin's Story: Thorin's tragic arc elicits pity for his internal struggle and ultimate downfall, and fear of the destructive nature of unchecked greed and pride. His redemption at the end provides a bittersweet closure.

[beluosus]

faith in your oaths is gone, and I know not whether you believe the gods yet rule or if new laws have been established for mortals since you know you've broken your oath to me. —Euripides, Medea

[my-sacred-art]

Sydney Sweeney (born 1997, USA)

Aegisthus, believing he had discovered the body of Orestes, discovers instead that of Clytemnestra. 1823. Jean-Alphonse Roehn (French, 1799-1864).

[rherlotshadow]

'This is the last time I shall see the sun - so round, so glorious. This is my last goodbye to you, my own dear mother. Now I am going into the dark.'

Polyxena in 'Hecabe' by Euripides (trans. Philip Vellacott).

[katerinaaqu]

Hi! It's me again!

I wanted to ask, what are your favourite greek tragedies/comedies/texts and authors? In your analysis I see you mention a lot of them (Euripides and Ovid being some exemples), so I was curious to know more ^^

Oh that is a very good question! I guess it depends on the charcter represented in the tragedies. All writers seem to have good and bad traits there. For example I love Eurypedes's cretivity and the way he handles human emotions and I definitely love his writing in regards on some characters but his obsession of villainizing some characters (particularly Odysseus) makes me tick a bit! Hahahaha! Aeschylus is also a very sensitive writer and has some amazing works in his portfolio. And he is one of the few that speak for the Seven Against Thebes. Sophocles is also amazing and much sensitive and careful with what he writes etc

I should say out of the Greek writers I do love Sophocles for his depictions of homeric characters, especially Odysseus in many cases (like "Ajax" or "Philoctetes"). I love the writing on Eurypedes when he focuses on the "background characters" such as the women of Troy and the tragedies of war and the consequences of them From roman times I am not so familiar with theater but epic poetry is also flourishing and so I do like people like Statius who touch subjects of the epic cycle such as Achillis and Thebais) etc

So I enjoy really much "Helen" by Eurypedes, he uses creative liberties to create his story. By Sophocles honest I love most of his work. "Ajax" and "Philoctetes" are amazing balancing comedy and tragedy suffering and forgiveness, "Antigone" as famously one of the most known passages that every Greek kid knows (Ironically from a comedy series! XD) etc

Now from Comedy of course the old master is Aristophanes. He is just pure satire of everything that goes on around him. He is also famous for his foul mouth and cussing words in his comedies. One must look at "Ploutos" ("Wealth") to know where mortals give a blind god back his light! Like the dude was unhinged with society!

[universalambients]

The Temple of Artemis (250 AD) Ambient Music

[gennsoup]

"Now lie down on your bed, And if these terrors come to scare you from your rest, Try to ignore them; just stay there and keep quite still. Such sickness, even when more imaginary than real, Still racks the sufferer with anguish and despair."

Euripides, Orestes

[uwmspeccoll]

Justice, the Court System, and Drama in Athens

After ousting of the last tyrant of Athens, Hippias, in 510 BCE, and establishing Athenian Democracy, several new departments of governance needed to be created. One of the most crucial was that which presided over justice. Up to this point in Greek history, justice was the responsibility of the wronged party’s family. This commonly meant that if someone were killed, the victim's family would need to track down the murderer and kill them in return. This often resulted in a cycle of revenge with rival families, continuously thinning each other down to the point of non-existence. Given that such feuds tend to weaken a state rather than strengthen it, the Athenian government sought to take justice into the state's hands, thus leading to the establishment of the Athenian court.

This style of delivering justice had never been seen in the Greek world up to this point. The mythical origin of this system is reflected in Athenian playwright Aeschylus’s Oresteia, the only known surviving trilogy of dramas from the ancient Greek world. One of Special Collections’ several editions of these plays (our oldest is a Parisian printing in Greek published in 1552) is this one translated by the noted American poet Robert Lowell and published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux in 1978.

The story of the Oresteia is broken down into three plays, Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. Agamemnon tells of the murder of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, by his wife Clytemnestra after his return from the ten-year Trojan War. The Libation Bearers relates how Agamemnon’s son Orestes returns years after his father’s murder to seek revenge against Clytemnestra on Apollo’s orders, but after killing her becomes the target of the Furies' merciless wrath. The Eumenides illustrates how the sequence of events in the trilogy ends up in the development of social order or a proper judicial system in Athenian society with Athena setting up a trial in Athens for Orestes, the first courtroom trial. Orestes is acquitted, which the Furies reluctantly accept, leading Athena to rename them the Eumenides, “The Gracious Ones.”  Athena then proclaims that all trials must henceforth be settled in court rather than being carried out personally. 

From this series of plays, Aeschylus was able to demonstrate his belief in how integral the Athenian justice system was to maintaining the strength and stability of Athens, rather than being subject to the whims of familial vengeance cycles.

View more of my Classics posts.

– LauraJean, Special Collections Undergraduate Classics Intern

[dreadfuldevotee]

Merry fucking Christmas to Ismene and Creon. Can you imagine how fucking rancid the vibes are between those two?? You're entire collective family is dead and your stuck with the one person you've barely ever thought about from the whole dynamic

[victusinveritas]

The Warriors (1979)

Director: Walter Hill

[leche-flandom]

Remembering the time I enjoyed my univerity's performance of "Lysistrata" so much that I brought my sisters to see it too. I told them that we shouldn't sit too close to the front so we wouldn't get wrangled into audience participation, as my boyfriend and I had done the other night. My little sister kinda scoffed, "I didn't know you were bringing us to a children's play"

And then the inflatable erections came

[neoclassicalblobphilosopher]

Rip Trimalchio you would've loved keeping up with the Kardashians

[semperardens-juli]

"As classical tragedy developed, however, the hero's reversal of fortune was increasingly portrayed as a result of a frailty or fault in the character of the protagonist --- the 'fatal flaw'."

on Oedipus the King (focus on Classical Greek Drama) from The Literature Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained, James Canton

leave a little kindness

[vishwanathbite]

Medea by Euripides

Updates for Students

Key Facts about Medea Full Title: Medea When Written: Unknown, before 431 B.C. Where Written: Unknown, likely the island of Salamis Literary Period: Classical Greek Drama Genre: Tragic Drama Setting: The courtyard outside Medea’s house in the Greek city-state of Corinth. Climax: Medea murders her two sons offstage and ascends over the stage in a flying chariot sent by her grandfather, the…