Greek Tragedy: the Invention of Drama
Drama as we know it began in ancient Greece. The first plays were religious affairs, with dancing and music. Then came a chorus, which eventually had a Leader, who was the first actor in the history of drama. Aeschylus, a playwright, invented what we now call drama when he wrote a play that featured two actors and a chorus, who symbolized the common people or sometimes the gods. Other important Greek playwrights were Sophocles and Euripides. Most of what they wrote is lost. Some plays survive, however. Here is the story of the invention of drama, in the form of a Greek play: Here is the story
of the beginning of drama. We, the chorus, will be
your guide through this history. Every word you are
about to hear is true.
In the 5th
century b.c. Greece had musical shows on wooden
platforms. A chorus, like ours, would sing, and a
leader, like me, would stand out and describe
things. But it wasn't really drama. We didn't have
plays. We didn't have theaters. We needed someone
to give us direction. That person was
Aeschylus.
I was the first
of the great Greek playwrights. I introduced the
second actor. With two actors on stage at one time,
conflict between the two of them became possible.
My most famous plays are a trilogy--three plays on
the same theme. The first play, the most famous, is
called Agamemnon and deals with the return
of the conquering heroes from the Trojan War. In my
plays, human beings have to deal with honor,
responsibility, and duty to their city-state. They
also have to suffer the whims and wrath of the
gods. Why did my characters suffer greatly? It was
their fate. Yet they struggled, in the hope that
they could somehow avoid that fate.
You speak wisely,
O Aeschylus, for the gods can be random and
terrible in their thoughts and deeds. But you have
changed our drama for the better. These two actors
now wear masks and costumes. People now build
theaters in which to watch your plays. You are the
master, but you have many competitors.
Indeed, these
plays were originally written to be presented at an
annual festival
called the City Dionysia. Every year in Athens, the
drama festival presented three days of drama--five
plays each day. The winner got a small sum of
money. But Aeschylus didn't always win.
I, Sophocles, won
the prize 18 times. My most famous plays include
Oedipus the King and Antigone. I
introduced the third actor. That's three actors on
stage at the same time, all wearing masks, all
interacting with one another. Aeschylus dealt with
grand, sweeping themes. My plays were based on the
character and psychology of the people involved.
The consequences of their own actions brought my
characters to ruin.
There is yet a
third writer in our story, the last of the great
ones. He, too, wrote of gods and fate and the
downfall of great men and women.
Euripedes is my
name. My most famous plays include Medea and
Hippolytus. My characters didn't really have
a destiny that they couldn't avoid; rather, they
had choices to make and consequences of those
choices to suffer. I alone had the courage to
attack slavery as an evil, giving slaves in my
plays the finest lines. I alone had the courage to
give my women characters real problems and real
solutions. Greed, cruelty, revenge,
suffering--these are my themes, as realized by my
characters' own actions and choices, not by the
whims and wrath of the gods.
And so our story
is at an end. The world has seen the invention of
drama. From our mouths to your ears comes the
history of ideas. |
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Social Studies for Kids
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David White