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Greek and Roman Theatre
Greek tragedy is characterized as being composed of tetralogy, wherein the play presented consists of three tragedies and a 'satyr' play, wherein criticisms in the government and society are addressed comically. Greek tragedy also has a dramatic form and focus, and most of the stories or topics used in tragedies are from myths and legends of the Greeks. Tragedies focus on the suffering of the lead character in the play, and provide insight and enlightenment to the main character at the end of the story or play. Meanwhile, Greek comedies were incorporated to Greek festivals...
Greek comedies are less restrictive in its form, and do not possess the high quality of organization that tragedies possess.
The Chorus is essential to Greek tragedies because of the following functions:
The Chorus provides and informs the audience of the transitions in the scenes during the play;
The Chorus announces the characters the actors played in the tragedy; and The Chorus comments and participates on the events happening in the play, oftentimes conducting a dialogue with one or more of the characters, usually the lead character of the play.
One of the primary costumes used in Greek tragedies are masks, which are described as elaborate and 'unemphatic' in its character. Masks are important to tragic plays because it provides cover for actors playing a female character, since actors during…
Their plays were similar to the Greeks and many of them were just translated versions. Theatre was an instrument used by the administration to keep the public from devoting much time to the political affairs. Thus any mentioning on stage regarding the political situation or activities would have serious consequences for the author for writing it and the actor for agreeing to perform it. In addition it also served
Theatre of Dionysus: Athens, Greece General history about the theater itself and the history of theater in Greece The evolution of theater in Greece, and therefore, theater's evolution as an art form over the course of early Western history, may be directly linked to the festivals of Dionysus of the land. Dionysus was the Grecian god of wine and misrule. Over the course of performances of tragedy and comedy written and designed
There were many other gods and goddesses and other supernatural beings in both mythologies (Meeks 2002). There were godlings, demigods, river nymphs and tree dryads and other mythical creatures, such as satyrs, comprising the entire belief systems. These systems were polytheistic as well as animistic. The system held that every tree, river and every part of nature had a spirit or energy behind it. Hercules was a famous demigod (Meeks).
The vengeance of the gods is further underscored by the Chorus who warns that "But if any man comes striding, high and mighty, in all he says and does, no fear of justice, no reverence for the temples of the gods-let a rough doom tear him down, repay his pride, breakneck, ruinous pride!" Oedipus portrays tyranny and the people's greatest blessing becomes their worst curse. In the last stage, Oedipus
Then comedy disappeared when the Roman Empire collapsed. Nonetheless, the moulds for its future development had been cast. Greek comedies were rediscovered during the Renaissance, the point of origin of comedy as we know it today. Furthermore, the Renaissance brought two major developments to the comedy: the commedia dell'arte, and plot developments and defined archetypal characters (Storey: 407). "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is what theoreticians may call a classical
This echoes life. To others we present as a simple person, perhaps even shallow and one-dimensional. Yet inside we are a mass of interminable twists and turns of plots and subplots. The story must reflect positive morality or, as Aristotle warned, when storytelling goes bad, the result is decadence. As stories become more extravagant and violent, and all the areas of storytelling - acting, stage settings or environments, music,