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  • Origins Of Early Greek Theater
    2,052 words
    Nicole Jarrell Intro to Theatre Ms. Elizabeth TaheriOctober 10, 2000 Theatre as a Religious Ceremony "The drama in Greece was inextricably bound up with religious feeling and religious observance". (Cheney 33) The citizens of the Greek states were the first European communities to raise dramatic performances to the level of an art. Furthermore, the Greek playwrights still exercise a potent creative force, and many modern dramatists find strong relationships between these legendary themes and mod...
  • Greek Theater Masks
    521 words
    Greece is recognized for inventing dramatic theater around the sixth century BC. The first Greek theater works were all tragedies, or tragic plays. In his work Poetics, written around 330 BC, Aristotle explains that Greek tragedies evolved from dithyrambs. Dithyrambs are choral hymns written to and about Dionysus, the Greek god of wine-as a character speaks, the chorus sings in response. In the 5th century BC, Greek tragedy was at its peak. Over 1000 plays were written during this time, although...
  • Tragic Greek Plays
    584 words
    Man controls his fate by the choices that he makes. In being able to chose what his own actions are, fate is a result of his decisions. In Oedipus the King, the Greek writer, Sophocles, uses characterization and dramatic irony to project a theme throughout the play providing the idea that man is responsible for his own fate. Sophocles lived 90 years, revealing a plethora of amazing, prize-winning tragic Greek plays. Sophocles was born near Athens in 496 BC, in the town of Colon us. He received t...
  • Greek Plays
    916 words
    All true Greek tragedies were written using the same basic set of characteristics. One such characteristic was that all the characters were of nobility. This was to ensure that their fall from grace would be greater to those watching the play in action. Another characteristic of all Greek tragedies is that they were written in poetic form, as this was the style of writing at the time. There were also always almost constant references to the gods and to matters of fate. And it was the ever-presen...
  • Golden Age Of The Athenians Plays
    1,248 words
    Ancient Greek Theater is the first historical record of "drama", which is the Greek term meaning "to do" or "to act". Beginning in the 5th century BC, Greek Theater developed into an art that is still used today. During the golden age of the Athenians plays were created, plays that are considered among the greatest works of world drama. Today there are thousands of well-known plays and films based on the re-make of ancient drama. Theater originated from the religious rites of ancient Greek tribe...
  • Only Episode Of Socrates
    1,471 words
    Women in the Apology The most striking thing about women in the Apology of Socrates is their absence from where we might expect them. Only two specific women are mentioned: 1) the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo, who answers Chaerephon's question that no one is wiser than Socrates (21 a); and 2) Thetis, the mother of Achilles (who himself is not mentioned by name but only referred to as the 'son of Thetis'), who warns him that he will die if he kills the Trojan hero Hector (28 c). Only two other...
  • Play In Ancient Greek Time Period
    734 words
    Oedipus the King Oedipus being shown in an updated version is a very effective and understandable way to present it to audiences. The play that was viewed in class was a good adaptation of the original play. Although modern versions of Oedipus are far different today than the way they were performed during Sophocles's time, I think he would be impressed with the way that modern versions of his play are performed. The reason I think that the play works so well in an updated version is the fact th...
  • Relationship Of Schill And Claire
    1,473 words
    The Visit The modern play, The Visit, exemplifies the meaning of old Greek tragedy. The story portrays a young woman named Claire Zachanassian whose life was changed at the age of seventeen. This life was put on hold by Anton Schill, her one and only true love. The story has many elements that portray a typical Greek tragedy play. They are faced with moods and feelings of a Greek chorus to the conflicts and problems of a Greek tragedy. Even though The Visit is seen as a modernized play, it still...
  • Important Role In Greek Culture
    605 words
    Influence of Greek Culture Back in the days of Homer's Writings, Greek culture had a huge influence on the way of life and the style of writing. In this epic Greek culture also played a huge roll in the outcome of the story. The three traits of Greek culture that are evident in this story are, marriage is permanent, gods are revered and intelligence is valued. The first one of these traits that stands out in this epic is marriage is permanent. Penelope is faced with many suitors who wish to marr...
  • Greek Woman States
    435 words
    A Review of Lysistrata Lysistrata, a play written by Aristophanes, was first performed in 411 B.C. It portrays an arousing comedy of a plan to end the war between Athens and Sparta as proposed by an Athenian woman, Lysistrata. To do this, she holds a meeting among the women of Greece in an effort to convince them that men will succumb to peace as a result of sexual frustration. The women agree, seizing the Acropolis to keep themselves separated from the men. Eventually, tension possesses all of ...
  • 302 words
    Socrates is typically Greek in his relentless questioning -- of himself, of authorities, of accepted traditions and practices. And Socrates' questioning displays another characteristic associated with the Greeks -- a belief in the capacity of the mind (rationality) to apprehend the universe and a concomitant belief in the power of language to come to terms with that understanding. Likewise, SOPHOCLES' play Antigone is an outspoken critique of absolute power and unenlightened rule. The play detai...
  • Greek Tragedy
    592 words
    "Staging of A Tragic Drama" Much of our knowledge of Greek theater comes from archaeological studies and historical writings of the time. By the 600's B.C., the Greeks were giving choral performances of dancing and singing at festivals. Trade gies were performed as part of an important yearly religious celebration. Greeks then later staged performances in the Theater of Dionysus. Ancient Greek theaters were outdoors, that seated thousands of spectators for annual contests in acting, choral singi...
  • Earliest Greek Rituals
    843 words
    There are many theories about the origins of theater; the common element in most theories is the role that primitive ritual played in the development of drama. Primitive societies, which did not have written languages, used ritual enactment to show their understanding of the human condition and of the world around them. Ritual was also a way of communicating this knowledge to others. Furthermore, it was believed that ritual could be used to influence or control natural phenomenon such as rainfal...
  • Aeschylus And Other Play
    818 words
    In times of struggle and hardship, people are constantly looking for ways to escape their reality. They have found release from their stress in practices such as exercise, therapy, and meditation. In the ancient times of Greece, life for citizens was strict and sometimes harsh. During these times of struggle, people search for ways to vacation from the laws that bore down upon them, one of the ways they accomplished this was through art. Art was a way to express true feeling and emotion and unit...
  • Feel Of Ancient Greek Plays
    1,372 words
    While from reading Arnott I got the impression that the way Greek theatre was performed was very effective in the past, I would make many changes to the performance if I were the director of the play. The main thing that I did not like was that there were only three actors on the stage, playing all the characters in the play (not including the chorus). I think this is an interesting way to perform a play, but in the present day I do not think that people would appreciate so few actors. People ha...
  • Seats For The More Important People
    1,230 words
    The plays in ancient Greece were made up of several genres. One of these genres was comedy. Comedy came from two main factors, the major one being known as the Choral Element which has ceremonies to encourage fertility at the Festival of Dionysus. The second influence was from Sicilian mimes that performed sometime very rude performances where they would make mocking allusions to audience members throughout the show. A parody is an amusing imitation that is usually a piece of writing or music th...
  • Costumes And Masks The Greeks
    434 words
    Ancient Greek Theatre TheaterStructureAncient Greek Theatre Essay, Research Paper Theater Structure Where did we get the idea of the theatre? From the Greeks. The Greeks were one of the first civilizations to have a theatre. It was built into a steep mountainside, and the shape of it was curved like a semicircle. The stadium faced a stage that only male actors could perform on, because women were thought of as housewives, and not artistic actors. Playwrights There were two types of plays: a trag...

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