Greek Power Point1.4 Segment 4

Now here’s real a “ PARADOX ”…

But first, a real “ Pair o’ Docks”…

“ Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty, That is All Ye Know on Earth and All Ye Need to Know.” Keats What is the difference between…

“ Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty, That is All Ye Know on Earth and All Ye Need to Know.” Keats What is the difference between… the truth and

“ Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty, That is All Ye Know on Earth and All Ye Need to Know.” Keats What is the difference between… the truth and T ruth ?

The eternal paradox of literature: Art always tells the Truth

John Malkovich as himself in Being John Malkovich 1999 The eternal paradox of literature: Art always tells the Truth even when it’s lying.

The eternal paradox of literature: What’s T rue need not be true.

The eternal paradox of literature: Although a story is fictional… Its THEME is always True.

THEME equals Truth EPISTEMOLOGY

When reading literature… Art Says…

Truth doesn’t come easily. Art Says…

Using your powers of inference… Art Says…

… you have to “urn” it. Art Says…

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Thomas Paine Says… (1737-1809) Writer and Revolutionary

Authors rarely come right out and TELL you the story’s THEME.

Art Says… By imagining, struggling, sympathizing, as we read, we make the life lesson more personally meaningful .

AND more memorable. Art Says…

Greek Theater

496-406 B.C. “ Fortunate Sophocles who after a long life died, a happy and a gifted man after writing many fine tragedies he made a good end, having endured no evil. ” Phrynichas, Greek Comic Poet

Arete Rewarded: The Cast Party

Tragic Form

Aristotle TRUTH can be found by analyzing nature.

Aristotle Some people call me the father of the scientific method.

Aristotle The method influenced my approach to literary criticism.

Aristotle BEAUTY can be found by analyzing art and determining its underlying form.

From Aristotle’s Poetics “ TRAGEDY, then, is a representation of an action that is worth serious attention, complete in itself, and of some amplitude; in language enriched by a variety of artistic devices appropriate to the several parts of the play ; presented in the form of action , not narration; by means of pity and fear bringing about the purgation of such emotions.

From Aristotle’s Poetics The Six Aspects of Tragedy

Catharsis: Pity & Fear

Hamartia: “Average” protagonist, fatally flawed, attains anagnorisis

Universality: Theme

From Aristotle’s Poetics The Six Aspects of Tragedy 4. Artful Diction: Purposeful use of style 5. Unity of Action: “ Triangle-formed” plot which includes peripeteia 6. Spectacle: Viewable

# 1 CATHARSIS

CHORUS : Sang to arouse emotion in the audience. ULTIMATE PURPOSE : ARETE for the POLIS # 1 ACTION : Real enough to allow for vicarious experience.

HUBRIS # 2

STOCK Topic: HUBRIS STOCK Theme: Pride Precedes a Fall # 2

# 2

# 3 Universality and Historical Roots

Corinth # 3

# 3

Oedipus and the Sphynx # 3

Oedipus’ Lineage: The House of Thebes THE PAST # 3

TASK: With a partner (and working together)…

IDENTIFY at least three different ways in which Sophocles uses artful diction* in the play Oedipus Rex .

For each quotation you find, briefly note its context in the play and HOW the author helps to enhance this context with his diction.

* HINT: Keep your literary terms sheet handy.

# 4

ARTFUL DICTION # 4

Greek Tragedy is as Much Choral as Dramatic

ALL LINES: In blank verse.

MESSENGER SPEECHES: Archaic diction. Extremely formal.

DIALOG: Often colloquial (connection to polis)

CHORAL ODES: Varied meter. Shorter lines.

EPISODES: In iambic trimeter (sung)

# 4

# 5 “ FEAR and PITY may be aroused by spectacular means; but they may also result from the INNER STRUCTURE of the piece, which is the better way , and indicates a superior poet. For the plot ought to be so constructed that, even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes place. ” Poetics XIV

# 5

Contemporary Short Story Pattern

# 6 “ But to produce this effect by the mere spectacle alone is a LESS artistic method, and dependent on extraneous aids. Those who employ spectacular means to create a sense not of the terrible but only of the monstrous, are strangers to the purpose of Tragedy; for we must not demand of Tragedy any and every kind of pleasure, but only that which is proper to it .” Poetics

# 6 SPECTACLE

# 6

SPECTACLE: Staging # 6

SPECTACLE: Skene (SKA-nay) # 6

SPECTACLE # 6

SPECTACLE: Staging # 6

SPECTACLE: Chorus # 6

SPECTACLE: Actors # 6

SPECTACLE: Masks # 6

SPECTACLE # 6

SPECTACLE: Music # 6

Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati Sacred Fragments

TASK :

In a group of EIGHT, for either Antigone or Oedipus at Colonus …

Identify the six aspects of Greek tragedy according to Aristotle and provide supporting evidence from the play using QUOTATIONS (include line numbers as well).

Link each aspect to its equivalent in contemporary culture (you may draw from anything except plays).

Deliver your connections in an organized, connected presentation to the class using visuals and/or sound to make each aspect come alive for your audience.

LOGIC Patterns of Persuasion (Form) Logic

“ The duty and office of rhetoric is to apply reason to imagination for the better moving of the will. ”