origins of tragedy

This book looks at ancient Greek tragedy in the context of surviving data about primitive drama among other cultures.

The protagonistes was the principal hero or heroine of a play, in whom all the power and energy of the drama were concentrated; and whenever a Greek play is called after the name of its characters, it is always the name of the character sustained by the protagonistes. Charles Anthon. He turned the comus also, or moving crowd of worshippers, into a standing chorus, of the same kind as that which gave Stesichorus his surname. google_ad_height = 90; Thus the protagonistes always came on the stage from a door in the centre, the deuteragonistes from one on the right, and the tritagonistes from a door on the left hand side. Meaning "any unhappy event, disaster" is from c. 1500. an event resulting in great loss and misfortune, drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance. The main focus, First published in 1910, this book presents a detailed account regarding the birth of tragedy by the renowned classical scholar Sir William Ridgeway (1858 1926). Thespis is said to have introduced an actor for the sake of affording an interval of rest to the Dionysian chorus. According to another opinion ... the word was first coined from the goat that was the prize for the best ode or song in honor of Dionysus. But Ridgeway's own theory of tragedy is hardly discussed. Although his anthropological data may be out of date, his imaginative effort to see the surviving drama in a new way brings out much not often discussed on the topic. Certain conventional means were also devised, by which the spectators, at the moment an actor appeared on the stage, were enabled to judge which part he was going to perform. google_color_text = "000000"; Ridgeway's ideas, while no doubt completely wrong, are nevertheless seminal in terms of the the history of Edwardian scholarship. March 1st 1980

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. This is the meaning of Aristotle's assertion, that this primitive Tragedy was "extemporaneous". New York: Harper & Brothers, 1853. Start by marking “The Origin of Tragedy: With Special Reference to the Greek Tragedians” as Want to Read: Error rating book. He invented a disguise for the face by means of a pigment, prepared from the herb purslain; and afterward constructed a linen mask, in order, probably, that he might be able to sustain more than one character. google_color_bg = "E9E9F4";

google_ad_width = 336; The female characters of a play were always performed by young men. The custom introduced by Thespis was continued by Phrynichus. google_ad_width = 728;

In his, First published by Cambridge University Press in 1910, reissued by Benjamin Blom in 1966. google_ad_format = "336x280_as"; . Even the etymology of the word tragedy is far from established. google_color_border = "E9E9F4"; His mournful or joyous fortunes, his mystical death, symbolizing the death of all vegetation in the winter, and his birth indicating the renovation of all nature in the spring, and his struggles in passing from one state to another, were not only represented and sympathized in by the dithyrambic singers and dancers, but they also carried their enthusiasm so far as to fancy themselves under the influence of the same events as the god himself, and, in their attempts to identify themselves with him and his fortunes, assumed the character of the subordinate divinities, the Satyrs, Nymphs, and Panes, who formed the mythological train of the god. His birth-place derived its name, according to tradition, from the father of Erigone; it had always been a seat of the religion of Bacchus, and the origin of Athenian tragedy and comedy has been confidently referred to the drunken festivals of the place; indeed, it is not improbable that the name itself may point to the old mimetic exhibitions which were common there. In fact, the very name of Tragedy, far from signifying any thing mournful or pathetic, is most probably derived from the goat-like appearance of the satyrs, who sang or acted with mimetic gesticulations the old Bacchic songs, with Silenus, the constant companion of Dionysus, for their leader. He is generally admitted to have been the inventor of the Cyclic chorus, in which the dithyramb was danced, after a more regular fashion, around the blazing altar by a band of fifty men or boys, to a lyric accompaniment.

google_color_link = "0000FF"; The connection may be via satyric drama, from which tragedy later developed, in which actors or singers were dressed in goatskins to represent satyrs.

This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Ancient Greek culture, anthropology, literary criticism and the nature of the tragic.". Be the first to ask a question about The Origin of Tragedy. The idea seems to have been borrowed by him from the Dorian choral odes, with their regular lyric movements, since Arion travelled extensively in the Dorian states of Hellas, and has ample opportunities of observing the varieties of choral worship, and of introducing any improvement which he might wish to make in it.

But as it was clear that, if the chorus took an active and independent part in such a play, it would have been obliged to leave its original and characteristic sphere, Aeschylus, in consequence, added a second actor, so that the action and the dialogue became now independent of the chorus, and the dramatist, at the same time, had an opportunity of showing two persons in contrast with each other on the stage.

That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of cultural identity He was born at Icarius, an Attic deme, at the beginning of the sixth century B.C. This means looking at primitive religions, and the purpose drama served in that context. From their resemblances in dress and action to goats ... their song [was sometimes called] "the goat-song."

To see what your friends thought of this book, This book gets the occasional mention because Ridgeway was a vociferous opponent of the (much discussed) Cambridge Ritualists, who argued that Greek tragedy arose out of primitive Dionysian religious ritual.

The most generally accepted source is the Greek tragōidia, or “goat-song,” from tragos (“goat”) and aeidein (“to sing”).