This morning, please post a well-developed answer to this question in the COMMENT section of this blog post:
Shakespeare's Theater
- What are some examples (use textual evidence to support) of Greek Tragedy in the contemporary play "The Darker Face of the Earth"?
- How does Rita Dove "breathe new life" into this old Greek legend based on Oedipus The King? Is she, in your opinion, successful? Why or why not? [please use specific evidence and examples to support your position].
Shakespeare's Theater
Please take notes on what you learn on the graphic organizer. Turn this in as participation credit at the end of our class today.
Crash Course Theatre: The English Renaissance and Not Shakespeare
Crash Course Theater: Straight Outta Stratford-Upon-Avon: Early Shakespeare
Crash Course Theatre: The Tragedies
Crash Course Theatre: The English Renaissance and Not Shakespeare
Crash Course Theater: Straight Outta Stratford-Upon-Avon: Early Shakespeare
Crash Course Theatre: The Tragedies
Theater, as we know it in Shakespeare's day as performed in a typical PLAYHOUSE, didn't occur until 1576. It was James Burbage who built the first playhouse called, appropriately, "the Theater"--a permanent building dedicated to showing plays for commercial interest. Before then, plays were generally performed in courtyards, tennis courts, inns or guild houses. Private showings for the nobles or upper classes would be commissioned as well in indoor theaters where anyone could afford a ticket.
Actors joined an acting company. Shakespeare, for example, first belonged to the Chamberlain's Men, then to the King's Men (after Elizabeth's death). Only men were allowed to act in the Elizabethan theater. Younger actors (boys) often played female roles because they would have looked more like women (i.e., no beard). This helps to explain why so many of Shakespeare's plays include cross-dressing. Consider that Juliet, for example, would have been played by a boy to the older actor playing Romeo. New actors were often given smaller roles so as to train with the experienced actors--who often played the major roles. Shakespeare himself was recorded as playing various small roles in his plays. The most famous example was the ghost of Hamlet's father in Hamlet.
Plays were written (often in collaboration) by the actors in the company (who also doubled as the house manager, director, props master, producer, etc.) This helps to explain why some characters in Shakespeare's plays disappear mid-play or return as new characters in the 4th or 5th acts. It's hard to be on stage while also taking money at the door.
Lines for a play were written on sides and distributed to the company members. It would be rare for an actor to have a complete script (the writer would, of course) but printing costs money, so copies were kept to a minimum. This helps explain why there are A-sides and B-sides to Shakespeare's works. Some lines or sides were changed by the actors or the writer during the performances. Famous actors might even change the author's lines by slipping in a bit of well-rehearsed and well-known comedic business for the audience's benefit.
Finally, having one's works collected in a folio book or quarto would have been rare. Scripts that got out of the hands of a company could be stolen by other theater companies, so copies were not passed around generally. The King's Men must have thought a lot about Shakespeare to have his works printed and bound! Luckily they did--or we could not frustrate future high school students by forcing them to read his plays!
The structure of a Shakespearean play (most 5 act plays) is:
ACT ONE: Exposition, Inciting incident, Major Dramatic Question is introduced, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Often a complication occurs to disrupt the status quo.
ACT TWO: Rising Action, Complication(s), Establishment/development of the Major Conflict, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Introduction to subplot (minor plot).
ACT THREE: Crisis or Turning Point, Dark Moment, Major Decision.
ACT FOUR: Enlightenment, development or Resolution of minor plots.
ACT FIVE: Final climax, Resolution of minor and major plots, falling action. Major Dramatic Question is answered.
Finally, having one's works collected in a folio book or quarto would have been rare. Scripts that got out of the hands of a company could be stolen by other theater companies, so copies were not passed around generally. The King's Men must have thought a lot about Shakespeare to have his works printed and bound! Luckily they did--or we could not frustrate future high school students by forcing them to read his plays!
The structure of a Shakespearean play (most 5 act plays) is:
ACT ONE: Exposition, Inciting incident, Major Dramatic Question is introduced, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Often a complication occurs to disrupt the status quo.
ACT TWO: Rising Action, Complication(s), Establishment/development of the Major Conflict, sometimes the protagonist has made a Major Decision. Introduction to subplot (minor plot).
ACT THREE: Crisis or Turning Point, Dark Moment, Major Decision.
ACT FOUR: Enlightenment, development or Resolution of minor plots.
ACT FIVE: Final climax, Resolution of minor and major plots, falling action. Major Dramatic Question is answered.
Othello was written in 1603 (1st performed in 1604). See handout for details about the play's summary, its characters, etc.
Let's begin reading this tragedy together today in class. In Act One we will be treated to the play's exposition (the play begins in media res), inciting incident, and let's look for the MDQ and the Major Decision/complication of the action.
HOMEWORK: None. Please bring your texts back with you to our next class.
11 comments:
A Greek tragedy, according to Aristotle, has a spectacle (a dramatic/climax scene with much emotion). This happens in The Darker Face of the Earth on page 140, when Amalia dies and the slave revolt occurs on the plantation, Augustus just having found out that she was his mama. Dove tried to breathe new life into the play, Oedipus Rex, changing the scene and some of the specifics. Obviously, Oedipus is in Thebes and this play is in the antebellum south. Augustus and Oedipus move make love to their mother who is in a position if power, but Augustus' relationship seems more forced. Their kiss feels rushed, while Oedipus' wife is a natural progression after becoming king. However, the killing of Augustus' father Hector (Dove 97), feels more emotional. Hector is a mad/grief driven swamp dweller because of his love life, a more powerful character, but his death is just as simple and quick as Laius was. Such comparisons can go on for decades. Overall, Dove's play is not better than Oedipus Res, it just changes things for the effect of a different message. You can't improve upon a masterpiece like Oedipus Rex.
Some examples of a Greek tragedy in ̈The Darker Face of the Earth ̈ are anagnorisis and parados. An example of anagnorisis is in scene fourteen where Augustus confronts Amalia and ends up discovering that Amalia is his mother, but at this point in the play, its too late and he ends up getting killed by the slave revolt along with his estranged mother because he was believed to have been a traitor and too cowardly to go through with the original plan to kill Amalia himself, to begin with. Which is another element of a tragedy because Augustus, a well-known slave who´s been deemed as famous meets his ultimate demise because of his inability/stubbornness to accept his fate. An example of parados is in scene twelve when the chorus opens up at the beginning of the scene, during Hectors funeral.
Rita Dove is able to ̈Breathe new life¨ into Oedipus by playing with the language and the characterization. She still maintains aspects from the original play, but alters the vernacular of the characters to fit the overall setting by placing common aspects of slavery such as the slaves strong belief in God and their hopefulness, which isn´t depicted in the original play. She´s giving a voice to characters that typically wouldn´t be mentioned or talked about in a classic Greek tragedy. Overall, she does do a successful job because she was able to maintain most, if not all components of a Greek tragedy, while touching on contemporary issues in a poetic manner.
Madison Sutherland--
One example in The Darker Face of the Earth of Greek Tragedy is the use of chorus in the beginning. The chorus of slaves come out and set the scene, so the audience knows what is happing (pg 21). Another example is the use of the prophet and prophecy as seen in Schylla's character. Rita Dove brings life to Oedipus The King in setting it in a time period that is historically interesting, and also relevant in the present day. Being an African American author herself, she relates to the audience about themes like identity and lineage. In Oedipus The King, the themes can be hard to relate to in the context, but they are universal and Rita Dove does a good job of showing this. It was successful because it contained much more understandable dialogue (pg all of it).
while I was reading the play It seemed more of a play that had lots of problems. It all starts with the character Amalia Amalia ends up getting confronted by Augustus and when she gets comforted they both end up finding out about the others mother more things like this also happen like when Amalia ends up dying some how she ends up having a connection with the slaves and they end up revolting this is some how similar to Rita doves play because not only did it have conflict it was making a point the way the play was set up and the way the characters expressed there self it all made a point about slavery which means they were written around the same time the way that Rita dove writes and says things in her play I feel like a Greek person wouldn't understand I dont just like ritas play beuase of the color of her skin but I can understand it more
Some examples of Greek tragedy in the "Darker Face of the Earth" is that alike some Greek tragedies, Rita Dove also incorporates her own chorus such as the community which frequently assumes the role of a foreboding, conscience-like chorus. The character in this play that also assumes the role of Oedipus is Augustus, this play resembles Oedipus the King because at the end of the play Augustus discovers that he is Amalia's son similar to Oedipus the King. Rita Dove breathes a "new life" into this play because she brings a more modern/contemporary topic to resemble Oedipus the King. She uses the topic of slavery and creates similarities such as how Augustus' status of being a slave and his fate is not his fault alike Oedipus' fate.
The author Rita dove improved the story of Oedipus by making it more relateable not exsactly our time period but closer then greek tragedy timesbut she doesnt change it too much to the point where it completley changes the point of the play.In The darker face of the earth Just like in Oedipus You have the begininig where you have the person who is the watchman in Oedipus you have the watchman and in the darker face of the earth you have Skylla.
In "The Darker Face of the Earth", there is an example of greek tragedy in the form of parados. Parados in the play is shown in scene 12 when the chorus is in the beginning of the scene, during Hector's funeral. Rita Dove puts her own spin onto Oedipus by adding topics of slavery while still balancing the main ideas from the original play.This creates a new discussion of characters who wouldn't normally be in greek plays.
1) In The darker face Of The Earth, Rita dove follows several Greek Tragedy in her play, which is solely based off of Oedipus The King. Her main character Augustus and he is based on Oedipus. The story follows Greek tragedy by following a prophecy, having Augustus kill his father hector, as well as putting him in a relationship with his own mother. An example of one of these tragedy's is ¨AUGUSTUS quickly gains control and chokes HECTOR¨.
2) Rita Dove breathes new life into this old Greek legend based on Oedipus The King by setting it literally over a thousand years into the future. I feel this was successful because it (like stated above) follows the style of Greek tragedy in the play while changing the entire circumstances and character motives. In the play an example of this is when Amalia says ¨Why don slaves revolt? Why? Over the years Iv´e come to the conclusion they simply haven´t got the guts. And so they deserve their fate¨.
The story of Oedipus was better with Rita Dove because she made it sound more modern and it was more understandable. I understood the story better because she used more of the things that I knew about and she still used the Greek tragedy in the play. She had the same characters but they wanted different things than the original Oedipus. I think that the play by Rita Dove was successful because it reached the new generation and was easier for us to read and understand
The main character, Augustus has a fatal flaw that leads to his downfall, just like Greek theater. Augustus's flaw is his overwhelming desire to rise above the circumstances of his birth. This leads him to pursue a relationship with his white master, and to take a position in the rebellion, the two factors that combine, ending in his death. There is also a type of chorus. In this play, the chorus is made up of the other slaves, who sing (Melody) and also help to show the reactions of the masses. There is also the idea of fate. Scylla gives a prophecy that Augustus will not be able to escape his birth and it will lead to his downfall. This eventually comes true.
Rita Dove takes the story of Oedipus and sets it in Antebellum south. This takes the original idea of identity and denying one's birth and adds the element of race. This makes it relevant and adds new meaning to an old story. There is also something really cool about taking classic Greek theater, and giving it to actors and stories of color.
characteristics of Greek tragedy. Augustus, the protagonist's determination to prove the prophecy wrong is his eventual downfall or "hamartia", as shown on page 169. Another more subtle and lesser-known tropes of Greek tragedy and Greek theatre as a whole is the chorus which this play also had, with slaves singing to represent the "people" or "the people's voice".
Rita Dove sets the play in the pre-Civil War era, which is closer to the present than to the ancient Greeks, but the main reason, at least in my opinion is that the play is much more relatable to people because of the way she brings in the ethnicity and comprehensible dialogue. Of course even with all these changes, the main ideas and theme of the plot itself, still remain as the age-old tale of Oedipus The King.
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