Dramatic Foundations - Computers as Theatre - page 46

festival were matters of serious import, depicting the evolution of Greek
philosophy through their dramatic treatment of known myths and stories
such as the tragedies of Agamemnon, Orestes, and Oedipus. They commu-
nicated philosophical and religious ideas and also provided the occasion
for the collective experience of emotion.
It's important to recognize that most of the stories upon which the great
tragedies were based were known to most of the audience; people were
not going to the theatre to see how the plot turned out. The commissioned
works were likely presented in response to the times, and their presentation
formed a sort of public discourse. The Chorus in the Greek Theatre was like
a mass character representing what might be cast as the citizens' responses
through dance and song. The comedies of Aristophanes were clearly built
around current events and issues. Greek drama was the way that Greek cul-
ture publicly thought and felt about the most important issues of humanity,
including ethics, morality, government, and religion. To call drama merely
“entertainment” in this context is to miss most of the picture. 2 The Greeks
employed drama and theatre as tools for thought and discourse in the Polis.
Drama: Tragedy, Comedy, and Melodrama
Aristotle distinguished between tragedy and comedy in terms of the cen-
tral emotions that they are intended to evoke. Tragedy has the power to
arouse and purge pity and fear . These emotions are actually spelled out in
Aris totle's Rhetoric . Fear is based on probability—uncertainty and suspense
( Rhet oric 1382a, 20-29). Pity is our response to something destructive or pain-
ful happening to someone who does not deserve it ( Rhetoric 1385b, 10-22.)
In tragedy, the protagonist (main character) may have a tragic fl aw—a char-
acteristic that is often something admirable; for example, Hamlet's tortured
concern over his father's death. It may also be a moral or intellectual fl aw,
or a mistake. 3 In tragedy, the purging of these emotions— catharsis —is the
emotional release that comes with the ending of the play.
2. It is interesting to note how our own popular culture reveals vestiges of these values, espe-
cially the civic, in some of our fi lms and television shows (e.g., Thin Red Line , All in the Family ,
or Angels in America ). Such productions can engage the whole culture in the consideration of
matters of deepest import. Unfortunately, most of our media fare trivializes or ignores such con-
cerns, thereby diminishing us by diminishing what we think about and how we think about it.
3. The Greeks used the word hamartia to refer to a mistake that is an error in judgment. Liter-
ally, the word means “to fall short.” Interestingly, the same word was used in Greek versions of
the Old Testament and was translated as “sin.”