Concept in Definition ABC

lilen gomez | July 2022
Professor in Philosophy

The historical origin of Greek tragedy

Tragedy, as an artistic genre, originates in Athens around the 6th century BC. C., reaching its point of greatest splendor in the V century BC. C., from which begins its decline. It is an expression that develops in the context of cops, city, once certain material conditions are consolidated.

On the one hand, on the civic-religious level, Athenian public life experienced a climate freedom and autonomy, which was expressed in a festive way. This sense of festivity was linked to a relationship of familiarity with the gods: religious life was not constituted a sphere separate from public, profane life, but there was an immediacy link between the two. From the incorporation of the figure of Dionysus to the pantheon, Athens makes room for the offering of celebratory parties to worship him; in such a way that, in the Dionysian festivals, the cult force is exalted as a distinctive element of the Athenian civic body.

On the other hand, on the poetic-discursive level, the festivals introduce a decisive element in the development of the tragedy: the notion of drama, supported by mimesis, that is, imitation.

Thirdly, the Dionysian festivities open up the possibility of a space for civic encounter, which will be the condition for the development of the theater, as a space in which individuals gather to contemplate something. Thus, the concurrence of these three conditions —the sense of festivity, the poetic element of mimesis and the infrastructure theatrical—is the propitious starting point for the development of Greek tragedy.

structure of greek tragedy

The dramatic structure of the tragedy presents different elements: it begins with a prologue, in which the a summary of the plot of the work, showing the past of the tragic hero —who stars in it—, until reaching his Present.

Then, the singing of the choir (párodos) continues, which gives rise to the episodes from which the plot is articulated, represented by the actors. The choir dialogues throughout the performance with the characters, expressing their thoughts, and intervenes between each episode to set the course dramatic of action, by means of ideas of a philosophical and moral. The choir and the hero alternate between singing and reciting, thus exposing the debate in the face of a certain conflictive issue (agon), such as the transgression of a rule, revenge, justice, etc. Finally, the tragedy concludes with the exodus (exodos), after the last episode, in which the hero becomes aware of his own responsibility about previous events.

Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides have been authors recognized as referents of the Greek tragic genre, throughout history. Among the most paradigmatic tragic works, we can mention Prometheus Bound, by Aeschylus; Antigone and Oedipus the King, by Sophocles; or Medea, by Euripides.

The social function of tragedy

In his Poetics, Aristotle (384 B.C. c. - 322 BC C.) points out the "pedagogical" function of tragedy, through the elements of mimesis and katharsis. The characteristic formal feature of tragedy is the representation by imitation (mimesis) of an action that, through the compassion and terror that it arouses in the viewer, provokes a feeling of liberation regarding such sensations (katharsis). The tragedy imitates an action —which is carried out by the characters—, whose plausibility lies in the fact that the succession of acts is rationally necessary, due to its very structure. As the plot progresses, an evil is revealed that consists of the rational result of an action necessary carried out by the tragic hero and that, inevitably, he ends up suffering first person.

The suffering of the hero leads the spectator to the feeling of fear, through identifying with him, that this will happen to him in his own flesh. Such fear makes him feel sorry for the hero and consequently feel the desire to avoid evil. What happens, then, is that with this desire a moral transformation of the spectator takes place, which tends towards correct the passions that would lead him to a misfortune like the one he observes in the suffering of the hero tragic.

Therein lies the cathartic value of tragedy, which translates into a practical and political value, since it provokes a learning for life in the viewer. Such learning is only possible given the aesthetic distance that separates the spectator from the acts imitated by the tragedy, since, if the contemplative distance were annulled, catharsis could not occur, but only a sensation of fear.