Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides: The Great Tragic Poets
The Three Great Tragic Poets
The three great poets of tragedy are:
- Aeschylus: He wrote more than 80 plays, of which only seven have survived, along with fragments of others. The first dated work is called The Persians. Another outstanding work is Prometheus Bound.
- Sophocles: He enjoyed great prestige in his city and was friends with famous contemporaries such as Herodotus, Hippocrates, and Pericles. In no Greek poet is there a deeper consideration of human pain and destiny. In Antigone, divine laws contradict human ones. Oedipus Rex also belongs to the Theban cycle. Oedipus, king of Thebes, orders an investigation into the cause of the fever raging in the city. Oedipus tries to escape his fate, only to fall into it, remaining steadfast in his investigations despite the tragic fear and truth. Electra treats the same topic as Aeschylus, but with a different focus; the central character here is Electra, with her sufferings and her hopes.
- Euripides: There is a group of works in which the fundamental issue is war, such as The Heraclides, The Suppliants, and The Trojan Women, some of which are clearly anti-Spartan. Some players are the losers of the Trojan War. They are generally works that describe the evils of war, both among the vanquished and between the victors. One of his most celebrated works is Medea. The main character is a hero of myth, but a parody of the ancient warriors. There are frequent processions and parties to end the work. The fantasy elements and obscene roles are relevant.
Comedians: Aristophanes and Menander
The two great poets of comedy are Aristophanes and Menander. Aristophanes was closely related to the political and literary world of his time, showing himself to be a defender of the old ideals and no friend of the new trends of sophistry. In The Clouds, Socrates appears ridiculous, identified with the sophists. Mockery is directed at justice courts and the way in which judgments are made. Lysistrata (411 BC) is a satire on the Peloponnesian War, resumed that year.
Formal Aspects of Aristophanes’ Play
Through satire and mockery, Aristophanes suggests new ideas about life and rejects inequalities. Likewise, he is opposed to the more radical wing of Athenian imperialism and criticized the war policy of the later demagogues of Pericles. Menander (342-292 BC) lived in a time of major social and political upheaval. He witnessed the ascension of Alexander the Great and lived through the struggles of the Diadochi to rule the Empire. These developments in the early Hellenistic era are not reflected at all in their works. There are fragments of others such as The Misanthrope and The Arbitration.
Theatre in Rome
From the tragedy of Italian origin, we conserve no more than traces, so fundamental Latin theater is rooted in Greek. Just the latest Greek author who retain complete plays of Menander, the samples taken major Latino playwrights, Plautus and Latin Terence. They are the sole representatives of those who retain eatco dias.La Latino middle as well as the Athenian New Comedy, is a theater of archetypes recurring characters that represent a type: the old miser, the boy atolandrado, the parasite, etc. in a situation resolved by final entangling happy. The characters and places are Greek. Regarding Latin tragedy, was lost almost completely, except for some excerpts from authors such as Ennio, who we first studied in épica.Solo Ia have been preserved for posterity 10 works of Seneca the filósafa. In cultured latragedia Seneca Latino mitalógicos recover the items that had previously discussed the classical Greek tragedy. Seneca Edpo So look in the mirror Séfocles Oedipus the King, just as Medea in the play by Euripides.