Western Literature Week Thirteen

                                             Aristophanes

Term explanation

dramatic irony: this type of irony is the device of giving the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters. Dramatic irony produces dramatic conflict in what one character relies or appears to rely upon, the contrary of which is known by observers [especially the audience; sometimes to other characters with the drama] to be true. In summary, it means that the reader/ watcher/ listener knows something that one or more of the characters in the piece is not aware of. For example, in Oedipus the King, the audience knows that himself is the murderer that he is seeking: Oedipus, Creon, and Jocasta do not.    

tragic flaw: that a hero of a tragedy must evoke in the audience a sense of pity or fear, saying, "The change of fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous man brought from prosperity to adversity. The tragic hero has to be a man who is not eminently good and just, whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty. Thus, He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous. He goes on to give an example such as Oedipus and Thyestes."       

sarcasm: it is a sharp, bitter, or cutting, expression or remark, a bitter gibe or taunt. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although sarcasm is not necessarily ironic. The distinctive quality is present in the spoken word and manifested chiefly by vocal infections. The sarcastic content of a statement will be dependent upon the context in which it appears.  

Hamartia: The term Hamartia derives from the Greek which means to miss the mark or to err. It is most often associated with Greek tragedy, although it is also used in Christian theology. Hamartia as it pertains to dramatic literature was first used by Aristotle in his Poetics. In tragedy, Hamartia is the protagonist’s error or flaw that leads to a chain of plot actions culminating in a reversal from his/her good fortune to bad. 

hubris: it is extreme pride or self- confidence

Trilogy   

It is a set of three works of arts that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. In the Dionysia festivals of ancient Greece, for example, trilogies of plays were performed followed by a fourth satyr play.           

Topic: Agamemnon [play]

Aegisthus: He is Agamemnon’s cousin [his uncle’s son] and Aegisthus had a love affair with Clytemnestra who is Agamemnon’s wife. The Crown of Atreus should belong to Aegisthus’ family initially but Agamemnon’s father took it away.

Orestes: Because Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon, their son, Orestes, and their daughter, Electra killed Clytemnestra together. After that, they were chased by the goddess of revenge, Furies. Athena held a court for them ultimately.

The sentences of Agamemnon

The gods fail not to mark/ those who have killed many

Iphigenia

She was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus princess of Argos. After offending Artemis, Agamemnon was commanded to kill Iphigenia as a sacrifice to allow his ships to sail to Troy. In some versions, Iphigenia is sacrificed at Aulis, but in others, she is rescued by Artemis. In the version where she is saved, she goes to the Taurians and meets her brother Orestes.  

Topic: Oedipus the King [play]

The play is an example of a classic tragedy, noticeably containing an emphasis on how Oedipus’s own faults contribute to the tragic hero’s downfall, as opposed to having fate be the sole cause.

It’s a story of Thebes.

Tiresias is a Thebes prophet who was famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years.  

Oedipus’ real father was King Laius and he got adopted by the King Polybus of Corinth who was the king of the country which is next to be Thebes.

Jocasta announced if someone can answer Sphinx’s riddle. She promised to that the people who answer it can get Thebes. Oedipus did it and married her.

Riddle of Sphinx: Because Oedipus wanted to get into Thebes, he had to answer Sphinx’s riddle.

What walks on four feet in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?

Topic: Oedipus at Colons

It is one of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. The play described the end of Oedipus’ tragic life. Legends differ as to the site of Oedipus’s death. Sophocles set the place at Colons, a village near Athens and also Sophocles’ own birthplace where the blinded Oedipus has come with his daughters Antigone and Ismene as suppliants of the Erinyes and of the Theseus, the king of Athens.

Antigone—Because King Creon forbade anybody to bury Antigone’s brother, Isemene, Antigone grabbed a handle of soil and put on Isemene’s dead body. After doing that, she was imprisoned in a grave. Meanwhile, Creon’s son, Haemon fell in love with Antigone but Creon disagree to release her. Therefore, Haemnon ended his life due to his fury. 

 

Othello   

It is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603. There have four characters: Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, Iago. It includes racism, love, jealousy, betrayal, revenge and repentence.  

Desdemona: she is a Venetian beauty who enrages and disappoints her father, a Venetian senator, when she elopes with Othello, a man several years her senior. When her husband is deployed to Cyprus in the service of the Republic of Venice, Desdemona accompanies him. There, her husband is manipulated by his ensign Iago into believing she is an adulteress, and in the last act, she is murdered by her estranged spouse.

Christopher Marlowe  

 

He was a playwright, poet, translator. He greatly influenced William Shakespeare. His famous notable works is Doctor Faustus.

Doctor Faustus—The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus

Faustus contracted with the Devil. The devil listened to the words of Faustus in twenty- four years, but after twenty-four years , Faustus had to listened to the devil. In the end, he was regretted.             

Vocabulary    

ab: bad

abducted: to take away from a place by force

ant: people

attendant: an employ who severs or helps customers

audi: listen

audience: a group of people who gather together to listen to something or watch something

en: power

blacken: to make something dark or black  

sicken: to become sick or to cause someone sick

ideal spectator vs. audience

ideal spectator: a person who watches an event, show, game, activity

audience: a group f people who gather together to listen to something or watch something

condemn: to say in strong and definite way that someone or something is bad or wrong

competence: the ability to do something well