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The Greek Tragedy
- chorus→dance and sing poetry
A Greek chorus is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action. The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison and sometimes wore masks.
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- tragic flaw (Hamartia)
Error of Judgement or Tragic Flaw. The term hamartia derives from the Greek hamartanein 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. - tragic hero
A tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy. Aristotle suggests 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.” According to Aristotle a tragic hero ought to be a man whose misfortune comes to him, not through vice or depravity but by some error of judgment. For example King Oedipus kills his father from impulse and marries his mother out of ignorance.
- Catharsis
Catharsis (from the Greek katharsis meaning "purification" or "cleansing") is the purification and purgation of emotions—especially pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration. Catharsis is a term in dramatic art that describes the effect of tragedy principally on the audience (although some have speculated on characters in the drama as well).
- Hubris
Hubris means extreme pride or self-confidence. When it offends the Gods of ancient Greece, it is usually punished. Hubris is usually perceived as a characteristic of an individual rather than a group, although the group the offender belongs to may suffer consequences from the wrongful act. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence, accomplishments or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power. - dramatic irony
This type of irony is the device of giving the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters in the narrative is unaware of (at least consciously), thus placing the spectator a step ahead of at least one of the characters. In Oedipus the King, the audience knows that Oedipus himself is the murderer that he is seeking; Oedipus, Creon and Jocasta do not.
Syllables
- attach↔detach
- de-→down, away from
detach(v.)
meaning: disengage (something or part of something) and remove it. - fate(n.)
meaning: the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. - fatal(adj.)
meaning: causing death. - destiny(n.)
meaning: the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future. - destination(n.)
meaning: the place to which someone or something is going or being sent.