Greek and Roman Tragedy: CLCV 317/THEA 461

Syllabus: Spring 2008

Professor: Dr. Irby-Massie
Office: Morton 329
Office phone: 221-2162
Office Hours: MW 3:00-4:00 p.m.
e-mail: glirby@wm.edu
web pages:

• Homepage: http://glirby.people.wm.edu/
• Tragedy page: http://glirby.people.wm.edu/Tragedy/TragedySyllabus08.htm
• Note:
  • class announcements and additional readings will be posted on the Tragedy  webpage.
  • Blackboard will not be used for this class

Grading scale:
100-93% = A; 92-90% =  A-; 89-87% = B+; 86-83% = B; 80-82% = B-; 79-77% = C+; 76-73% = C; 72-73% = C-; 69-67% = D+; 66-63% = D; 92-60% = D-; 59%-0% = F

Exams and Course Grade:

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Course Objectives: A careful reading, analysis, and discussion of Greek and Roman tragedy. We shall consider the social, political, and thematic significance of the plays as well as their literary merit (symbolism, formal conventions, dramatic techniques). We shall also address the continuing thematic relevance of these plays. This will include reading and discussing at least one modern adaptation.  Each student is expected to read each of the assigned plays carefully and analytically before class and participate fully and actively in class discussion.

Schedule of Readings: The assigned readings are to be read before coming to class. It is your responsibility to keep up with any changes to the reading assignments as announced in class and on the web page.

Make-up Policy: No make-up work will be allowed for any reason.

Class Room Policies: Regular attendance is strongly encouraged. You are expected to participate fully and actively in all class discussions.

In class performance: Drama is an act, something done. Ancient (and modern) drama is meant to be performed and to be seen. Hence, there will be a modest performance requirement in this class. Groups of three to six students will collaborate on adapting a play to perform in class (there are three scheduled performance dates to accommodate 6 groups). No two groups may produce the same play. You may produce any of the plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles,  Euripides, or Seneca (even those we do not cover in class). You may choose to present a single scene or to conflate an entire play or do anything in between. Your performance must underscore some significant aspect of the original play: a theme, a character, how the play relates to the human condition and the Greek or Roman philosophy of life. Your production is to last as close to 20 minutes as possible. It is imperative that class begin on time (every day but especially on) a performance day. Beyond these few guidelines, you have free reign to do what you like. Have fun! Your grade depends in part on audience reaction!

Essays: You have a choice:

• Two short essays (5-7 pages), one some aspect of ancient tragedy (this will spread out your work for the term). The topics are open-ended but must be relevant to the works and issues discussed in class. You could treat themes, characters, social context, interpretations, or comparisons between plays. If you choose this option, one of your essays may be 'creative' -- e.g., an analysis of a film adaptation, or your own adaptation or parody of a Greek tragedy
• One lengthy research-type essay (12-15 pages): again, the topics are open-ended
• Your papers must cover topics different from the topic of your class presentation.
• I am pleased to discuss any ideas as they arise
• Students enrolled in this course to fulfill the major writing requirement will produce a lengthy annotated research paper (20-30 pages) treating some aspect of Greek and/or Latin tragedy. The topics are open, but please note the following deadlines:  proposal (13 Feb), outline (27 Feb), and rough draft (14 April).
• All final papers are due on 23 April

In-class Presentation: about 10 minutes, handouts and ppts are strongly encouraged. Try to relate your topic to the play(s) assigned for the day and with a plan to encourage class discussion. Your presentation must be accompanied by a 1-2 page expository essay, due the day of the presentation.

1. Architecture of the Greek Theater (23 Jan): Kristen
2. Production of Greek plays: producer, social context (28 Jan): Rachel
3. Aeschylus (life & reception) (28 Jan)
4. Dramatic Festivals (City Dionysia & Lenaia) (30 Jan): Katie
5. translator's agenda: Aeschylus (30 Jan): Vernon
6. Ritual and Aeschylus' Libation Bearers (4 Feb): Mark
7. Hegel's Theory of Tragedy (6 Feb): Olga
8. Aristophanes' Frogs (13 February): Elena
9. Nietzsche and Tragedy (11 Feb)
10. Authorship of Prometheus Bound (13 Feb): Brandon
11. Sophocles (life & reception) (18 Feb): Susan
12. Aristotle's Poetics (18 Feb): Annie
13. Structure of Greek Tragedy (20 Feb): Laura
14. Tragedy and Myth (20 Feb): Natasha
15. Drama and the Polis (25 Feb): Josh
16. Freud and Tragedy (25 Feb): Kathryn
17. translator's agenda: Sophocles (27 Feb)
18. the Audience (who attended? fees? facilities) (10 March): Queenie
19. Adaptations of Sophocles' Antigone (10 March): Elizabeth
20. The role of the tragic chorus (17 March): Whitney
21. Euripides (life & reception) (19 March): Matt
22. Tragedy and Dionysus (19 March): Haley
23. translator's agenda: Euripides (24 March): Jennifer
24. Scenography, Masks, Costumes, and Properties (30 March): Albert
25. Satyr Play (30 March): Matthew
26. Women in Greek Tragedy (7 April): Maggie
27. Lacan and Tragedy (7 April)
28. Tragedy and Epic (9 April): Beth
29. Actors: social status, delivery, distance, and action (14 April): Greer
30. Seneca (life & reception) (21 April): Aliette
31. Tragedy and History (Persians, Octavia) (21 April): Ann

Exams: Exams will consist in essays, short identifications, and passage discussions. Questions will  relate to the central themes, characters, and plot details of the plays read and discussed in class.

Department Sponsored Lectures: Please feel warmly invited and strongly encouraged to attend the AIA lectures sponsored by the Department of Classical Studies (as listed below: Jan 29, Feb 12, March 18, March 25: all lectures in Andrews 101, 4:30 pm). A coherent one-page summary of the lecture will earn modest extra credit. 

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Required Texts

• Aeschylus I: Oresteia - Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides (Chicago)

• Aeschylus: II – Suppliant Maidens, Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Bound (Chicago)

• Sophocles: I: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone (Chicago)

• Sophocles: II: Ajax, Women of Trachis, Electra, Philoctetes (Chicago)

• Euripides: I – Alcestis, Medea, Heracleidae, Hippolytus (Chicago), ed. Lattimore (2)

• Euripides: II – Cyclops and Heracles, Iphigenia in Tauris, Helen, (Chicago)

• Euripides: III – Hecuba, Andromache, Trojan Women, Ion (Chicago)

• Euripides: V – Electra, Phoenician Women, Bacchae (Chicago)

• Seneca: Four Tragedies and Octavia, translated by E.F. Watling (Penguin, 1966; 0140441743)

Highly recommended

• Storey and Allan [SA], A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama (Blackwell, 2005; 1405102152): especially valuable for its synopses of all Greek plays (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander, pp. 243-289)

• Ley, Graham. A Short Introduction to Ancient Greek Theater (Chicago, 2006)

• Bushnell, Rebecca, ed. A Companion to Tragedy. (Blackwell, 2005)

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Essential Online Resources

Research Tools:

• L'Annee Philogique: https://proxy.wm.edu/login?url=http://www.annee-philologique.com/aph/

  • see http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/guide/hum/classics/gen/aphil.html for a brief description of this essential Classical studies resource

  • and http://www.davidson.edu/administrative/library/refer/aph_guide.asp for a useful guide to navigating L'Annee

• JSTOR: https://proxy.wm.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jstor.org%2f

• Project Muse: http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.wm.edu/

• Internet Classics Archive (online translations): http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index.html

• Perseus Project (user unfriendly, imho): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

Writing Tools:

• W&M Writing Center: http://www.wm.edu/wrc/

• Hacker, A Writer's Resource: http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref5e/flash/gm_menu.asp

• my personal writing guidelines

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On Reserve at SWEM

• PN1892 .C56 2005     Bushnell, Rebecca W., A companion to tragedy.

• PA3131 .C56 2005     Gregory, Justina. A companion to Greek tragedy

• PA3131 .C29 1997     Easterling, P. E., The Cambridge companion to Greek tragedy

• PA3131 .F4                 Ferguson, John, A companion to Greek tragedy

• PA3201 .L47 2006      Ley, Graham. A short introduction to the ancient Greek theater
   

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Tentative Schedule of Readings

Please note, you are expected to read the plays in advance of the date scheduled for discussion.

You may read any translation you happen to have (including on-line translations)

Check back here from time to time. Class announcements and assignments will be posted to the schedule below.

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• 16 January: Introduction: SA chapters 1, 5; Aristotle's Poetics (highly recommended)

• 23 January: Aeschylus: Persians, SA pp. 93-111

  • Architecture of the Greek Theater presentation: Kristen

• 28 January: Aeschylus: Seven Against Thebes  

  • Production of Greek plays: producer, social context presentation: Rachel

  • Aeschylus (life & reception) presentation

• AIA lecture: 29 January: John Pollini, University of Southern California, “Christian Destruction and Desecration of Images of Classical Antiquity,” (Co-sponsored by the Departments of Art and Art History, Classical Studies and Religious Studies), Andrews 101, 4:30 pm

• 30 January: Aeschylus: Agamemnon and Seneca Thyestes

  • Dramatic Festivals (City Dionysia & Lenaia) presentation: Katie
  • translator's agenda: Aeschylus presentation: Vernon
  • discussion questions:

    •  How does Aeschylus keep Thyestes’ story in the background of the Agamemnon? In what way does Thyestes’ curse impinge upon or reflect the actions of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra?

    • Discuss the motif of gender reversal. How is Clytemnestra ‘masculine’? How is Aigisthus ‘feminine’? Does Agamemnon behave effeminately? Consider Priam as a foil for Agamemnon.

    • Trace the theme of hubris through the epic. What is hubris? Who behaves hubristically? Why do characters choose to engage in hubristic acts? What happens to these characters?

    • Discuss Aeschylus’ imagery of the cycle of nature and cosmogony. How does the poetry describe the cycle of nature? How is the cosmos of Agamemnon’s house destroyed and how is it restored?

    • Trace the medical tropes in the Agamemnon. Pay attention to the imagery of dripping liquids (tears, blood, rain). What is the effect of these dripping liquids? Look at references to healing. How is Apollo, the god of healing, worked into the play’s resolution.

    • Discuss the motif of the innocent victim. Who are the victims? How are they victimized? What effect does the victimization of the innocent have on the resolution of the Agamemnon?

• 4 February: Aeschylus: Libation Bearers

  • Ritual and Aeschylus' Libation Bearers presentation: Mark

• 6 February: Aeschylus: Eumenides

  • Hegel's Theory of Tragedy presentation: Olga

• 11 February: Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound

  • Nietzsche and Tragedy

• AIA lecture: 12 February: David Bush, Heidelberg College, “Maintaining or Mixing Southern Culture at the Johnson’s Island Civil War Confederate Officer Prison,” Andrews 101, 4:30 pm (Stone Lecture, AIA)

• 13 February: Performance Day 1, and continuing Aeschylus discussion; Sophocles: Electra

  • Authorship of  Prometheus Bound presentation: Brandon

  • Aristophanes' Frogs presentation: Elena

  • Aeschylus I: Katie, Josh, Rachel, Laura, Annie

  • Aeschylus II: Whitney, Greer, Kristen, Kathryn, Matt

  • Writing Concentrators: paper proposal due

  • short essay option: paper 1 due (Aeschylus)

• 18 February: Sophocles: Philoctetes, SA 111-131

  • Sophocles (life & reception) presentation: Susan

  • Aristotle's Poetics presentation: Annie

  • discussion questions:

    • Discuss the bow as a central image in the Philoctetes. What is its purpose? Where did it come from? How and why is it special? How is the language of archery incorporated into David Grene’s translation?

    • Both Odysseus and Philoctetes address Neoptolemus as “son.” Compare and contrast how the two older men talk to and interact with Neoptolemus. Examine Odysseus and Philoctetes as authority figures.

    • Examine the distinction between Persuasion and Trickery as presented in the play. How does Neoptolemus persuade Philoctetes? How does Neoptolemus trick Philocetes? Does Neoptolemus act honorably according to a Greek sense of honor?

    • Among Sophocles’ innovations is the fact that he presents Lemnos as uninhabited, a bold and startling choice. Examine the motif of isolation in the Philoctetes. How does the isolation affect Philoctetes’ character? How would the Athenian audience have responded to Philoctetes’ isolation? Does this instill or impede sympathy?

    • Collect and explore instances of Sophocles’ uninhibited portrayal of pain in the Philoctetes. How does this compare to descriptions in Aeschylus (or other Greek plays you may have read)? How would an Athenian audience react to such bold descriptions of pain?

• 20 February: Sophocles: Women of Trachis

  • Structure of Greek Tragedy presentation: Laura

  • Tragedy and Myth presentation: Natasha

• 25 February: Sophocles: Ajax

  • Drama and the Polis presentation: Josh

  • Freud and Tragedy presentation: Kathryn

  • discussion questions: following the text of the play, discuss these binary themes as they are revealed in the Ajax

    • sacrifice vs. selfishness

    • status, honor vs. shame, humiliation

    • hubris vs. pietas

    • family vs. polis

    • hostility vs. compassion

• 27 February: Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus

  • translator's agenda: Sophocles presentation

• 3-7 March: Spring Break

• 10 March: Sophocles: Antigone

  • Adaptations of Sophocles' Antigone presentation: Elizabeth

  • Writing Concentrators: paper outline due (date change)

• 12 March: midterm

• 17 March: Performance Day 2 and Euripides intro: SA 131-151

  • Sophocles I: Aliette, Susan, Maggie, Vernon, Natasha

  • Sophocles II: Beth, Queenie, Albert, Mark

  • the Audience (who attended? fees? facilities) presentation: Queenie

• AIA lecture: 18 March: Nikola Theodossiev, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski “Ancient Thrace during the First Millennium BC,”Andrews 101, 4:30 pm (Kress Lecture, AIA)

• 19 March: Euripides: Medea and Bacchae

  • Euripides (life & reception) presentation: Matt

  • Tragedy and Dionysus presentation: Haley

  • short essay option: paper 2 due (Sophocles)

  • Medea Tango, to the tune of Cell Block Tango from Chicago

• 24 March: Euripides: Hippolytus

  • The role of the tragic chorus presentation: Whitney

• J. Ward Jones Lecture: 25 March: Susan Ford Wiltshire, Vanderbilt University, “"Why Vergil Still Matters:  Using the Classics in Contemporary Discourse," Andrews 101, 4:30 pm

• 26 March: Euripides: Helen (in class dramatic reading)

• 30 March: Euripides: Ion

  • Scenography, Masks, Costumes, and Properties presentation: Albert

  • Satyr play presentation: Matthew

• 2 April: Euripides: Cyclops (in class dramatic reading)

• 7 April: Euripides: Alcestis

  • Women in Greek Tragedy presentation: Maggie

• 9 April: Euripides: Trojan Women

  • Tragedy and Epic presentation: Beth

  • translator's agenda: Euripides presentation: Jennifer

• 14 April: Performance Day 3

  • Euripides I: Ann, Brandon, Jennifer, Matt, Hayley

  • Euripides II: Elena, Olga, Liz, Queenie

  • Actors: social status, delivery, distance, and action presentation: Greer

• 16 April:  TBA

• 21 April:  Seneca: Octavia

  • Roman Tragedy presentation: Ann

  • Seneca (life & reception) presentation: Aliette

  • Writing Concentrators: rough draft due

• 23 April: Seneca: Thyestes

  • Final Papers due

  • short essay option: paper 3 due (Euripides or Seneca)

• 30 April, 6:30-9:30: Final Exam

  • Writing Concentrators only: papers due by 6:30 p.m.

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Some recommended web pages

(to be updated as the course progresses: please let me know of any useful websites you come across)

• Kierkegard's Antigone: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~jfarrell/courses/spring96/myth/apr3.html