Why is a greek tragedy - Essay Example

Greek Tragedy Greek tragedy developed as a result of choral performances, which were carried out to celebrate mystic ecstasy and praise the god of wine, known as Dionysus. Greek tragedy was a classical dramatic structure built around conflicts which gave rise to the ultimate climax of most plays. Hence, this was a form of drama that was based on human suffering and mythology for the Greeks. The ancients made a comparison of the drama in the plot as part to the tying and the untying of a knot. Hence, the technical structure of plays was determined by the necessities that rose when dramatic conflicts were threatened (Simon, Clinton and Sullivan 173).

Aeschylus was the second actor to perform the choral performances on stage after the very first, Thepsis of Icaria. Aeschylus’s plays are still widely performed in Western theatres, due to the fact that he was among the best actors to create conflict and drama prototype in plays. While the plays that Aeschylus’s plays were mostly a reflection of the heroic period witnessed by many Athenians centuries ago, the plays by other younger contemporaries such as Euripides gave a reflection of a culture that was re-evaluating its traditions and values (Simon, Clinton and Sullivan 174).

An excellent example of the ancient Greek tragedy was the Medea, the title of a book written by Euripides to show the ironic expression for the Athenian disillusion. The word Medea was retrieved from King Aeetes of Colchis’s daughter known as Medea. She was also the wife of Jason, the heroic character in Euripides’s book. Though most of the plays in Greek tragedy had tragic endings, Aeschylus’s play, the Oresteia was notably different from the rest. In this play, the tragedy had a happy ending for the Agamemnon’s family.

Agamemnon was the son of Atreus the King. Agamemnon was featured in the Aeschylus’s play as one of the characters. There is little known specifically, in regard to Greek tragedies before the aforementioned great actors. Hence, historical sources with credible information related to Greek tragedy should continue to be preserved with great care.Work CitedSimon, Peter, Jerome Clinton and Conor Sullivan. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd. A. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009.