Western Literature(Week12)

Theatre of Dionysus

<Structure>
- Orchestra
The "dancing area"  in central of  the theater. It lay at the lowest point of the valley; on the slopesof the hill, spectators sat  on wooden benches,surrounding the performance area on three sides.

- deus ex machina
It means"god from the machine." The term was coined from the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a machine is used to bring actors playing gods onto the stage. The machine could be either a crane (mechane) used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought actors up through a trapdoor. Preparation to pick up the actors was done behind the skene. The idea was introduced by Aeschylus and was used often to resolve the conflict and conclude the drama. Although the device is associated mostly with Greek tragedy, it also appeared in comedies.

*example:Euripides' Medea, in which the deus ex machina, a dragon-drawn chariot sent by the sun god, is used to convey his granddaughter Medea, who has just committed murder and infanticide, away from her husband Jason to the safety and civilization of Athens.

<Dialogue>
-iambic
iambic (based on fairly flexible pattern of alternating short and long syllables), which was supposed to be the verse form closest to normal speech (like the iambic pentameter used by Shakespeare).

-chorus
 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.

Medea

An ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BCE. The plot centers on the actions of Medea, a barbarian and the wife of Jason; she finds her position in the Greek world threatened as Jason leaves her for a Greek princess of Corinth. Medea takes vengeance on Jason by killing Jason's new wife as well as her own children with him, after which she escapes to Athens to start a new life.

-Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea is a sorceress who was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of Corinth, offers him his daughter, Glauce. The play tells of Medea avenging her husband's betrayal by killing their children.

-Jason
 An ancient Greek mythological hero who was famous for his role as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea.

-Colchis

Colchis is  an important land in Greco-Roman mythology, most notably as the kingdom of Medea and the Golden fleece, destination of the Argonauts.

-Creon
Creon, king of Corinth, is not thesame as the Kreon of Thebes in Sophocle's Theban plays.

-Glauce
Glauce, daughter of Creon. She married Jason. She was killed, along with her father, by Medea, who either sent her a peplos steeped in flammable poison or set fire to the royal palace.

Root

-fid-: trust

confidence (n.) belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities
example: His lack of confidence defeated him.

infidelity (n.)  lack of religious faith
example: Mary is an infidelity.

Fido Dido

A cartoon character created by Joanna Ferrone and Sue Rose. Rose first developed the character in 1985, on a napkin in a restaurant.