THEM. Tronsky

The ancient Greek playwright, poet of the era of the formation of the Athenian state and the Greco-Persian wars, is the founder of ancient tragedy in its established forms, the true "father of tragedy."

material for Aeschylus serve heroic tales.

Aeschylus first:

Increased the number of actors from one to two,

Reduced the parts of the choir,

Give priority to dialogue.

In the pre-Aeschylean tragedy, the story of the only actor about what is happening behind the scenes and his dialogue with the luminary served only as a pretext for the lyrical outpourings of the chorus. Thanks to the introduction of the second actor, it became possible enhance the drama, opposing each other opposing forces, and to characterize one actor by his reaction to the messages or actions of another.

Entirely preserved 7 tragedies. "The Petitioner" is the earliest.

In the tragedy "Seven Against Thebes", a vivid image of the hero is shown for the first time, an increase in the role of dialogue. The beginning of the tragedy is a prologue, not a parody; acting scene.

The surviving tragedies make it possible to outline three stages in the works of Aeschylus:

1. "The Petitioners", "Persians" - the predominance of choral parties, the small use of the second actor and the poor development of the dialogue are characteristic.

2. "Seven against Thebes" and "Chained Prometheus." Here appears the central image of the hero, characterized by several main features; the dialogue gets more developed, prologues are created.

3. "Oresteia", with its more complex composition, increasing drama, numerous secondary images and the use of three actors.

PROBLEMS OF THE TRAGEDS OF SOPHOCLES

Sophocles(495 BC - 405 BC) - the second great tragic poet of Athens in the 5th century. Poet of the birth of Athenian democracy. Oedipus Rex, Antigone.

His works were exceptionally successful: he 24 once won the first prize in competitions and never ended up in last place. Sophocles completed the work begun by Aeschylus transformation of tragedy from lyric cantata into drama. Tragedies of Sophocles distinguished by the clarity of the dramatic composition. They usually begin with exposition scenes, in which the starting position is explained and a certain plan of behavior of the characters is developed.

New from Sophocles:

The center of gravity on the image of people, their decisions and actions;

The gods do not influence decision making;

Third actor.

Problems that excite Sophocles, bound with the fate of the individual and not with the fate of the family. Speaking with three tragedies, he makes each of them an independent artistic whole, containing all its problems. An example of Sophocles' dramaturgy is his tragedy Antigone. The issue was topical: the defenders of the polis traditions considered the "unwritten laws" "God-established" and indestructible, as opposed to the changeable laws of people. The religiously conservative Athenian democracy also demanded respect for the "unwritten laws".

Depicting the greatness of man, the richness of his mental and moral powers, Sophocles at the same time draws his impotence, the limitations of human capabilities.

"Antigone". The heroes of "Antigone" are Oedipus, his sons Eteocles and Polygoniks, two daughters - Ismene and Antigone.

The story of how the brothers quarreled and unleashed a war. Both died, but Polygonics did not want to bury, and then Antigone decided to disobey the new king Creon. She covered her brother's body with earth. As a result, she, her fiance and the mother of the groom died, and Creon is guilty of everything.

"Oedipus Rex". The main characters are Oedipus, King Laius is his father, his mother is Queen Jocasta. Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. The story ends with Oedipus sticking a needle in his eyes and blinding him.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF IMAGES IN THE TRAGEDIES OF EUREPIDES

The first piece is Peliod. 22 participations and 4 wins. 18 tragedies have come down, among them Medea, Orestes, Helena, Iphigenia in Aulis, Hecuba, Bacchae, etc.

Themes of Euripides:

the Peloponnesian War during which he lived;

Politics, ambivalence towards democracy;

Slavery, the plight of slaves that stifles good human qualities.

Criticism of Greek marriage by a woman (impossibility to leave her husband, marriage at the insistence of parents);

Women's right to education.

The work of Euripides took place almost simultaneously with the activities of Sophocles, although in a completely different direction.

Euripides deprives the gods of greatness and brings their actions closer to life. Accused of immorality. He believes that if they commit shamelessness, then they are not gods.

New from Euripides:

The tragedies of Euripides begin with a prologue in the form of a monologue, which contains plot premises;

- dialogues as competitions in speeches ,

- the chorus is not so closely related to the action.

Psychology of Euripides:

An expert in female psychology;

Shows people as they are, without embellishment;

Delves into the psychological analysis of personality;

The conflict is not between people, but in the human soul.

Creativity Euripides marks the end of the old heroic tragedy. Going to image of people, « what are they really”, i.e. with their personal inclinations and passions, deviating them from the norm of “proper”, Euripides indicated two directions, according to which the serious Greek drama subsequently developed. On the one hand, this is path of pathetic drama, strong, sometimes even pathological passions, and on the other hand, - approach to everyday drama with ordinary characters.

From the tragedy of the 5th century. the works of the three most significant representatives of the genre - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides - have been preserved. Each of these names marks a historical stage in the development of the Attic tragedy, which successively reflected the three stages in the history of Athenian democracy.

Aeschylus, the poet of the era of the formation of the Athenian state and the Greco-Persian wars, is the founder of ancient tragedy in its established forms, the true "father of tragedyAeschylus is a creative genius of enormous realistic power, revealing with the help of mythological images the historical content of that great upheaval, of which he was a contemporary, - emergence of a democratic state from a tribal society.

Biographical information about Aeschylus, as well as about the vast majority of ancient writers in general, is very scarce. He was born in 525/4 in Eleusis and came from a noble landowning family. In his youth, he witnessed the overthrow of tyranny in Athens, the establishment of a democratic system and the successful struggle of the Athenian people against the intervention of aristocratic communities. was a supporter of a democratic state. This grouping played a significant role in Athens during the first decades of the 5th century. Aeschylus took a personal part in the fight against the Persians, the outcome of the war strengthened his conviction in the superiority of the democratic freedom of Athens over the monarchical principle underlying the Persian despotism (the tragedy "Persians"). was "a pronounced tendentious poet." Further democratization of the Athenian political system in the 60s. 5th century already cause Aeschylus to worry about the fate of Athens (the Oresteia trilogy). In the Sicilian city of Gela, Aeschylus died in 456/5.

even adheres to the old idea of ​​​​hereditary tribal responsibility: the guilt of the ancestor falls on the descendants, entangles them with its fatal consequences and leads to inevitable death. On the other hand, the gods of Aeschylus become guardians of the legal foundations of the new state system, Aeschylus draws how divine retribution is introduced into the natural course of things. The relationship between divine influence and the conscious behavior of people, the meaning of the ways and goals of this influence, the question of its justice and goodness constitute the main problematic of Aeschylus, which he deploys in the image of human fate and human suffering.

The material for Aeschylus are heroic tales. He himself called his tragedies "crumbs from the great feasts of Homer", meaning, of course, not only the Iliad and the Odyssey, but the whole set of epic poems attributed to Homer. "Aeschylus was the first to increase the number of actors from one to two, to reduce the parts of the choir, and to give precedence to dialogue." In other words, tragedy ceased to be a cantata, one of the branches of mimic choral lyrics, and began to turn into a drama. In the pre-Aeschylean tragedy, the story of the only actor about what is happening behind the scenes and his dialogue with the luminary served only as a pretext for the lyrical outpourings of the chorus. Through the introduction of a second actor, it became possible to intensify the dramatic action by opposing the contending forces, and to characterize one actor by his reaction to the messages or actions of another. Ancient scientists counted 90 dramatic works (tragedies and dramas of satyrs) in the literary heritage of Aeschylus; only seven tragedies survive in their entirety, including one complete trilogy. Of the surviving plays, the earliest is "The Petitioners" ("The Prayers"). Very characteristic of the early type of tragedy is The Persians, staged in 472 and included in a trilogy not connected by thematic unity. This tragedy is indicative for two reasons: firstly, being an independent play, it contains its own problems in a finished form; secondly, the plot of the Persians, drawn not from mythology, but from recent history, allows us to judge how Aeschylus processed the material in order to make a tragedy out of it.

"Seven Against Thebes" is the first Greek tragedy known to us, in which the parts of the actor decisively prevail over the choral part, and, at the same time, the first tragedy in which a vivid image of the hero is given. There are no other images in the play; the second actor is used" for the role of the herald. The beginning of the tragedy is no longer the people of the choir. and the acting scene, the prologue.

The problem of the tragic fate of the family is also devoted to the latest work of Aeschylus, Oresteia (458), the only trilogy that has come down to us in its entirety. Already in its dramatic structure, Oresteia is much more complicated than previous tragedies: it uses a third actor, introduced by Aeschylus's young rival Sophocles, and a new stage arrangement - with a back decoration depicting a palace, and with a proscenium ..

the tragedy “Chained Prometheus” The old myths, already known to us from Hesiod, about the change of generations of gods and people, about Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven for people, receive a new development from Aeschylus. Prometheus, one of the titans, that is, representatives of the "older generation" of the gods, is a friend of mankind. In the struggle of Zeus with the titans, Prometheus took part on the side of Zeus; but when Zeus, after defeating the titans, set out to destroy the human race and replace it with a new generation, Prometheus opposed this. He brought heavenly fire to people and awakened them to conscious life.

Writing and numeration, crafts and sciences - all these are the gifts of Prometheus to people. Aeschylus thus abandons the notion of the former "golden age" and the subsequent deterioration in the conditions of human life. For the services rendered to people, he is doomed to torment. The prologue of the tragedy depicts how the blacksmith god Hephaestus, on the orders of Zeus, chains Prometheus to a rock; Hephaestus is accompanied by two allegorical figures - Power and Violence. Zeus opposes Prometheus only brute force. All nature sympathizes with the suffering of Prometheus; when at the end of the tragedy Zeus, irritated by the inflexibility of Prometheus, sends a storm and Prometheus, along with the rock, falls into the underworld, the choir of the Oceanid nymphs (daughters of the Ocean) is ready to share his fate with him. According to Marx, "Prometheus' confession:

In truth, I hate all the gods

eat it [i.e. e. philosophy] its own confession, its own saying, directed against all heavenly and earthly gods.

The surviving tragedies allow us to outline three stages in the work of Aeschylus, which at the same time are stages in the formation of tragedy as a dramatic genre. The early plays ("The Petitioners", "The Persians") are characterized by the predominance of choral parts, the small use of the second actor and the poor development of the dialogue, and the abstractness of the images. The middle period includes such works as "Seven Against Thebes" and "Chained Prometheus". Here appears the central image of the hero, characterized by several main features; the dialogue gets more developed, prologues are created; the images of episodic figures ("Prometheus") also become clearer. The third stage is represented by "Oresteia", with its more complex composition, increasing drama, numerous secondary images and the use of three actors.

Question number 12. Aeschylus. Ideological and artistic features of creativity. In Aeschylus, elements of the traditional worldview are closely intertwined with the attitudes generated by democratic statehood. He believes in the real existence of divine forces that influence a person and often insidiously set up networks for him. Aeschylus even adheres to the old idea of ​​​​hereditary tribal responsibility: the guilt of the ancestor falls on the descendants, entangles them with its fatal consequences and leads to inevitable death. The material for Aeschylus are heroic tales. He himself called his tragedies "crumbs from the great feasts of Homer", meaning, of course, not only the Iliad and the Odyssey, but the entire set of epic poems attributed to Homer, i.e. "kikl" The fate of the hero or heroic Aeschylus most often portrays the family in three successive tragedies that make up a plot and ideologically integral trilogy; it is followed by a drama of satyrs on a plot from the same mythological cycle to which the trilogy belonged. However, borrowing plots from the epic, Aeschylus not only dramatizes the legends, but also rethinks them, permeates them with his own problems. From the tragedies of Aeschylus it is clear that the poet was a supporter of a democratic state, although he belonged to a conservative group within a democracy. Ancient scientists counted 90 dramatic works (tragedies and dramas of satyrs) in the literary heritage of Aeschylus; only seven tragedies survive in their entirety, including one complete trilogy. In addition, 72 plays are known to us by titles, from which it is usually clear what mythological material was developed in the play; their fragments, however, are few and small in size.

"Father of Tragedy" Aeschylus

Ilya Buzukashvili

He was a legendary poet, a brave warrior, and perhaps initiated into the famous Eleusinian mysteries. But we are all grateful to the Greek Aeschylus for standing at the origins of the great, mysterious and sacred art, whose name is Theatre.

There were three of them, the founders of the ancient theater, and they appeared almost simultaneously on the land of Hellas.

Ancient tradition allows us to roughly establish the age ratio of the three great tragedians. When the 45-year-old Aeschylus participated in the battle of Salamis, Euripides was born on the very day of the battle, and Sophocles led the choir of ephebes, glorifying this victory. And yet the first was Aeschylus.

He was born in Eleusis, a city in Attica, not far from Athens. This place, from which today only ruins remain, has long been known due to the ancient center of the Mysteries located there. It was located around a fissure in the earth's surface, where, according to ancient Greek myth, Pluto dragged Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, by force. In many works, this place was later referred to as the "city of the Goddesses."

Aeschylus. OK. 525 - 456 BC e. Capitoline Museum, Rome

Few details from the life of the great tragedian have been preserved for us by history. We know that two brothers of Aeschylus distinguished themselves in battles with the Persians, and he himself fought courageously at Marathon and Salamis. In the first of these battles he was wounded. And now it is quite surprising that the "father of tragedy" never forgot about his military past and was proud of him even more than his peaceful occupation. This is evidenced by the lines of the epitaph compiled by him: “Aeschylus, the son of Euphoriot, is hidden under this monument. He was born an Athenian and died in the fertile plains of Gela. The famous forest of Marathon and the quick-tonguing Mede will tell if he was brave. They know it!" It is said that centuries later, poets and artists of different eras made a pilgrimage to this plate in Sicily.

Aeschylus spent most of his life in Athens and for unknown reasons left them forever. According to one of the legends explaining such a flight, Aeschylus, initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, violated his vow to keep secrets and in the tragedy “Prometheus Chained”, albeit allegorically, he made the secrets revealed to him public.

As for what secrets Aeschylus divulged, disputes do not subside to this day. Today it is very difficult to find and recognize them in his poems. But perhaps this legend is actually not far from the truth. Let us recall at least how unusually, again according to legend, the life of the 70-year-old tragedian ended. Roman sources say that the eagle lifted a heavy turtle into the air and threw it on the bald head of the elder Aeschylus, mistaking it for a stone. Although eagles, indeed, sometimes kill their victims in this way, this story is more like an allegory. After all, the eagle is a symbol of Zeus, and the tortoise is of Apollo: a hint of retribution sent to Aeschylus for divulging sacred secrets.

"The Petitioners", "Prometheus Chained", "Persians", "Seven Against Thebes", "Agamemnon", "Choephors" and "Eumenides" are the names of his seven tragedies that have survived to this day. We do not know exactly how many of them were written by Aeschylus. Using separate parts from Greek catalogs, which were available in all ancient libraries, it was possible to restore the name of 79 of his tragedies. It is believed that there were at least 90 of them.

Seven have reached us. Like almost all classical works of ancient Greece, they are preserved in the archives of Alexandria. These were copies taken from official texts, the originals of which were in Athens. They came to Europe from Constantinople, already in the Renaissance.

According to Aristotle, Aeschylus creates a new form of tragedy. He is "the first to increase the number of actors from one to two and emphasize the importance of dialogue on stage". Actors, choir and audience in Aeschylus are connected by a single thread of what is happening. The audience participates in the performance, expressing approval of the characters or indignant at their actions. The dialogue between the two actors is often accompanied by murmurs, screams of horror, or cries from the audience. The choir in the tragedy of Aeschylus becomes the spokesman for the thoughts and feelings of the characters and even the spectators themselves. What is only vaguely born in their souls under the influence of what is happening on the stage, suddenly acquires a clear outline and harmony in the wise remarks of the choir.

There is very little information left about what mechanics Aeschylus used during his performances, but it seems that the system of special effects of the ancient theater made it possible to work miracles. In one of the works now lost - it was called "Psychostasia" or "Weighing of Souls" - Aeschylus imagined Zeus in the sky, who weighed the fate of Memnon and Achilles on huge scales, while the mothers of both, Eos and Thetis, "floated" in the air next to the scales. How was it possible to lift into the sky and throw down heavy weights from a height, to cause in the course of action, as in Chained Prometheus, lightning, downpour and mountain landslides that awe the audience?

It is logical to assume that the Greeks used large cranes, hoists, manholes, water and steam drainage systems, as well as all kinds of chemical mixtures in order to create fire or clouds at the right time. Nothing has survived to support this hypothesis. And yet, if the ancients achieved such effects, then they must have had special means and devices for this.

Aeschylus is credited with many other, simpler theatrical innovations. For example, koturny - shoes with high wooden soles, luxurious clothes, as well as the improvement of the tragic mask with the help of a special horn to amplify the sound. Psychologically, all these tricks - increasing the height and increasing the sound of the voice - were designed to create an environment befitting the appearance of gods and heroes.

The theater of Ancient Greece was very different from the theater we are used to at the beginning of the 21st century. Classical theater is mystical and religious. The performance does not please the audience, but gives a lesson in life, through empathy and compassion, which the viewer is imbued with, cleanses his soul from certain passions.

With the exception of the Persians, which were based on real historical events, the tragedies of Aeschylus always relied on the epic, on myths, on folk traditions. These were the Trojan and Theban wars. Aeschylus knew how to restore their former brilliance, to give greatness and actual meaning. King Pelasgus in The Petitioners discusses the affairs of the state as if he were a Greek of the 5th century BC. e. The controversial Zeus from "Prometheus Chained" sometimes uses expressions worthy of the Athenian ruler Pisistratus. Eteocles in the tragedy "Seven Against Thebes" gives orders to his army in the same way as a strategist - a contemporary of Aeschylus - would do.

He possessed an amazing ability in a single, particular case to see not just an episode in the chain of events, but its connection with the spiritual world and with the very fate that governs people and the universe. His tragedies have a rare property - to always remain above the triviality of everyday life and even bring into it something from the Higher reality. In this art, the followers will not be able to compare with Aeschylus. They will invariably descend to earth, to the human world. And their gods and heroes will be so similar to ordinary people with their passions and desires that we can hardly recognize in them the mysterious inhabitants of the Other Reality. In Aeschylus, everything, absolutely everything is shrouded in mystery, fanned by the Breath of what stands above people.

For a person of the beginning of the 21st century with his way of thinking, this may seem boring and tedious, but we cannot measure by our standards what existed and was valued 2500 years ago. In addition, Aeschylus sought to teach a lesson, and not to entertain, for this was not what tragedy served at all. There were other places and circumstances for entertainment, and therefore no one was surprised by their absence in the theater, just as today it does not seem strange to us that no one laughs at a Beethoven concert - we go to the circus to laugh.

Upon learning of the death of Aeschylus, the Athenians honored him with the highest honors, and the tragedies that won so many competitions were staged again. Aeschylus, who became a character in Aristophanes' Frogs, says of himself: "My poetry did not die with me."

Many centuries later, Victor Hugo wrote about Aeschylus: “... it is impossible to approach him without the trembling that you experience in the face of something huge and mysterious. It is like a colossal rocky block, steep, devoid of gentle slopes and soft outlines, and at the same time it is full of special charm, like flowers of distant, inaccessible lands. Aeschylus is an ancient mystery in human form, a pagan prophet. His writings, had they all come down to us, would have been the Greek Bible.”

It often happens that when we approach our own past, we find that we know very little about it, partly because the sources are scarce, and partly because we are not inclined to either preserve or try to explain it. Perhaps, to some, such attempts will seem like only a memory of the ashes of forgotten times. But for some, they can become the smallest particles of a better, new world. A world that is more humane and more turned to God.