In our first article on dramatic origins, we | traced the development of primitive drama from the | ritual of primitive magic-religions. We now propose | to examine at more leisure the glorious | fructification of ancient ritual in the drama of | Ancient Greece. It is, perhaps, advisable to drop a | word in season upon the importance of Greek culture | in general. Complex civilisations existed for | thousands of years before Greece, but it is to the | Greeks that we trace philosophic, artistic and | democratic origins. This is not merely an historic | accident.
|
, is an old
| and foolish saw. An ant-hill is a wonderful economic
| complex. Its galleries contain storehouses, stables,
| hospitals, nurseries and dairies, each managed by
| workers thoroughly equipped for that special work. In
| addition it has its food gatherers, and its military
| caste, all working in perfect order, and without a
| hitch. But, who will suggest that any super-ant ever
| thought out this system? The whole thing is
| automatic, a result of gradually accumulated custom.
| The ant has little more individuality than a single
| cell of a human body.
Ancient society much resembled the ant-hill. The | medicine-man of the savage tribe gradually became the | god-king of Egypt, while the totem marriage taboos | developed into civilised marriage laws, but the steps | in the change were largely taken unconsciously. They | grew; they were not planned. Man was their chattel, | not their master.
| Towards the close of the sixth century, B.C., a
| process of "intense fusion" that had been taking
| place on the shores of the Aegean drew to a close.
| The result was a race of "glorious mongrels" ~~ the
| Ancient Greeks.
says
| R. R. Marrett (In
|And again, |
||
The persistence of automatic civilisation in China | until recent years may be cited as a strong point in | favor of Marrett's contention.
| Now that we are in a position to understand two
| important things about a Greek play-first, that it is
| portion of a religious festival in honor of Dionysos,
| and secondly that it will probably have nothing
| whatever to do with Dionysos
The central feature is the chorus
Let us enter among the spectator worshippers. We
| may sit where we consider our social status entitles
| us
Our examination of the theatre finished, we await
| the play. It is not long before we understand the
| relative sizes of the stage and the chorus.
|
with us. But in the ancient
| drama, "the thing" was the chorus. In fact, it is
| thought that in the earlier stages of the evolution
| from magic ritual to drama, the chorus was
| everything, or nearly so.
It sang the ritual dances, while the single actor
| was the priest, who slew the sacred bull. He would be
| called upon to recite certain formulae. Gradually a
| second, and later a third and fourth actor, with a
| speaking part, came to be introduced, and that number
| is rarely exceeded, even when the magical character
|
As already mentioned, there is very little | scenery. A great portion of what dialogue there is | consists in describing the scene, and in relating | events. Both are done at considerable length, and no | pains are spared to conjure up a very real picture in | the minds of the audience. In
Our modern playwright frequently crowds sensation | incident into his work. The ancients avoided it. The | action, largely, is supposed to be performed | elsewhere and is merely reported by the actors. Thus, | in Euripides tragedy Electra, tow murders are | committed, but neither within view of the spectators. | The story runs that Agamemnon, returning from the | Trojan war, was murdered in his bed by his wife, who, | during his ten years' absence, had become enamoured | of Aegisthus, a neighbouring chieftain. Orestes, the | son, fled, while Electra, the daughter, is wedded to | a peasant, so that she might never become the wife of | one whose children carry on Agamemnon's feud with | Aegisthus. But Orestes returns, and slays Aegisthus | by stategem, while Electra lures her mother to her | hut, by pretending that she, Electra, had become | mother to a man-child.
| The murder of Aegisthus is reported to Electra, in
| front of her hut, and when Orestes arrives, the pair
| murder the mother, Clytemnestra, inside the hut
|
Our best introduction to Greek drama may be had
| through the medium of the Australian Professor of
| Greek at Oxford
The next article on the drama will deal with the | period of the revival of learning in Western | Europe.