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Tragedy has often been admired, particularly in the modern period, as one of the most profound and important expressions of the human condition. But the term “tragedy” is Greek and tragic drama was an invention of Classical Greece and most particularly of democratic Athens. This module explores the tragic theatre in its greatest flourishing, in the “golden age” of fifth-century Athens. It will explore central plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides with a view to their literary qualities and the ways in which they adapted old myths to new social, religious and political concerns. These include crime, revenge and justice (divine and human), the family and gender relations, citizen insiders and “others” (including women and barbarians), rhetoric, cunning and wisdom. The module concludes with a glance at Aristophanes’ comic play, Frogs, with its humorous caricature of the tragic genre and its three main Athenian practitioners.
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