Although much is speculated about the origins of early Greek theater, it may be stated that the "source of tragedy is to be found in choric dithyrambs sung in honor of the god Dionysus" (Nicoll 9). The performance took place in an open-air theater. The word tragedy is derived from the term "tragedia" or "goat-song", named for the goatskins the chorus wore in the performance. Originally these songs were improvised and rhapsodically as time passed by they were "poetized or rendered literary" (Nicoll 9). The word "chorus" meant "dance or "dancing ground", which was how dance evolved into the

Many proprieties of the Greek plays were attached to violence. Therefore, it was a rule that acts of violence must take place off stage. This carried through to the Elizabethan theater, which avoided the horrors of men being flayed alive or Glouster's eyes being put out in full view of an audience (King Lear). When Medea went inside the house to murder her children, the chorus was left outside, chanting in anguish, to represent the feelings the chorus had and could not act upon, because of their metaphysical existence.

Aristotle also outlined "six constituent elements to the Greek tragedy as; plot, character, language, thought, spectacle and melody" (World 759). His book continues to explain the role of a tragic hero and the lessons that are to be taught through the dialogue and action. He also explains the chorus' purpose, and how the audience was supposed to react to what the chorus sings. The fact was that it was necessary in the Greece shows play production needed to become organized in order to maintain its primary goal, religious teaching.

The Attic dramatists, like the Elizabethans, had a public of all classes. Because of the size of the audience, the actors must also have been physically remote. "The sense of remoteness may have been heightened by masked, statuesque figures" (Wickham 42) of the actors whose acting depended largely on voice gestures and grouping. Since there were only three actors, the same men in the same play had to play double parts. At first, the dramatists themselves acted, like Shakespeare. Gradually, acting became professionalized.

1. Brocket, Oscar G. The Essential Theatre 7th Edition. Texas: Harcourt and Brace College, 2000.

On the first day of the festival there were contests between the choruses, five of men and five of boys. Each chorus consisted of fifty men or boys. On the next three days, a "tragic tetralogy" (group made up of four pieces, a trilogy followed by a satiric drama) was performed each morning.

drama. Members of the chorus were characters in the play that commented on the action. They drew the audience into the play and reflected the audience's reactions. The change from freelance song to theatre was obtained at the hands of a Greek named Thespis. He turned what was originally a song leader, or priest, into an actor whose words were answered by a chanting chorus. Thespis als!

Some theaters are still in use today, such as the theater at Epidaurus, while others are merely ruins, like the theatre of Dionysus in Athens. The theater was the largest structure in the cities and must have seemed very impressive to people from other cities that have not seen anything so large and majestic. It is not hard to see how the theater affected the people. Not counting war, it was responsible for the largest gathering of people known in Europe at this time.

Surely farmers, traders, shopkeepers, hostelries and the manufacturers of souvenirs came to these events attempting to reap the b

Some common words found in the essay are:
Life Wickham, Poetics Aristotle, Dionysus Nicoll, Creon Antigone, March Proceeding, Furthermore Greek, Europe Attic, Lear Medea, Initially Antigone, Shakespeare Gradually, wickham 39, production plays, nicoll 9, dionysus nicoll 9, cambridge university, intellects day, century bc, harcourt brace, dionysus nicoll, cambridge university press, ancient greece, son wife,
Approximate Word count = 2004
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)