Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jizzakh state pedagogical institute English Faculty

The aims of the work
The aim of this work is to introduce students what is tragedy, the types of tragedy, the value of tragedy in literature and the difference from other works.To enlarge students' knowledge based on the Renaissance of tragedy and provide all students with a basic knowledge of the main features of traditional and modern tragedy. To expend on description of the most valuable works and masterpieces in Tragedy. To develop participants' skills in critically reflecting on their own, and others', language education experiences, in the light of relevant research, theory and current areas of debate in tragedy.
The tasks of the work:
To increase students' awareness of basic concepts and principles related tragedy To give detailed information about tragedy To provide students with a brief, critical survey of the types of tragedy To develop participants knowledge in the Renaissance of tragedy To analyze works of the classical and modern tragedy and display the specific features of the works To involve students attitude to tragedy works To provide all students, regardless of their field of study, with a basic knowledge about literature
The actuality of the work:
The actuality of the work is to give detailed information about tragedy The structure of the work: it consists of introduction, two chapters, conclusion and bibliography The results achieved during the investigation are summarize in conclusion Bibliography lists all the scientific and internet sources and references used for investigation.

Chapter 1 The origin of tragedy

The origins of tragedy in the West are obscure but it is certainly derived from the poetic and religious traditions of ancient Greece. Its roots may be traced more specifically to the dithyrambs, the chants and dances honoring the Greek god Dionysus, later known to the Romans as Bacchus. These drunken ecstatic performances were said to have been created by the satyrs, half-goat beings who surrounded Dionysus in his revelry. Phrynichus, son of Polyphradmon and pupil of Thespis, was one of the earliest of the Greek tragedians, "The honour of introducing Tragedy in its later acceptation was reserved for a scholar of Thespis in 511 B.C.E., Polyphradmon's son, Phrynichus; he dropped the light and ludicrous cast of the original drama and dismissing Bacchus and the Satyrs formed his plays from the more grave and elevated events recorded in mythology and history of his country." and some of the ancients regarded him as the real founder of tragedy. He gained his first poetical victory in 511 B.C.E. However, P.W. Buckham writes (quoting August Wilhelm von Schlegel) that Aeschylus was the inventor of tragedy, "Aeschylus is to be considered as the creator of Tragedy: in full panoply she sprung from his head, like Pallas from the head of Jupiter. He clad her with dignity, and gave her an appropriate stage; he was the inventor of scenic pomp, and not only instructed the chorus in singing and dancing, but appeared himself as an actor. He was the first that expanded the dialogue, and set limits to the lyrical part of tragedy, which, however, still occupies too much space in his pieces.". Later in ancient Greece, the word "tragedy" meant any serious (not comedy) drama, not merely those with a sad ending. There is some dissent to the dithyrambic origins of tragedy mostly based in the differences between the shapes of their choruses and styles of dancing. A common descent from pre-Hellenic fertility and burial rites has been suggested. Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty (flaws in reason, hubris, society), the gods (through oracles, prophets, fate), or nature. Aristotle says that the tragic hero should have a flaw or make some mistake (hamartia). The hero need not die at the end, but must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition (anagnorisis—"knowing again" or "knowing back" or "knowing throughout" ) about human fate, destiny, and the will of the gods. Aristotle terms this sort of recognition "a change from ignorance to awareness of a bond of love or hate." Aristotle is very clear in his Poetics that tragedy proceeded from the authors of the Dithyramb. P.W. Buckham writes that the tragedy of the ancients resembled modern operatic performance, and that the lighter sort of Iambic became Comic poets, the graver became Tragic instead of Heroic. Greek literature boasts three great writers of tragedy whose works are extant: Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. The largest festival for Greek tragedy was the Dionysia, held for five days in March, for which competition prominent playwrights usually submitted three tragedies and one satyr play each. The Roman theater does not appear to have followed the same practice. Seneca adapted Greek stories, such as Phaedra, into Latin plays; however, Senecan tragedy has long been regarded as closet drama, meant to be read rather than played. A favorite theatrical device of many ancient Greek tragedians was the ekkyklêma, a cart hidden behind the scenery which could be rolled out to display the aftermath of some event which had happened out of sight of the audience. This event was frequently a brutal murder of some sort, an act of violence which could not be effectively portrayed visually, but an action of which the other characters must see the effects in order for it to have meaning and emotional resonance. Another reason that the violence happened off stage was that the theatre was considered a holy place, so to kill someone on stage is to kill them in the real world. A prime example of the use of the ekkyklêma is after the murder of Agamemnon in the first play of Aeschylus' Oresteia, when the king's butchered body is wheeled out in a grand display for all to see. Variations on the ekkyklêma are used in tragedies and other forms to this day, as writers still find it a useful and often powerful device for showing the consequences of extreme human actions. Another such device was a crane, the mechane, which served to hoist a god or goddess on stage when they were supposed to arrive flying. This device gave origin to the phrase "deus ex machina" ("god out of a machine"), that is, the surprise intervention of an unforeseen external factor that changes the outcome of an event. Greek tragedies also sometimes included a chorus composed of singers to advance and fill in detail of the plot. Friedrich Nietzsche dedicated his famous early book, The Birth of Tragedy, to a discussion of the origins of Greek tragedy. He traced the evolution of tragedy from early rituals, through the joining of Apollonian and Dionysian forces, until its early "death" in the hands of Socrates. In opposition to Schopenhauer, Nietzsche viewed tragedy as the art form of sensual acceptance of the terrors of reality and rejoicing in these terrors in love of fate (amor fati), and therefore as the antithesis to the Socratic Method, or the belief in the power of reason to unveil any and all of the mysteries of existence. Ironically, Socrates was fond of quoting from tragedies. The role of the Greek chorus was to act as a narrator, however still play a minor part in the acting of the play. So although the chorus may also play characters, its characters never influence the plot line, even though they may try. An interesting thing about the chorus is that they always look back on the play's events, unlike the rest of the cast. Many modern tragedies also use this idea of a chorus and edit it to suit their own needs. For an example of this see A View from the Bridge and the role of Alfieri. Another modern example is found in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's surrealist drama, Der Besuch der Alten Dame (The Visit of the Old Woman), in the chorus characters of die Beiden Blinden (the two blind ones.)
Performance
Greek tragedies were performed in late March/early April at an annual state religious festival in honor of Dionysus. The presentation took the form of a contest between three playwrights, who presented their works on three successive days. Each playwright would prepare a trilogy of tragedies, plus an unrelated concluding comic piece called a satyr play. Often, the three plays featured linked stories, but later writers like Euripides may have presented three unrelated plays. Only one complete trilogy has survived, the Oresteia of Aeschylus. The Greek theater was in the open air, on the side of a hill, and performances of a trilogy and satyr play probably lasted most of the day. Performances were apparently open to all citizens, including women, but evidence is scanty. The theater of Dionysus at Athens probably held around 12,000 people. The presentation of the plays probably resembled modern opera more than what we think of as a "play." All of the choral parts were sung (to flute accompaniment) and some of the actors' answers to the chorus were sung as well. The play as a whole was composed in various verse meters. All actors were male and wore masks, which may have had some amplifying capabilities. A Greek chorus danced as well as sang. (The Greek word choros means "a dance in a ring.") No one knows exactly what sorts of steps the chorus performed as it sang, but choral songs in tragedy are often divided into three sections: strophe ("turning, circling"), antistrophe ("counter-turning, counter-circling") and epode ("after-song"). One possible scenario is that the chorus would dance one way around the orchestra ("dancing-floor") while singing the strophe, turn another way during the antistrophe, and then stand still during the epode. Thespis, (flourished 6th century BC, Athens), Greek poet, said to have been born in the deme (district) of Icaria. According to ancient tradition, Thespis was the first actor in Greek drama. He was often called the inventor of tragedy, and his name was recorded as the first to stage a tragedy at the Great (or City) Dionysia (c. 534 BC). Scholars differ on the scanty evidence about Thespis and his role in the development of Greek drama. According to the Greek rhetorician Themistius (4th century AD), Aristotle said that tragedy was entirely choral until Thespis introduced the prologue and the internal speeches. If so, Thespis was the first to interweave choral song with an actor’s speeches, and tragic dialogue began when the actor (Thespis) exchanged words with the leader of the chorus (choragus). The four titles and five fragments attributed to Thespis are probably not authentic.