Independent Study: Greek Tragedy
Follow this website, more or less.
Unit 1: Intro to Greek History and Drama
Essential Questions:
How is Greek tragedy a product of its environment? (socio-historical)
Why do we like to read plays about pain and suffering? (existential)
What makes Greek tragedy good theater? (performative / literary)
Why do Greek comedies not persist in the same way as tragedies? Why are they not studied or performed as much?
Whatever happened to satyr plays?
Research Tasks
Performance
Tasks
Read over this website and this website
Watch Intro to Greek tragedy
Read portions of The Greeks by H.D.F. Kitto, focusing on ch. 4 (Homer), ch. 7 (The Fifth Century), and ch. 12 (Life and Character)
Read Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction by Adrian Poole
Read introductory portions of ch. 17 (p. 374-436) of Will Durant's The Life of Greece
Read Greek Tragedy by H.D.F. Kitto
Answer a minimum of 1 EQ in writing (journal)
Create an Introduction to Greek Tragedy lecture powerpoint (or documentary) for future class (complete when posted on class website)
Create and take an Intro to Greek Tragedy quiz or project (complete when posted on class website)
Create a Mind Map poster to put up in classroom about Greek Tragedy
Take Unit 1 Test
Unit 2: Sophocles
Essential Questions:
What makes this playwright legendary?
Why do their plays persist?
What is their worldview?
How is their conception of the world similar or different to your own?
Why should others study them?
What do they have to teach me? Us? My students? The world?
What do you see in a selected character from their drama?
Why are they the greatest (or not) Greek tragedian?
Research Tasks
Performance
Tasks
Read specific portions of ch. 17 (p. 374-436) of Will Durant's The Life of Greece pertaining to this author
Read Oedipus Rex
Read this website
Read Oedipus at Colonus
Read this website
Read Antigone
Read this website
Read specific to Sophocles chapters of Nussbaum's The Fragility of Goodness
Answer a minimum of 1 EQ in writing (journal)
Create an Introduction to Sophocles lecture powerpoint (or documentary) for future class (complete when posted on class website)
Create and take an Intro to Sophocles quiz or project (complete when posted on class website)
Create a character map or mind map poster of Sophocles or a chosen play you'll teach
Memorize one famous speech from a play of this author
Do a journal reflection on this quote
Unit 3: Aeschylus
Essential Questions:
What makes this playwright legendary?
Why do their plays persist?
What is their worldview?
How is their conception of the world similar or different to your own?
Why should others study them?
What do they have to teach me? Us? My students? The world?
What do you see in a selected character from their drama?
Why are they the greatest (or not) Greek tragedian?
Research Tasks
Performance
Tasks
Read specific portions of ch. 17 (p. 374-436) of Will Durant's The Life of Greece pertaining to this author
Read The Orestreia
Read over specific pages on this website pertaining to Aeschylus
Read specific to Aeschylus chapters of Nussbaum's The Fragility of Goodness
Answer a minimum of 1 EQ in writing (journal)
Create an Introduction to Aeschylus lecture powerpoint (or documentary) for future class (complete when posted on class website)
Create and take an Intro to Aeschylus quiz or project (complete when posted on class website)
Create a character map or mind map poster of Aeschylus or a chosen play you'll teach
Memorize one famous speech from a play of this author
Do a journal reflection on this quote
Unit 4: Euripides
Essential Questions:
What makes this playwright legendary?
Why do their plays persist?
What is their worldview?
How is their conception of the world similar or different to your own?
Why should others study them?
What do they have to teach me? Us? My students? The world?
What do you see in a selected character from their drama?
Why are they the greatest (or not) Greek tragedian?
Research Tasks
Performance
Tasks
Read specific portions of ch. 17 (p. 374-436) of Will Durant's The Life of Greece pertaining to this author
Read Bacchae
Read Medea
Read Hecuba
Read more?
Read over specific pages on this website pertaining to Euripides
Read specific to Euripides chapters of Nussbaum's The Fragility of Goodness
Answer a minimum of 1 EQ in writing (journal)
Create an Introduction to Euripides lecture powerpoint (or documentary) for future class (complete when posted on class website)
Create and take an Intro to Euripides quiz or project (complete when posted on class website)
Create a character map or mind map poster of Euripides or a chosen play you'll teach
Memorize one famous speech from a play of this author
Do a journal reflection on this quote
Unit 5: Greek Tragedy Comparison
Essential Questions:
How do the three tragedians compare and contrast to each other?
How do they differ in telling the same story? (Electra)
Research Tasks
Performance
Tasks
Answer a minimum of 1 EQ in writing (journal)
Create a TRIPLE BUBBLE map between the three tragedians
Create an Greek Tragedy Comparison lecture powerpoint (or documentary) for future class (complete when posted on class website)
Create and take an Greek Tragedy Comparison quiz or project (complete when posted on class website)
Write a fake letter to the school board / administration defending why we should purchase a class set of a Greek tragedy we don't already have, describing why it would be useful
Actually do it.
Or at the very least, complete a DonorsChoose.org project proposal for it.
Write a "lawyer speech" defending a chosen Greek tragedian (Sophocles, Aeschylus, or Euripides) as the greatest
Or choose one to defend as being the most underrated
Unit 6: Greek Tragedy and Shakespeare
Essential Questions:
How does Shakespeare continue or differ from the Greek tragic tradition?
How does Oedipus / Antigone / et al compare to Shakespearean tragic heroes (King Lear, Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Othello, Julius Caesar, et al)?
Which should we study (if you only had time for one)?
What are the relative merits of each?
Research Tasks
Performance
Tasks
Read Tragedy: Shakespeare and the Greek Example
Reread 1+ Shakespearean tragedy (Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, or Othello) in light of Greek tragedies you've already read
Answer a minimum of 1 EQ in writing (journal)
Create an Greek Tragedy and Shakespeare Comparison lecture powerpoint (or documentary) for future class (complete when posted on class website)
Create a project that will help class transition to Shakespeare
Create a bubble map comparing Shakespearean tragedy and Greek tragedy
Create a bubble map comparing Greek tragic hero and Shakespearean tragic hero
Write a "lawyer speech" defending whether Shakespearean or Greek tragedy is the greatest of all time
Write a letter to an English faculty colleague who only has time for one (Greek or Shakespeare), which should they choose and why?
Unit 7: Theories of Tragedy
Essential Questions:
What is your own theory of tragedy?
How does it compare to other scholars?
Is it about theory or experience?
Can an audience's reception be expected / planned / manipulated? Is it as simple as Aristotle says?
Are their other possibilities beside Aristotle?
Does their need to be a balance between tragedy and comedy?
What does tragedy provide? What effect does it have on the reader? Audience? (their inner and outer lives, long-term and short-term effects)
Research Tasks
Performance
Tasks
Review this website
Read Plato, Republic
Read Aristotle, Poetics
Read Nietzsche, Birth of Tragedy
Read Martha Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness
Reread and review Greek Tragedy by H.D.F. Kitto
Consult this book (?)
Answer a minimum of 1 EQ in writing (journal)
Create essay prompts for analytical writing (eg "Based on the above quote by Aristotle, analyze the character of Oedipus. Does he fit the definition of a tragic hero? Do you agree or disagree with Aristotle...etc)
Create a systematic treatise of your own theory of tragedy
Interview others about why tragedies persist (colleagues, friends, family) vs. comedies persisting
Unit 8: Conclusions
Essential Questions:
Why is pleasurable to see pathos on stage? Why is tragedy pleasurable? Persistent? Perennial? Universal?
Research Tasks
Performance
Tasks
Read this website
Memorize 3+ scenes / speeches and recite (to practice for Performance Task)
Answer a minimum of 1 EQ in writing (journal)
Create (or add onto Intro to Tragedy lecture powerpoint from earlier) a presentation that answers EQ 1 about why tragedy is interesting to study...directly answering persistent student question
Create assignment directions for a Performance Contest for my class (based on this)
Implement the fruits of this study in Fall 2015 AP course...just do it!
As the culmination to this study, I hope to attend in the summer of 2016 a trip to Greece with EF Tours!
All to Greece: Click here
Greece and Turkey? I think so...click here
RESOURCES
University Syllabus / Course Links:
Perseus Project (Exhaustive list of ancient texts)
CLASSICS 207 (John Porter, Univ. of Saskatchewan)
Greek Tragedy Syllabus (Dr. William Johnson, Duke)
Potential Pacing (Dr. William Johnson, Duke)