[00:01.83]Aeschylus：The Father of Greek Tragedy
[00:04.78]Aeschylus was the first known dramatist to use
[00:09.09]more than one character in his plays,
[00:11.82]and he therefore invented the concept of dialogue between characters.
[00:16.20]Before Aeschylus, plays consisted of one protagonist
[00:20.02]and were narrated by the chorus.
[00:21.99] Some plays had a chorus of only one actor,
[00:25.05]while others used a large group.
[00:27.46]Aeschylus' plays also feature a chorus,
[00:30.74]but the majority of the stories are told through dialogue.
[00:33.80]Many typical dramatic concepts, such as props, scenery, and costumes,
[00:39.05] also originated in Aeschylus' works.
[00:41.57] He also invented the dramatic trilogy.
[00:44.41] His tragedies were performed in sequences of three plays
[00:47.91] stretched out over time. After each trilogy was concluded,
[00:51.85] he staged a comedy called a "satyr drama".
[00:54.80] In a typical satyr drama,
[00:57.10]the characters are mythological creatures and the chorus is a satyr,
[01:01.36]a mischievous creature that is half-man, half-goat.
[01:04.97]The language and meter used by Aeschylus in his plays
[01:08.58]was the forerunner of blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter.
[01:13.39] Blank verse became the dominant poetic and dramatic style
[01:17.44]of the English literary renaissance,
[01:19.63]which occurred nearly 2 100 years after Aeschylus.
[01:23.46]Writers such as William Shakespeare,
[01:25.97]John Milton and Christopher Marlowe almost exclusively
[01:29.80] used blank verse in their famous works.
[01:32.09] Alexandrine, another writing style, is also derived from Aeschylus' verse.
[01:38.00]Dramatic themes such as revenge, deceit, jealousy, suffering, guilt,
[01:44.89]and forgiveness are central to Aeschylus' work.
[01:48.28] Many of his plays include instances
[01:50.90] in which the gods punish mankind for attempting to be godlike.
[01:54.63] These themes were popularized in Aeschylus' tragedies,
[01:58.12]and have been common ever since.
[02:00.31]His seven known plays are divided into one complete trilogy and four additional works.
[02:06.54] "The Suppliant Women" is the only surviving part of the lost Danaüs trilogy.
[02:12.24] "The Persians" (472 B.C.) is his next known work,
[02:17.54]and concerns the wars between Greece and Persia.
[02:20.50] "The Seven Against Thebes" (467 B.C.)
[02:25.24]is the last part of his lost trilogy dealing with the life of Oedipus.
[02:29.29]Aeschylus traveled to Sicily several times during his life,
[02:33.11]and on his last voyage he did not return.
[02:35.96]He died at Gela, Sicily, in 456 B.C.
[02:40.66] A monument commemorating the "father of Greek tragedy"
[02:44.16]was erected at the site of his death. |