Posted by SONNET CLV on May 29, 19100 at 16:31:43:
In Reply to: Re: Aeschylus added the second role in one play before him, no one did that?? posted by kit on April 26, 19100 at 11:39:51:
I'm coming to this too late, I know ... but I had to set straight this issue.
First of all, so very little is known about the development of the ancient Greek drama, that the few sources we rely upon are known to be fairly unreliable. The major source of information, and that which provides the traditional answer to this question, is Aristotle's POETICS. But this book was written some 200 years after Aeschylus, and facts were murky then. Too, Aeschylus seems not to have had an especially keen sense of tragedy. He approaches the drama from the point of view of a scientist. But one cannot find the "soul of tragedy" by dissecting a play's parts ... something Aristotle was fond of doing. That said, I refer you to Aristotle's POETICS.
It is in POETICS that Aristotle informs us that Aeschylus was the first to add a second actor to the stage, and that it was Sophocles who added the third. Now, we do know that the ORESTEIA makes use of three characters in one scene, but this play was written only after Sophocles had begun writing for the theatre, and, supposedly, after Sophocles had introduced his third character. Several of the Sophocles plays have a third character in them. But which was earliest we cannot know, considering that we have only seven extant plays of the some 120 Sophocles is known to have written.
Was Aeschylus the first to add a second actor? The point is probably debateable, and I personally doubt it. The drama performances did exist well before Aeschylus started to write. But they were rather crude. Still, I find it hard to believe that at least one of the earlier dramatists would not have composed some sort of dialogue. Still, nothing is known for certain. The records are too sketchy.
So, as it stands: Thespis is considered the first actor who played the part of Dionysius in his monologue-like scenes; Aeschylus is the "father of tragedy" who, according to POETICS, added the second actor; and Sophocles, the "father of plot," added a third actor for the sake of moderating disputes ... as in the OEDIPUS REX when Jocasta enters to referee an argument between her husband Oedipus and her brother Creon.
Intensive study into ancient theatre will reveal more facts, I'm sure ... but this thumbnail sketch is generally what it all bubbles down to.
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