Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Athenian Influence

In a previous blog post, I discussed how I thought Athenian democracy set the foundation for future democracies and held a great influence on government. Similarly, Greek theatre had a major impact on theatre in the future. When researching Aristotle's definition of tragedy and tragic hero, I found many similarities to Shakespearean tragedies, and I thought of many of the characteristics in Macbeth. Greek theatre developed the first actors and performances in their celebration to Dionysus. This shows that not only did Athens hold a great impact on government, but also on entertainment. The Athenian civilization proved to be very ahead of their time and many aspects of their culture is still relevant today.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It is well known that Shakespeare drew inspiration from the Greek myths. Therefore, since Aristotle and Sophocles also drew inspiration from the myths and gods, Shakespeare was also influenced by them. I think Shakespeare was a huge fan of classical drama, and it seems from his work that he was a huge fan of Aristotle. He follows his definition of a tragedy. Shakespeare also has classical comedies. They seem to follow the classical definition of a comedy also.