The image above is of Helen Mirren in the role of Prospero in Julie Taymor's film version of Shakespeare's The Tempest (2010). That's just one of the many great Shakespeare plays (and adaptations) that awaits you as you finish this course. Congratulations: you now have the tools you need to approach any classic work of theater as an informed viewer. Here are some of the other things I hope you've gotten out of this Texts and Contexts introduction to The Art of Tragedy.
-a knowledge of the history of the genre of tragedy from ancient Greece to Shakespeare
-an introduction to the foundational work of criticism about playwriting, Aristotle’s Poetics
-some key distinctions between Greek and Shakepspearean tragedy – Chorus/no chorus, based on history/based on myth, performed in political contexts that allowed in Greece for more explicit critique and exploration than in Elizabethan England (democratic city-state versus monarchy). Both came out of imperial cultures.
-an awareness of the way tragedy is shaped by the political context in which it is performed
-an Introduction to theater studies
-an introduction to Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies
-awareness of ethical and activist issues in performance, especially the politics of casting
-an introduction to the concept of Adaptation and the many ways that stories can be recycled and turned to new purposes in new cultures or for new audiences
-practice in the art of writing in the genre of a review
-an increasingly informed and analytical perspective for viewing film, TV, and other forms of storytelling in your daily life
-an understanding of the way that a play moves from the page to the stage and all the interpretive possibilities that are open to a director and to actors
-an Introduction to several significant playwrights and film-makers of the contemporary period, including Lars von Trier, Cherrie Moraga, and Pier Pasolini
-a sense of some of the common themes and preoccupations that tragedies share, like inheritance and legitimacy (who shall inherit the throne?), dealing with the aftermath of war, relations between men and women, time and mortality, fate and free will, transcending or accepting one’s social position, sacrifice, the legacy of the past and one’s relation to one’s parents, theatricality itself, revenge
-an understanding of the way that tragedy is drawn to taboo subjects, like incest
-an ability to use a theoretical text to analyze a piece of film, literature, or drama (note: you might want to do this for yourself in future classes, by choosing a theoretical text to use in the way you used Loraux, Nietzsche or Zeitlin, drawing on readings from the future class and making them the “lens” for your study).
-a willingness, in writing essays, to go beyond your first idea to find the more creative second, third, even fourth ideas—an ability to find unexpected, unique, and focused ways of approaching a topic.
-a reminder that at Fordham, we are very lucky to have Broadway theatres (and many other wonderful theatres, such as those performed off-Broadway, downtown, and in our own theater department) at our fingertips. With student rush tickets at many venues and the Tickets booth in Times Square selling discounted tickets every day, there’s no need to be a stranger to live performance!
- knowledge that there are still so many great plays out there waiting to be read, including the Greek and Shakespearean plays we didn’t get a chance to read (like Aeschylus’s trilogy The Oresteia, like Hecuba and Electra, and like Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra) as well as all of Modern Tragedy (the plays of Ibsen, Chekhov, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Sarah Ruhl, Anna Deveare Smith, Marina Carr, and others).
Thanks for your enthusiasm and hard work this semester. Please keep in touch, let me know how you’re doing, and keep me posted on your activities as well as your continuing education in the Art of Tragedy.
Prof. Walsh
-a knowledge of the history of the genre of tragedy from ancient Greece to Shakespeare
-an introduction to the foundational work of criticism about playwriting, Aristotle’s Poetics
-some key distinctions between Greek and Shakepspearean tragedy – Chorus/no chorus, based on history/based on myth, performed in political contexts that allowed in Greece for more explicit critique and exploration than in Elizabethan England (democratic city-state versus monarchy). Both came out of imperial cultures.
-an awareness of the way tragedy is shaped by the political context in which it is performed
-an Introduction to theater studies
-an introduction to Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies
-awareness of ethical and activist issues in performance, especially the politics of casting
-an introduction to the concept of Adaptation and the many ways that stories can be recycled and turned to new purposes in new cultures or for new audiences
-practice in the art of writing in the genre of a review
-an increasingly informed and analytical perspective for viewing film, TV, and other forms of storytelling in your daily life
-an understanding of the way that a play moves from the page to the stage and all the interpretive possibilities that are open to a director and to actors
-an Introduction to several significant playwrights and film-makers of the contemporary period, including Lars von Trier, Cherrie Moraga, and Pier Pasolini
-a sense of some of the common themes and preoccupations that tragedies share, like inheritance and legitimacy (who shall inherit the throne?), dealing with the aftermath of war, relations between men and women, time and mortality, fate and free will, transcending or accepting one’s social position, sacrifice, the legacy of the past and one’s relation to one’s parents, theatricality itself, revenge
-an understanding of the way that tragedy is drawn to taboo subjects, like incest
-an ability to use a theoretical text to analyze a piece of film, literature, or drama (note: you might want to do this for yourself in future classes, by choosing a theoretical text to use in the way you used Loraux, Nietzsche or Zeitlin, drawing on readings from the future class and making them the “lens” for your study).
-a willingness, in writing essays, to go beyond your first idea to find the more creative second, third, even fourth ideas—an ability to find unexpected, unique, and focused ways of approaching a topic.
-a reminder that at Fordham, we are very lucky to have Broadway theatres (and many other wonderful theatres, such as those performed off-Broadway, downtown, and in our own theater department) at our fingertips. With student rush tickets at many venues and the Tickets booth in Times Square selling discounted tickets every day, there’s no need to be a stranger to live performance!
- knowledge that there are still so many great plays out there waiting to be read, including the Greek and Shakespearean plays we didn’t get a chance to read (like Aeschylus’s trilogy The Oresteia, like Hecuba and Electra, and like Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra) as well as all of Modern Tragedy (the plays of Ibsen, Chekhov, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Sarah Ruhl, Anna Deveare Smith, Marina Carr, and others).
Thanks for your enthusiasm and hard work this semester. Please keep in touch, let me know how you’re doing, and keep me posted on your activities as well as your continuing education in the Art of Tragedy.
Prof. Walsh
