AGENDA FOR STUDY

UNIT A2 1 SECTION B: THE STUDY OF DRAMA

TRAGEDY
SHAKESPEARE: KING LEAR
HEANEY: THE BURIAL AT THEBES
In this Unit, there are 4 Assessment Objectives involved - AO1, AO2, AO3 and AO4.
AO1: Communication
In the examination, the candidate should be able to show good knowledge and
understanding of the plays, and to write about them in an informed and relevant way,
using appropriate terminology and concepts, and coherent, accurate written expression.
AO2: Narrative Methods
In the examination, candidates should be able to show detailed critical, understanding in
analysing the ways in which the writers use structure, form and language.
AO3: Response to other readers opinion

In the examination, the candidate should

offer opinion or judgment in response to the given reading of the texts

take account of key terms as the basis of the argument

make an attempt at reasoning in support of his/her opinion

provide textual referencing not generalisation - to illustrate her/his opinion

N.B. It is not essential for candidates in the examination to refer to the opinions of other
critics and commentators even to obtain full marks. AO 3 can be satisfied by the
candidates developing her/his reading in response to the given reading. If, however,
critics are used, they must be

used with understanding

incorporated into the argument to reinforce or be seen as an alternative to the

candidates opinion

not used as a substitute for the development of the candidates own opinion

properly acknowledged.

AO4 Contexts
Candidates use of contextual material will depend on the focus of the stimulus
statement/given reading. Candidates should note that

questions may appear to be answerable from the text alone but that is not
enough to satisfy AO4; candidates must go outside the texts

the given reading in examination questions will always focus on a particular

contextual aspect e.g. historical, social, political, biographical, or literary

SEAMUS HEANEY: THE BURIAL AT THEBES (A TRANSLATION OF SOPHOCLES

ANTIGONE)
CONTEXTS AO4:
1. LITERARY
CLASSICAL TRAGEDY/CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRAGIC HERO
Aristotles Poetics

Socially elevated, yet not perfect

Has some measure of free will and responsibility

suffering

Hamartia the fatal flaw

Hubris pride before a fall

Peripeteia reversal of circumstances and downfall

Anagnorisis tragic enlightenment

Catharsis arousal of pity and fear

CLASSICAL AND SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY

SIMILARITIES:

minimum scenery

audiences were familiar with traditional tales and ancient legends on which the
plays were based

DIFFERENCES:

Classical drama was rooted in religion not entertainment

Classical drama was ritualistic: performed at festivals of tragedy in celebration of

the god Dionysus; performed at spring time; prizes awarded for best production

Classical drama performed in open-air arena seating 15,000-20,000

Actors wore large masks, colourful costumes and high boots so they could be
seen

Classical drama included much spectacle e.g. Earthquakes, gods descending

from the sky etc.

Classical drama included much music: we cannot be sure how much of the play
was chanted, spoken or sung

Classical followed a set structure (see below under AO3: Dramatic Methods)

2. HISTORICAL

Burial at Thebes (2004) makes less obvious reference to contemporary Northern

Irish political situation than earlier play, The Cure at Troy (1990): by 2004 situation
in the North had changed significantly, especially after Good Friday Agreement of
1998.

THEMES

Power

Gender

Family Obligation

Ethics

Honour

Law

AO2: DRAMATIC METHODS

CHARACTERS:
Antigone

An innocent victim? The unjustly wronged? The martyr?

Spokesperson of human rights?

Advocate of sacredness of the family, tradition, observance of religious rites

Claims of divinity e.g. I am like Niobe (Niobe was immortal / Sky-born 37-8);
Heaneys image of her walking through the stone door that is the threshold to
Hades paralleling Christs death and resurrection from the tomb

Hamartia: pride; motivated by desire for glory (6) oversimplifies by refusing to

acknowledge another view; unable to detach herself from roots, the past, that
fatal line /and the ghastly love I came from (39)

What makes Antigone a tragic heroine?

Creon

Denounces anyone who places private allegiances above the common good

Speech dominated by words such as patriot, solidarity ordinance, law

indicating his conviction that law is the supreme authority

Creons first speech emphasises his authority, but the play ironically questions
authority when it become detached from other human goals such as honouring
family, gods and loved ones.

Classical audience would have seen Creon as guilty of a monstrous act (Jebb)

Hamartia: pride of a tyrant; inflexible, unyielding, unwilling to listen to advice; as

trapped in the present as Antigone is trapped in the past, as resistant to change.

Guard

Ironically, the Guard is the only character to exhibit uncertainty and ability to
carefully weigh alternatives, who has no fixed idea of an appropriate course of
action

Guards prose speech is a comic wavering that contrasts with the brutal force of
Creons and Antigones equally forceful wills

STRUCTURE
Classical drama followed a set structure which Heaney reproduces:

prologue, parados, choral ode, exodus, choragus

classical unities of single plot, single setting, 24 hour span of action

action is compressed, focused, swift, direct

offstage action is important e.g., news of Eurydices and Antigones suicides

messenger thus becomes an important figure the witness, source of exposition

e.g. Guards account of partial burial of Polyneices corpse, messengers account
to Creon of Eurydices suicide

repetition: 6 burials take place on stage

Anagnorisis: Creons reversal

Catharsis pity and fear

Dramatic irony: how does prior knowledge of the story affect what we see and
hear on stage? E.g. Choruss first speech seems to side with Creon and the
established power of Thebes, yet the focus on pride and hubris also comments
ironically on the wilfulness of Creon and Antigone

Stichothymia

Chorus and its various functions

Stasimon (choral ode)

DRAMATIC CONFLICT (AGON)

Does Heaney take sides in the conflict between Antigone and Creon, or preserve
classical balance between their opposing claims?

No simple binary opposition of good and bad between Antigone and Creon?

Antigone and Creon interdependent? Interchangeable?

different worlds, both equally offended (26)? : opposites yet equal?

Redress (a key Heaney word) not through the assimilation of differences but
through mutual acceptance of otherness?

IMAGERY AND SYMBOLISM

Imagery of burial burial as act of remembrance and reverence; an act of

memory associated with the past and belonging; also an act of forgetting, which
can connote erosion of the past or forgiveness and reconciliation, healing and
self-healing

Parallel between plays emphasis on acts of burial and the contemporary

preoccupation with the proper representation and commemoration of the past in
the North ( parades, murals, etc.)

parallel between the act of burial and translation (as in burial, something gets lost
in translation)

Place of burial also ambivalent, the cave stone marks the border between the
living and the dead

Imagery of occlusion e.g. Creon sends Antigone to the rock vault but occlusion
fails to provide the kind of security he desires for Antigone becomes all that is
talked about in the city now (31); Eurydice commits suicide in the privacy inside
the house (52).

LANGUAGE:

Heaneys version based on Richard Jebbs prose translation of 1891, but

includes distinctive Irish idioms and contemporary concerns (international
terrorism, Iraq, security, media hype) e.g. If people had the chance to keen
themselves (Creon, 39), Whoever isnt for us / is against us (Creon, 3),
Broadcast it / Your cover-ups sicken me (Antigone, 6)

RESOURCES
ANTIGONE/THE BURIAL AT THEBES
The Perseus Project

[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/]

"Study Guide: Sophocles' Antigone." Roger Dunkle , CUNY.

[http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/studyguide/antigone.htm]
http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/ [http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/]
Internet Medieval Sourcebook

[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/]

Introduction to Greek Stagecraft [http://www.didaskalia.net/studyarea/

greekstagecraft.html]
Study Guide: Sophocles Antigone
[http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/studyguide/antigone.htm]
SHAKESPEARE: KING LEAR
CONTEXTS: AO4
1. LITERARY
INFLUENCE OF CLASSICAL FORM OF TRAGEDY

Strong sense of fate ordained by the gods

Tragic hero of elevated social status/ strongly hierarchical society

Tragic hero doomed to suffering and death

Fatal flaw (Lears pride and anger)

Hubris

DIFFERENCES

Shakespeare dispenses with the 3 Unities of action, time and setting

2. RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL

Divine Right of Kings: kings were thought of as Gods agents

Great Chain of Being

structured, hierarchical society perceived as part of the natural order: Edmund

refuses to accept his place in the order of nature

ideal of honour

Elizabeth I - model of a strong woman, even though women were generally

considered inferior

THEMES

Justice

Influence of the gods

Abuse of power

Gender issues

Kingship and authority

Loyalty, courage, cruelty

AO2: DRAMATIC METHODS

CHARACTERS:

Compare Lears and Creons change of heart.

Compare and contrast Creons and Lears reaction to advice they are given by
others.

Compare and contrast Lears, Gloucesters and Creons relationships with their
children.

Compare and contrast Lear and Antigone as tragic heroes.

Compare and contrast Lears and Creons attitudes to kingship.

Compare the choric function of the Fool in Lear with the use of the Chorus in Burial.

STRUCTURE

Plot and subplot

IMAGERY AND SYMBOLISM

The storm

Blindness

Planetary influences

Animal imagery

RESOURCES

KING LEAR
www.freebooknotes.com/book.php3?id=227
www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/lear
www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/kinglear
www.bookrags.com/notes/kl/

Cordelia: A Sunday Times Guide to Shakespeares Characters

The Cambridge King Lear CD-ROM- Text and Performance
Reibitanz, John, The Lear World: a study of King Lear in its dramatic context (London:
Heinemann, 1977)
RESOURCES ON TRAGEDY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy
www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/GREECE/DRAMA.HTM
www.ancienthistory.about.com/cs/language/f/tragedynotdrama.htm
www.depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/dunkle/studyguide/tragedy.htm
www.novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/spd130et/typetrag.htm
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/601884/tragedy/51111/Later-Greek-drama
www.19.5degs.com/genre/4/tragedy-drama-ebooks/0
www.silverenchantments.com/The-Arts/comedy-tragedy.html
Exemplar Question
Shakespeare King Lear
Heaney Burial at Thebes (Sophocles Antigone translated by Seamus Heaney)
The tragic outcome of both plays results from a failure of leadership.
By comparing and contrasting appropriately selected parts of the two plays, show how
far you would agree with the view expressed above.
It should be understood that the following are merely suggestions, not prescriptions.
AO 1 (Communication)
Answers should contain

knowledge and understanding of the texts in appropriate reference and quotation

order and relevance in conveying ideas

appropriate and accurate expression

appropriate use of literary terminology

AO 2 (Methods)
Candidates should identify and explore aspects of character interaction, structure,
language (including imagery) and tone in relation to the tragic effect of a failure of
leadership:

character interactions

King Lear
- assessment of Lear as leader by Goneril and Regan
- Lears refusal to be advised by Kent
- Daughters reaction to Lears attempt to relinquish and yet retain power
- Lears retention of loyalty: the Fool, Kent, Gloucester
- Lears belated empathy with his subjects at the hovel with the Fool

Burial at Thebes
- Creons rejection of the advice of the Chorus, Teresias, Haemon
- Creons refusal to take account of traditional laws and of human loyalties
- contrast between Antigones nobility and Creons abusiveness
- Creons indecisiveness e.g. whether or not to punish Ismene; the type of
punishment to be given to Antigone; the reversal of his edict

structure

King Lear
- outcomes of Lears initial rashness worked out over time and in different locations
- movement to the regeneration of Lear a leader at the end?
The Burial at Thebes
- the taut condensed outcome of Creons initial decree (unities observed)
- inevitable movement to catastrophe no possibility of retraction Creons change
of heart too late
- Creons flaws lead to deaths of Antigone, Haemon and Euridice

language -including imagery -and tone

King Lear
- peremptory, uncompromising language of Lear to Cordelia, Kent, Gonerils household
- uncontrolled language abusive imagery; imprecations; language of hallucination
- failure of this language to impress e.g. Goneril and Regan, Oswald
- contrasting with Lears language in Act I: Kents language of genuine leadership
when he confronts Lear; dignified rational utterances of Cordelia

The Burial at Thebes

- not a translation (despite sub-title) the language is basically Heaneys see
idioms and rhythms of the North of Ireland in both serious (Creons) and less
formal (the Guard) utterances
- Creons inadequacies highlighted by e.g. - Antigones noble and courageous
exchanges with the Chorus after her sentencing
- Continuing commentary on Creons leadership by the Chorus
- gravitas and assurance of Teresiass language as he confronts the leader, Creon
- Creons attempts to speak like a leader e.g. establishing of his credentials giving
way to less controlled speech when challenged to his broken delivery at the end

staging

King Lear
- Lears loss of dignity in his passionate outbursts e.g. his humiliation by Oswald
- episodes depicting Lears regenerative madness e.g. mock trial

The Burial at Thebes

-

the interchanges between Chorus and character typical of Greek tragedy

tragic events deaths of Antigone, Haemon and Eurydice played out off-stage
reliance on reportage of the Messenger

AO 3 (Argument and Comparison)

Candidates should

sustain a comparison/contrast of the plays in relation to the terms of the question e.g.
-

peremptory attitudes of both Lear and Creon

Lear an established leader; Creon a new leader

attitudes of Lear and Creon to the gods

greater audience sympathy with Lear than with Creon?

Lears leadership failures derided by the Fool; Creons by Teresias (and the Guard?)

both Lear and Creon shown up by the dignity and integrity of the heroines

offer opinion or judgment in response to the given reading of the text.

take account of and examines the relationship between the key terms eg : tragic
outcome, results from, failure of leadership

make an attempt at reasoning in support of his/her opinion

provide textual referencing to illustrate his/her opinion

show awareness of other readings from that expressed in the stimulus statement
e.g. that there were other causes for the tragic outcome in one or both plays; that
Creon genuinely aimed to restore the State

AO 4 (Context)
Candidates should use appropriate external contextual information - in relation to the
societies reflected in the plays

the nature of Shakespearean tragedy e.g. the flawed hero; the movement towards
the heros destruction

Jacobean notions of kingship

the effects of hubris and hamartia in Greek tragedy

Heaneys universalising of the Antigone theme e.g. Creons insistence on

obedience suggestive of president Bush on Iraq.

In King Lear, Lear fails to achieve the tragic status of Cordelia and, in The Burial at

Thebes, Creon that of Antigone.