Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz’s book Greek Tragedy was written to be a basic introduction for undergraduate students so that would learn key elements of Greek tragedy and the Athenian theatre. Her expressed goal is two-fold: 1. to assist students in understanding Greek tragedies by first providing a general background about ancient performances, their political and ritual contexts and 2. to have students understand that while these tragedies raised certain troubling questions for Athenians very long ago, they also allow the 21st century reader/viewer to ask themselves the same serious questions about humanity, morally ambiguous questions that have no easy answers.
Part one of her book consists of three chapters that I hope you have read carefully. These first chapters study the tragedies performed in the festivals/contests in the city (polis) of Athens in honor of the god Dionysus.
Please write one page (double-space) for each of the three questions below. Please be precise, concise and use your own words.
1.In your own words, what was Greek tragedy?
2.In your own words, how did Greek tragedy impact the polis (the city-state of Athens) and the flowering of Greek democracy?
3.In your own words, what role did religion and rituals play in these tragedies performed in honor of the god Dionysus?
Times New Roman/size 12 font
One-inch page margins
Double-spaced paragraphs
A header with your last name and page number one-half inch from the top of each page.
A works cited page beginning on a separate page at the end of the paper (if assignment warrants citations)
