Tragedy Lessons from Aristotle: Crash Course Theater #3

Aristotle. He knows a lot, right? And if you choose to believe Aristotle, then you must believe all the mechanics of tragedy that Mike is about to lay on you. This week, we're looking at Aristotle's rules for the basic elements of theater, and how those can be used to bring about catharsis, the emotional release triggered by onstage trauma. You know you love the catharsis.
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[@sharonchase4802]

"You may recognize it from the English word 'peripatetic'."" Yes... I have heard this word before... ever...

[@Luke-zv6bb]

Exactly

[@DavidSilverGames]

I could not resist but laughing when the chorus chimed.

[@Roll587]

That "I'm sorry, what?!" is so awesome.

[@NoelleMar]

To be fair, the men really are doing all the work when it comes to childbearing. Wait...

[@bordaz1]

yes, an extremely odd argument for Apollo to make

[@m.douglas8492]

so meme-able!

[@vittoriahawksworth8117]

10.10 Aristotle‘s idea that mother is merely the incubator for the father’s seed survived more or less until the 19th century, basically until the improvement of microscopes.

[@thehopeofeden597]

That "Right. On." Was slightly hilarious and slightly chilling.

[@emamekkartny]

the narrator is just so hilarious and it's awesome. i love seeing young people being so enthusiastic about things such as Greek drama and being able to speak about it in a non- boring way

[@middernachtzon]

As a theater major, this is a life saver for my more textbook based classes. Bless your soul for helping me through midterms dude

[@bordaz1]

Nerd note: The first performance of the Oresteia at the Dionysia came three years after Ephialtes and Pericles stripped the Areopagus jury (a standing judicial body) of its power, instituting direct democracy in its place to decide matters in Athens. Aeschylus was low key criticizing this radical move in the "Eumenides" and thus providing some satire as well as tragedy

[@thespibunny272]

*RIIIGHTOONNN! The Greek chorus was great! These Greek-centered videos are giving me flashbacks to my freshman college play Saving the Greeks: One Tragedy at a Time.*

[@engibear6392]

*Too bad they couldn't save Greek food, too. So bland.* *Gyros and baklava are fine, but everything else just tastes like olive oil.*

[@engibear6392]

*Lacking sophistication? Mkay.* ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@FRISHR]

Greek tragedy is great, but have you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise?

[@m.douglas8492]

its not a story the jedi would tell you. Its a *sith* legend.

[@mybusiness692]

He could save others from death but not himself

[@samallen546]

is it possible to learn these powers

[@stevenmoreno8724]

Persona 5 mask was a nice little easter egg.

[@sixpomegranateseeds6893]

Bottom line: Agamemnon's family puts the fun in dysfunctional. I once did a monologue from Electra, the play by Sophocles, about how she was rearing to kill her mother and her mother's lover, and she was convincing her sister Chrysothemis to help her. I won with that piece. Anywho, I love this one, it gets a little weird for me, but can't deny its importance to anything Greek theatre related.

[@veselinstoyanov972]

Mike Rugnetta is my favourite Crash Course host. Keep up the good work! I love Theatre and miss Mythology!

[@Rocketboy1313]

I am glad Mike is doing another series after Mythology. He is an entertaining personality.

[@natalischerbarth4091]

These videos are so great. I'm a big theatre person so it's super interesting to learn about how theatre got started! Love these!

[@blackhammer3692]

Who else is watching this for there online school work

[@LordMephistoteles]

i thought this series was gunna suck but, gotta admit, it is just getting better and better

[@OctagonalGolbat]

This was super helpful! I was having trouble understanding my course literature, including Aristotle's Poetics, and now I finally get it!

[@LordDice1]

Hey Mike☺ great to see you back again. Still miss Thoth though😕lol

[@purplepepper2503]

Lord Dice X Same :(

[@QueenSince]

Stuffed grape leaves are really good tho

[@maidenn4704]

QueenSince1997 yeah they are called Sarma

[@alchemist7525]

we eat them in egypt too.called mahshy which mean stuffed.

[@stefanvasilakopoulos443]

in Greece they're called dolmades (more of a "the" sound than a "d" sound

[@Suite_annamite]

They're *almost as good as stuffed wild betel leaves!* ;)

[@altareggo]

@@Suite_annamite minus the long-lasting stimulant effect, of course.

[@sashatroyka9665]

It's interesting that the word "hamartia" means "missing the mark" because that's also the meaning of the word usually translated as "sin" in the Hebrew Bible.

[@joxiUMSjankov]

Mike, and CC team, you are great! this is great and really fun! its helping me to overcome "fear" of Theatre history exam xD

[@uzundeprem5743]

finished your mythology series and starting this now, thank you mike

[@ironempath7261]

Okay, like where did you learn all this stuff and who the hell will there be to make these engaging videos for future generations? I love your enthusiasm.

[@oowatwat]

Wow this series is bomb. I am legit learning so much

[@OnoufriosDovletis]

*** Aristotle lived in northern GREECE, in an area called MACEDONIA. saying that he lived in both makes it sound like Macedonia wasn't or isn't part of Greece...

[@lightscameras4166]

Onoufrios Dovletis every country or empire has regions, Macedonia was a region, i don’t see the problem in that

[@nudafu633]

I just realised why Japanese anime, Rurouni Kenshin works so well. It ticks all the boxes of Greek tragedy.

[@zennim125]

loved this idea channel episode

[@primoaurelius]

imagine how greek/world history would be different if Socrates had never been born. Socrates teaches Plato, who teaches Aristotle, who teaches Alexander, and Alexander becomes the closest to a philosopher king that the greeks had known at that point.

[@Nooraykhan786]

loved your style of teaching 😊

[@Cook_Eat_Banter]

Omg I love how you teach . I wish you were my lecturer ❤️ after trying to understand this for weeks I finally do today!

[@kirtigupta6036]

This was uploaded 4years ago... N I still find its content best compared to the content available on youtube on same topic. Thanks ❣️

[@sophia-helenemeesdetricht1957]

"... and whiffs it." DED.

[@gayathrir647]

Sir you explaining it excellent way tone and body language are great you are picturing indeed.👍💐

[@giatonpeonta8071]

peripeteia and peripatetic have totally different roots. peri+pipto for the first, peri + patao for the second.

[@hemalatabhat9497]

Thank you for a good presentation of a quick INTRODUCIN of Greek trilogy

[@Nikkidanst1]

Revisiting this video for my aesthetics-class and boy is this more entertaining than the required reading material

[@psychologyexplains7149]

I just came back from the theater - great video as always!

[@jeradjenkins2110]

Hope you talk about the Birth Of Tragedy by Nietzsche one day if you haven't already. Would be a cool video.

[@vansgod5549]

Great Explanation Man. Much appreciated

[@travelling2788]

DID I SEE A PERSONA 5 MASK??? (looking cool joker)

[@akitodezu7535]

OMG YAAASSSSSSS

[@colinwoodall6150]

not that I'm a theatre expert but I feel like the experts in question are missing something if they think that catharsis has to be about emotional purgation OR deep intellectual thought. Life is hardly ever a reductive this or that equation. Sidenote I'm spelling Theatre that way cause like Mike said in the first episode that spelling is more common outside the USA and I am definitely outside of the US

[@sierragibbas579]

crash course anniversary idea: Crash course responds to comments featuring everyone who has worked on crash course

[@leonjackson2967]

Not one to comment often. But this was very informal and useful. Thank yo very much.

[@bluebellbeatnik4945]

i've watched this agamemnon part about 5 times and i still can't follow.

[@Beryllahawk]

I love you

[@melisakran2387]

This is going to help me with my thesis of Poetics i can feel it 😂

[@My_Strides]

“I shouldn’t have eaten that second piece of cake!” Me: HEY! XD you’re right, I should have eaten the whole cake

[@Ineddiblehulk]

Are we SURE he's older than Cher? Just sayin that lady is immortal

[@Latman2k]

Looking cool Joker!

[@TheThagenesis]

this feels a lot like a throwback to crash course mythology

[@aysh_2925]

Mike's voice makes this fun😂

[@archanac7788]

Thank you ❤️

[@galleryg998]

AGAMEMNON!! Doesn’t show how hilarious he is like Overly Sarcastic Productions

[@Murteza1987]

Aristotle was not studying directly under Plato, he studied in Academy which was founded by Plato.

[@gayatri-ydkh]

Hope this series is limitless 🎊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@qazhr]

Can we fix the pay list for mythology and one for theater and drama

[@kellynnmeeks5657]

These are wonderful!!!

[@stevieinselby]

"He spent many years studying with play-dough" ... slow to graduate from kindergarten, then? ;-)

[@LLL124Original]

stevieinselby Well played...

[@damedesuka77]

stevieinselby So I'm not the only one... Was reading the comments when he got to that part which made me scroll back up real quick, oh... Plato.

[@SameNameDifferentGame]

I still say it's bogus that Sophocles' Theban plays don't count as a "trilogy."

[@prachikumar1054]

Well, he never really intended for them to be a tragic trilogy. He had written them for different festivals, years apart, and there are several inconsistencies in the plots as well, so they're generally not considered to be a true tragic trilogy.

[@SirAnthonyChirpsALot]

Not to mention that weren't written in chronological order. Antigone was the first of the three Sophocles wrote, yet it would be placed last in chronology.

[@MayankPatel-001]

I'am interested this video

[@plsarguewithme2665]

9:12 is that Joker's mask from persona 5?

[@poble]

YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT COMIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

[@shakespearaamina9117]

You are amazing indeed!

[@b.w9307]

I m from India good explanation 🤗

[@holisticapproachstudios3322]

Great Video

[@beta_cat3151]

I like strudels

[@LittleJoeTheMoonlightCat]

Athena Gave her Dad a Splitting Headache when She was Born, LOL.

[@folklorian55]

Academic question: Does the Oedipal Trilogy not count as a surviving greek tragedy trilogy? Or do scholars not count Antigone as part of the set?

[@0cujo0]

That was great, but any chance on getting more highbrow - Like perhaps Mexican Soap Opera’s? Thanks :-)

[@quiroz923]

So back in 18th and 19th century Europe they invented these things called melodrama. As in Aristotle's idea of tragedy, emotions like pity and fear are very important, as the main focus of melodrama is making the audience feel intense feelings and emotions. However, unlike tragedy, the action is most certainly not of a certain magnitude, as melodrama does not usually involve the most important people in the world; also, while their circumstances are sad, they do not challenge the audience's perspective, and they tend more towards easy-to-follow quick-paced action rather than memorable unique plots. The plot most be exciting, filled with reveals that cause a dramatic effect and excite the audience. The dialogue usually communicates intense feeling and emotion, often to the point of excess. The characters don't need to be too deep; instead, the bad guys are really bad and the good guys are super good, usually representatives of certain character archetypes. All in all, they're easy-to-follow tearjerkers. Fast forward a couple of years and Mexico is producing its first important works of narrative, by writers like Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, with novels like Clemencia and el Zarco. While more ambitious, they're essentially melodramas: quick-paced, easy to follow, likable good guys and hateable bad guys, and a focus on making the audience feel intense feelings by using tearjerking plots and dialogues that communicate boundless love and all that. Point being, the structure and aesthetics of melodrama has had a privileged space in the heart of Mexican narrative from the beginning. Fast forward half a century or so and Mexico has got itself a pretty strong movie industry. As melodrama is such and important part of their narrative tradition and film is meant for mass consumption, artists like Emilio "el indio" Fernández find their calling creating numerous and extremely popular melodramatic movies, where they perfect the aesthetic for the big screen and continue to privilege tear-inducing plots and dialogue of deliciously exaggerated emotion ("Had my mother not taught me the existence of God, I would still believe in him, because you exist, my love!"). Fast forward to TV, and it's only natural for TV to use the aesthetics that cinema has perfected and that have shown to be very profitable. And so the Mexican TV industry starts producing tons of melodrama for mass consumption. And that's how you get the Mexican telenovela.

[@Udontkno7]

quiroz923 oh. okay.

[@AksharaMaurya]

He's kidding about the second piece of cake but if anyone has read the tale of Philomela, those were Tereus' exact thoughts

[@nazainajoisworld]

great sir

[@calebkirsch5902]

Is Harvey Dent from the Dark Knight a tragic Hero?

[@surfphee9473]

My English teacher is making write notes on 3 of these videos ughhh

[@validateit443]

Any book do you recommend to read about the basic elements of theatre /

[@Mattteus]

"he's only MOSTLY dead... I mean good"

[@josephyml]

that description of the tragic character reminds me a lot of luke in the last jedi....

[@xavierdunkle2372]

Please someone help me find more information on eubulus

[@mstakenidentity]

Please tell me you will be looking at The Frogs! Literary Criticism in Hell, it's the most post-modern play of the 5th Century BCE.

[@remyhocage9854]

Wow Mike plays both Romeo and Juliet characters at the same time !

[@SteveSilverActor]

Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight.

[@ashlyn97]

Where was this crash course when I took Theatre Appreciation last year?

[@rochaleandro747]

Damn Venerable Jorge!

[@hariashwath8189]

So going by the basic concepts as stated in the phenomenon of Catharsis, isn't an empathetic audience a prerequisite for this to actually happen?

[@Tsukiko.97]

How come I can not find the other uploads for this series in it's designated playlist? Nevertheless this episode was entertaining as ever.

[@mrudulasrivatsa]

Abyssinia Empire because they don't Immediately add episodes to the playlist

[@Tsukiko.97]

Mrudula Srivatsa okay! Thanks for notifying me.

[@carllthebigboy]

9:09 dude deadass wearing a joker mask

[@annawashandcome6480]

Don’t trigger us by saying “Greece and Macedonia”. Aristotle lived mostly in Macedonia (kingdom) and Athens (city-state). Greece as a kingdom or state did not exist yet. Greece existed as a concept of race (similar gods, language, culture etc etc etc) which included Athens, Macedonia and the other city-states. Be precise as some new nations may get confused

[@hildesophie6947]

Youre good speaker.. How u do that

[@bernardoelopes]

I was like, "Who's that?", missing John Green, but I like this Mike dude too. :D

[@akshaybodla163]

Why does he say "The Orestia" is the only surviving Greek Trilogy? Are the Three Theban Plays (Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone) not a trilogy?

[@gayatri-ydkh]

Any suggested readings?🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

[@patriciakamel2965]

instructive and funny HAHA

[@Velanii]

does crash course list their sources anywhere?

[@Valdagast]

I want a Hollywood blockbuster trilogy of the Oresteia.

[@kamalghamdi6134]

What’s this guy’s name?

[@amnashahid614]

Oh so Awesome...

[@bellezadefarmacia]

I wish your videos had Spanish subtitles. Let me know if I can help.

[@leca4378]

Awesome!!!

[@prarthna3758]

WHERE WERE YOU ALL MY LIFE OH MY GODDDD!😭😭😇😇😇

[@megantaylor3946]

Why wasn't the trilogy with Oedipus, Oedipus the King and Antigone a tragedy? Or were there only two of those?

[@charlesdonnelly7768]

megan taylor The 3 plays with Oedipus were written at different times and not performed together like the Orestia.

[@megantaylor3946]

Thanks for your response! That clears it up for me because I was really confused :)

[@chadcrabtree6455]

THANK YOU for not defining hamartia as a 'tragic flaw.' That mistranslation has been weakening dramatic and literary criticism for decades!

[@mrudulasrivatsa]

"A vessel for the man's seed" That was really infuriating to hear. Even though I've heard the same thing in different ways before, I've never heard it being used to say that a mother is not a parent!

[@timothymclean]

Yeah. When you go back that far, you get views on women, the lower classes, foreigners, etc which would make even the alt-right double-take. ...I hope.

[@mishagriffith5518]

Well, obviously the woman cannot have a baby without scoodillypooping (trademark John Green), consequently the logic of the man producing the seed and the woman merely playing host to it is just the kind conclusion Aristotle (why experiment when you can logic) would derive.

[@timothymclean]

It also fits with certain old-timey ideas, like sperm containing tiny, perfectly-formed versions of the person it would grow up into. Though I think that Aristotle was a little early for that one...

[@mstakenidentity]

And yet the mother got the blame if the child was female instead of male. Gosh, it's almost like they couldn't win.

[@varana]

To be fair, though, that particular sentiment was _not_ Aristotle but Aeschylus - it was Apollo speaking in the play. Aristotle recognised that you need both woman and man to produce a child. He compared that to an artisan and his material, though - the seed of the father brings all of the necessary crafting (today we would say "information") while the mother provides the material to grow the child. Like a potter giving form to clay. Which is only slightly less messed up than what Aeschylus says. :D