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CLST 273-WI / WSGS 297-WI:
Classical Tragedy with a focus on Women's Studies and Gender
Writing Intensive
Fall Semester 2010
Dr. Jacqueline Long
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Study Guide for the Final Exam
Format
The exam will have three parts; there will be some measure of choice
within each part.
- cut-and-dried identifications: basic factual information
(small credit per item, and a small component of the exam)
- passages from the plays we’ve read: identify context, and discuss
briefly but concretely a couple of the trends in our study-material
that the the passage illustrates most prominently -- in the play, in
the author's work generally, in ancient Greek conventions of performance,
in the literary form of tragedy, in the conceptions of gender implicated
in the action (distinguish ancient and modern presumptions), in the
interactions depicted between individuals across boundaries of difference
such as gender or class (each passage-essay earns a medium-small quantum
of credit, but they add up to a major component of the exam)
- essay: discuss a thematic question, drawing for support of your
contentions on specific, concrete evidence from several plays (the
largest single item of credit; a major component of the exam)
Things to study
An effective approach to understanding what is important to focus on as you
review for an exam -in any course- is to think about how the different elements
of the course-work serve the course-design. Think about the objectives
highlighted in the syllabus, and as you review the plays and your notes, think
about how the questions we have pursued in class or raised in the Study
Questions and the other work you have done each helps realize some of those
goals. Ask yourself, "why does that matter?" Your answers will guide you in your
studying. If you want to talk about some of the connections, please come see me
- I want us to be on the same page, working toward the same outcome -your learning-
not at cross-purposes. Having thought now, in review, about how assignments and
questions and techniques of reading fit together with our objectives, keep thinking
about their relationship as we continue moving forward into new material.
Terms and items you might be asked to identify include:
- major characters in each play we’ve read
- the identity of the chorus in each play we’ve read
- authors of importance to the plays we've read (including who-wrote-what,
their dates to within a reasonable approximation, their genres, and, for the
playwrights, their distinctive techniques and thematic preoccupations as
dramatists): Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Homer, Stesichorus, Aristophanes, Agathon
- important moments and figures in the development of tragedy as a
dramatic form: dithyramb, Thespis, Dionysus, Aeschylus, Sophocles;
rough chronology for the institution of festivals (City Dionysia,
Lenaia); Old Comedy, New Comedy
- important parts of an ancient Greek theatre: theatron/cavea, orchestra,
stage, skene, ekkyklema, mechane
- formal divisions of an ancient tragedy: prologue, parodos,
episode (and agon as an element within some episodes), choral
ode a.k.a. stasimon (in divisions strophe,
antistrophe, epode), exodos; in Athenian Old Comedy,
these same parts and also the parabasis
- elements of the civic production of Athenian tragedy: democracy,
liturgy, choregia/choregos, prize-voting, civic cult,
charter-myth (identify specific charter-myths in our plays);
trilogy, satyr-play
- concepts and terminology conventionally used in criticism of Classical culture and particularly
drama, e.g., aetiological myth, climax, charter-myth, comic hero/comic plot, denouement,
deus (or dea) ex machina, dramatic irony, hybris, messenger-speech,
metatheater, peripeteia, protagonist & deuteragonist, soliloquy
- concepts and terminology of cultural and literary criticism
conventionally used in feminist inquiry, especially into the Classical
world, e.g., gender, sex, sexuality, the (male) gaze, homosocial, oikos,
patriarchy, polis, social class
- other social institutions of the Classical world, including hero
as a category of divinity, miasma (and other conceptions of blood-guiltiness),
mourning-practices, national and ethnic distinctions,
philia (close affective bonds), sacrifice, sanctuary/asylum,
slavery, supplication, xenia (guest-host relations); Athenian festivals including
the City Dionysia, the Thesmophoria
- main outlines and major figures of myths that figure in our tragedies,
including the birth-story of Dionysus and other myths concerned with the
royal family of Thebes; the Judgment of Paris, the Trojan War and its
aftermath, including the Palinode-story; the Labors and death of Heracles;
myths connected with Theseus and Athens; myths connected with Jason
- current historical concerns reflected in our tragedies: the
Peloponnesian War and its major participants and key events, including
Athens, Sparta, Melos, Sicily
Themes and overarching considerations to consider (both for passages
and for the essay; see also daily Study
Questions from before and
after the mid-semester):
Strategy:
think of specific passages that illustrate important points, so you
can back up your arguments with concrete evidence on the
test. Be sure you explain clearly how the passage helps
demonstrate your point.