| Term | Definition |
|---|
| situational | Type of irony: a contrast between what is expected and what occurs |
| verbal | Type of irony: a contrast between what is said and what is meant |
| dramatic | Type of irony: the audience knows critical information the character does not |
| Thespis | The first actor |
| Choragos | The leader of the Chorus, speaks on behalf of the Chorus |
| prologue | Opening portion of the play, describes the initial conflict of the play |
| parados | The entrance song of the Chorus |
| episode | Scenes in the action of the drama, performed by the actors |
| exodus | Concluding section of the tragedy, the chorus exits |
| stichomythia | Poetic device in which individual lines of verse are assigned to alternating speakers |
| paradox | A seeming contradiction; whatever sounds impossible yet is in fact possible |
| catharsis | The purging of emotion |
| unities | Aristotle: time, place, story (plot) |
| Poetics | Aristotle's work of literary criticism |
| fear and pity | The emotions a tragedy should evoke, according to Aristotle |
| Aristotle | Author of the Poetics, Philosopher, critic of tragedy |
| masks | All of the actors and Chorus members wore these |
| amphitheater | Tragedies were performed here in honor of Dionysus |
| Dionysus | The festival of this god gave rise to theatre |
| tragos | This Greek word, meaning goat, is the root of the word tragedy |
| 5th B.C. | The century Oedipus Rex was written and first performed |
| Athens | The city that gave rise to theatre and philosophy, home to Sophocles, Aristotle, etc. |
| hamartia | "tragic flaw"; the character trait that leads the good man to tragic end. |
| hubris | Excessive pride, arrogance |
| reversal of fortune, peripetia | A change by which the action veers around to its opposite |
| realization, anagnorisis | The moment the tragic hero recognizes his error |
| Freytag's pyramid | The structure of tragic plot: exposition, complication, climax, falling action, catastrophe |
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