The classic departments of the drama are trag edy and comedy, terms which have come down to us front t he Greeks. The essential distinction heel/ to lie in the fact that a tragedy has a sad ending. while comedy ends happily : but this is far from expressing all the dilference. Tragedy in a Way With theme., espe t Tally the lielper sufferings of humanity. Comedy exploits the follies and absurdities of the ridicu lous and the base. \\Thile all drama is intended to entertain, IF:Wetly doe- it thrOliVI1 the e\cite •ent of sympathy, comedy through the excite ment of mirth. A satirical purpose, however. may dictate the of the object of ridicule. The under-plot. also. in a tragedy. often intro duces a comic element by way of counterpoise to the tragic emotions excited by the principal plot, and of contrast to heighten the impressiveness of the latter: this is one, for instance, of the effects in the grave-digginr scene in ilatnict. Diversity of plot, however. is much more to be found in w•odern than in ancient plays. species of drama. too, do not fall into the regular categories of either tragedy or comedy. The so-called his torical and romantic dramas are suflieiently de fined by their names: the form of opera, has become a specie- of mixed tragedy and comedy, broadly treated and appeal ing to the less critical emotion•: in France has been defined the sort of play which is named spe cifically /• (frame, described variously as t•lq,cli, bonrepoise or rowe'die toro)oyoste, :31u1 represent ing- life with little limitation as to /01111. (( the 111%1111n, Oef:11‘,.) ('Onledy ha. oped several special varieties, from the 'comedy of of the eighteenth century to and burlesque and vaudeville 199.v.) ; the pantomime and ballet tqq.v.) are relatively ancient offshoots from the regular drama. if they 110 not in some eases form part of its origin.
which is fundamental to the acted drama, is of course a part of human nature, and is doubtless to be found among all peoples. In ninny form- of literature. too. the Ilraniatie ten dency- appears. Thus (id Testament eontain dranatie Ilialogne, as in the P,00k of .fob, and dramatic lyrics. as in the Canticles; they are to distinguished, IIIM•ver. from developed drama. Ifegular dramatic ill both tragedy 1111.1 comedy. Ilevel op...I in connection with the worship of Dionysus.
It in the laionysiae festivals of .\tt 1, the satyr followers of the wine-god were impersonated by choruses Of -ten half-clad in goat-.kin--whence piobably Ise the wort) tragedy f rpciyot a goal, and rpalteola goat 'song) —chantite. dithyrambic if t Ile life of the god. Is they danced about the altar. about Br. um), the \ it Corinth. led his cyelic chorus of fifty. .\ h ilf•ventury later came Th• pis. of \ttira, it hose Thespian innovation was the introduction of an :whor to fill the interval- of singing with stories alld mimicry and short dia. with the I.•ader of the chorus. In lime the ore serious perform:1MP, came to be limitekl to the sad ler parts of the Dionysus story and of other toles in the familiar mythology. \\lien
Pisistratus established at Athens the winter fes tival of the /,enao. as at the Great somewhat later, prize dramatic were in •luded in honor of the god, awl the development of tragedy was continued by Chwrilus, Phryni chits, and other playwrights. It is to the great ttagic writers of the fifth eentury !Lc., however, that the Athenian stage owes its fame. ..Esehylus enlarged the possibilities of the drama by increas ing the number of actors to two Sophocles added a third. The original dithyrambic chorus of tift• men had been divided into four of twelve earl' (later increased to fifteen by SophoelesI, with the custom of presenting plays in groups of four, called tetralogies. In one play of each tetralogy, the original satyric form was maintained. The other three, the trilogy. properly formed a con secutive series upon n single legend. A tragedy, in general, was made tip of ;1 series of 'episodes.' separated by lyric passages sung by the chorus, the whole introduced by the prologue and termi nated by the 'exode.' During the festival, play after play was given the whole day through. The actor. were trained by the author himself, so that to 'teach' a Ilrania, or a chorus, became the regu lar phrase for bringing out a play. The expenses of the production, however. were borne by a cho• sett citizen known as the choreptis, who thus par ticipated in the contest. Dn the external form of dramatic representation in the great theatre of 1)ionysits, the masks, costumes, etc.. see THEATRE.
The .\theniatt tragedy was not a mere enter tainment, but a serious religious function. Its motive, as defined by Aristotle in his Poetics, was to purify the passions of fear and pity through the exalted exercise of them. Charaeterizations of the 'great tragic trio' of .\ then: have been in numerable, from the time of Aristophanes down. In the dramas of .Eschylus, the idea of .Vefacsis, divine vengeance, which lies at the heart of Greek tragedy. is an overwhelming mystery. In Sopho cles it is visibly a part of the moral law of life, w hill` in Euripides it becomes more simply a source of human sadness. The difference in the attitudes of these three great poets, who were so nearly contemporaneous, is typical of the whole progress of Greek tragedy. Beginning as a popu religious festival, it became a vehicle of ex pression for some of the deepest of Creek religious thought, and tIten gradually was secularized and lost its vitality. ion, Achteus, Agathon, and other writers succeeded the great period, are of confessed inferiority, and none of their works have come down to us. \\•WI the dropping of the chorus, much of the lyrical element was lost. From being an .\thenian insti tution, tragedy spread to other Creek towns, and from the Dionysiae festivals it was extended to others, till its special relation to the worship of Dionysus disappeared. The earlier works were continually reproduced, however, and at Alexan dria, tinder the Ptolemies, tragedy shared in the general revival of literatitre :111,1 the ark.