Mechane
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- | '''Tragedy''' is a form of [[drama]] based on human [[suffering]]. In his speculative work on the origins of [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Athenean tragedy]], ''[[The Birth of Tragedy]]'' (1872), [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]] writes of its "two-fold mood": | ||
- | :the strange mixture and duality in the affects of the [[Dionysus|Dionysiac]] [[Cult of Dionysus|enthusiasts]], that phenomenon whereby pain awakens pleasure while rejoicing wrings cries of agony from the breast. From highest joy there comes a cry of horror or a yearning lament at some irredeemable loss. In those Greek festivals there erupts what one might call a [[Sentimentality|sentimental]] tendency in nature, as if it had cause to sigh over its [[Sparagmos|dismemberment]] into [[Individuation|individuals]]. | + | A '''mechane''' ({{IPAc-en|icon|ˈ|m|ɛ|k|ə|n|iː}}; {{lang-el|μηχανή}}, ''mēkhanē'') or '''machine''' was a [[crane (machine)|crane]] used in [[History of theatre#Ancient Greek Theater|Greek theatre]], especially in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Made of wooden beams and pulley systems, the device was used to lift an actor into the air, usually representing flight. This stage machine was particularly used to bring gods onto the stage from above, hence the Latin term ''[[deus ex machina]]'' ("god out of the [[machine]]"). [[Euripides]]' use of the mechane in ''[[Medea (play)|Medea]]'' ([[431 BC]]) is a notable use of the machine for a non-divine character. It was also often used by [[Aeschylus]]. |
- | While most [[culture]]s have developed forms that provoke this [[paradox]]ical response, tragedy refers to a specific [[Poetic tradition|tradition]] of [[drama]] that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of [[Western culture|Western civilization]]. That tradition has been multiple and discontinuous, yet the term has often been used to invoke a powerful effect of [[cultural identity]] and historical continuity—"the [[Classical Athens|Greeks]] and the [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethans]], in one cultural form; [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenes]] and [[Christian]]s, in a common activity," as [[Raymond Williams|Williams]] puts it. | + | ==Used in Ancient Rome== |
- | + | Stage machines were also used in ancient [[Ancient Rome|Rome]], e.g. during the sometimes highly dramatic performances at [[Roman funerals and burial|funerals]]. For [[Julius Caesar]]'s funeral service [[Appian]] reports a mechane that was used to present a blood-stained wax [[effigy]] of the deceased [[Roman dictator|dictator]] to the funeral crowd. The mechane was used to turn the body in all directions. [[Geoffrey S. Sumi|Geoffrey Sumi]] proposes that the use of the mechane "hinted at Caesar's [[divinity]]". This is highly unlikely because Appian doesn't describe the mechane as a genuine ''deus-ex-machina'' device. Furthermore Caesar's [[apotheosis]] wasn't legally conducted until [[42 BC]] and Caesar had only been worshipped unofficially as ''[[divus]]'' during his lifetime. First and foremost [[Mark Antony|Marcus Antonius]] attempted to arouse the masses as a means to strengthen Caesar's esteem as well as his own political power. | |
- | From its obscure origins in the [[Theatre of ancient Greece|theatres of Athens]] 2500 years ago, from which there survives only a fraction of the work of [[Aeschylus]], [[Sophocles]] and [[Euripides]], through its singular articulations in the works of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[Lope de Vega]], [[Jean Racine|Racine]], or [[Friedrich Schiller|Schiller]], to the more recent [[Naturalism (theatre)|naturalistic]] tragedy of [[August Strindberg|Strindberg]], [[Samuel Beckett|Beckett's]] [[Modernism|modernist]] meditations on death, loss and suffering, or [[Heiner Müller|Müller's]] [[Postmodernism|postmodernist]] reworkings of the tragic canon, tragedy has remained an important site of cultural experimentation, negotiation, struggle, and change. A long line of [[philosophers]]—which includes [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]], [[Voltaire]], [[David Hume|Hume]], [[Denis Diderot|Diderot]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]], [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]], [[Søren Kierkegaard|Kierkegaard]], [[Friedrich Nietzsche|Nietzsche]], [[Sigmund Freud|Freud]], [[Walter Benjamin|Benjamin]], [[Albert Camus|Camus]], [[Jacques Lacan|Lacan]] and [[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze]]—have analysed, speculated upon and criticised the tragic form. | + | |
- | + | ||
- | In the wake of Aristotle's ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' (335 BCE), tragedy has been used to make [[genre]] distinctions, whether at the scale of [[poetry]] in general, where the tragic divides against [[Epic poetry|epic]] and [[Lyric poetry|lyric]], or at the scale of the drama, where tragedy is opposed to [[Comedy (drama)|comedy]]. In the [[Modernity|modern]] era, tragedy has also been defined against drama, [[melodrama]], [[Tragicomedy|the tragicomic]] and [[epic theatre]]. | + | |
- | ==Ekkyklêma== | + | |
- | Many ancient Greek tragedians employed the ''[[Ekkyklema|ekkyklêma]]'' as a theatrical device, which was a platform hidden behind the scene that could be rolled out to display the aftermath of some event which had happened out of sight of the audience. This event was frequently a brutal murder of some sort, an act of violence which could not be effectively portrayed visually, but an action of which the other characters must see the effects in order for it to have meaning and emotional resonance. A prime example of the use of the ''ekkyklêma'' is after the murder of [[Agamemnon (play)|Agamemnon]] in the first play of Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'', when the king's butchered body is wheeled out in a grand display for all to see. Variations on the ''ekkyklêma'' are used in tragedies and other forms to this day, as writers still find it a useful and often powerful device for showing the consequences of extreme human actions. Another such device was a crane, the [[mechane]], which served to hoist a god or goddess on stage when they were supposed to arrive flying. This device gave origin to the phrase "[[deus ex machina]]" ("god out of a machine"), that is, the surprise intervention of an unforeseen external factor that changes the outcome of an event. | + | |
- | ==See also== | + | |
- | * [[Classicism]] | + | |
- | * [[Comedy (drama)|Comedy]] | + | |
- | * [[Domestic tragedy]] | + | |
- | * ''[[Hamartia]]'' | + | |
- | * ''[[Peripeteia]]'' | + | |
- | [[Reversal of fortune]] | + | |
- | * [[Shakespearean tragedy]] | + | |
- | * [[She-tragedy]] | + | |
- | * [[Tragic hero]] | + | |
- | * [[Tragicomedy]] | + | |
+ | ==Religious significance== | ||
+ | In [[Christian]] [[Christian liturgy|liturgy]] the mechane has also been identified with the [[Christian cross|cross]]. [[Ignatius of Antioch|Ignatius]] calls the cross the "theatre mechane" of [[Jesus]] [[Christ]]. | ||
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A mechane (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Lang-el, mēkhanē) or machine was a crane used in Greek theatre, especially in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Made of wooden beams and pulley systems, the device was used to lift an actor into the air, usually representing flight. This stage machine was particularly used to bring gods onto the stage from above, hence the Latin term deus ex machina ("god out of the machine"). Euripides' use of the mechane in Medea (431 BC) is a notable use of the machine for a non-divine character. It was also often used by Aeschylus.
Used in Ancient Rome
Stage machines were also used in ancient Rome, e.g. during the sometimes highly dramatic performances at funerals. For Julius Caesar's funeral service Appian reports a mechane that was used to present a blood-stained wax effigy of the deceased dictator to the funeral crowd. The mechane was used to turn the body in all directions. Geoffrey Sumi proposes that the use of the mechane "hinted at Caesar's divinity". This is highly unlikely because Appian doesn't describe the mechane as a genuine deus-ex-machina device. Furthermore Caesar's apotheosis wasn't legally conducted until 42 BC and Caesar had only been worshipped unofficially as divus during his lifetime. First and foremost Marcus Antonius attempted to arouse the masses as a means to strengthen Caesar's esteem as well as his own political power.
Religious significance
In Christian liturgy the mechane has also been identified with the cross. Ignatius calls the cross the "theatre mechane" of Jesus Christ.