| Course Title: Greek Tragedy, American Drama, and Film |
| Start Date: 09/09/2026 End Date: 12/22/2026 |
| Term: Fall Semester 2026 |
| Description: The Greeks, beginning with Homer, saw the world from an essentially tragic perspective. The searing question of why human societies and the human psyche repeatedly break down in tragic ruin and loss, particularly in the conflicts of war and in the betrayal of personal bonds of love and friendship, fascinated them as it still does us. The most consistent themes that emerged from such examination are the tragedy of self-knowledge and illusion, the tragedy of desire, the tragedy of crime and guilt, and tragedy as a protest against social injustice. This course examines the critical influence of the three most important Athenian dramatists, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, on the works of Nobel winner Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and important filmmakers, who have tried to recreate the powerful atmosphere and impact of the Greek tragic theater or reworked the tragic themes of classical myth for their own purposes in the modern age. |
| Distribution(s): I - Humanities , WI - Writing-Intensive |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Bruce Arnold | 413-538-2872 | barnold@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 09/09/2026 - 12/22/2026 | Lecture | Tuesday and Thursday | 03:15PM - 04:30PM | TBA | TBA | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Taught in English. |
| Course Tags | ||
| CLASS0001 | CLAS: Classical Studies major | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major and/or minor. |
| CLASS0001 | CLAS: Classical Studies minor | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major and/or minor. |
| CLASS0003 | CLAS-LM: Classical Studies - Literary/Mythological | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major in the Literary/Mythological subject area. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Waitlisted | Capacity: 28 | Enrollment: 27 | Available: 0 | Waitlist: 2 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays Author: Fagles, Copyright: 2000 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 0140444254 Publisher: Viking Penguin |
Required | 12.00 |
| Title: Sophocles II Author: Ed. Griffith, Copyright: 2013 Edition: 3rd Volume: ISBN: 9780226311555 Publisher: Univ. of Chicago Press |
Required | 13.00 |
| Title: Oresteia Trilogy Author: Aeschylus, Copyright: Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780140443332 Publisher: Penguin |
Required | 12.00 |
| Title: Three Plays: Desire Under the Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Ele Author: O'Neill, Eugene Copyright: 1995 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 0679763961 Publisher: Vintage Books |
Required | 15.95 |
| Title: A Streetcar Named Desire Author: Williams, Tennessee Copyright: 2004 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780811216029 Publisher: New Directions |
Required | 11.95 |
| Title: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Author: Williams, Tennessee Copyright: 2004 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780811216012 Publisher: New Directions |
Required | 13.95 |
| Title: Death of a Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and Requiem Author: Miller, Arthur Copyright: 1998 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780141180977 Publisher: Penguin Twentieth Century Classics |
Required | 15.00 |
| Title: Ten Plays by Euripides Author: Hadas and McLean, Copyright: 1984 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780553213638 Publisher: Bantam Classics |
Required | 13.91 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is the complete book list for this class. |
| Instructor's comments about the book list: Most of these titles are widely available as used books for much cheaper prices. These are the editions I will use in class, but if you already have other translations of the Greek texts that you want to use, that would be fine. |