The Nature and Function of the Agon

Abstract GREEK tragedies are representations of human action, but also formal structures with internal rules of their own. The possibilities of tension between these two aspects of tragedy are especially evident in the plays of Euripides, which combine realism with a marked formalism of structure. This formalism is most apparent in the construction of his plays as sequences of distinct formal units. These units tend to be strongly demarcated within the individual play, and to contain formulaic elements which recur in many plays. Electra, for example, can be analysed as a series of set-pieces: prologue speech, actor’s monody, formal rhesis, stichomythia, messenger speech, agon, and deus ex machina. The formality and distinctness of these set-pieces is emphasized, but the play is also, in some respects, realistic in its depiction of human behaviour.