Chapter 12, Aeschylus: The First Dramatist Summary and Analysis

Aeschylus was the first dramatist and the creator of tragic drama. He is said to have written ninety plays, but only seven have survived. In the time immediately following the Athenian defeat of Persia, Aeschylus reflected the mood of his time. It was a time when human insight was heightened. "A victory achieved past all hope at the very moment when utter defeat and the loss of all things seemed certain had lifted them to an exultant courage. . . . This was the moment for the birth of tragedy, that mysterious combination of pain and exaltation, which discloses an invincible spirit precisely when disaster is irreparable."

In this time of heightened awareness and profound analysis of the human condition, Aeschylus confronted "the bewildering strangeness of life." Most specifically, he saw and investigated the mystery of...