1. Artistic Purpose:
- Greek Theater: Greek theater often aimed to inspire religious devotion, educate the audience about moral values, and explore human nature and universal themes.
- Shakespearean Theater: Shakespearean theater focused on entertainment and storytelling, weaving complex plots, characters, and themes to evoke emotional responses and create a sense of wonder.
- Brechtian Theater: Brecht's theater had a political and didactic purpose. It aimed to provoke critical thinking, challenge social norms, and encourage audiences to question and change the world.
2. Audience Involvement:
- Greek Theater: Greek theater performances sought to transport audiences into the fictional world of the play through illusion and emotional manipulation.
- Shakespearean Theater: Shakespearean theater also aimed to immerse the audience in the story and evoke a powerful emotional response.
- Brechtian Theater: Brecht intentionally avoided creating illusions. He employed strategies such as direct address to the audience, fragmented scenes, and meta-theatrical elements to make the audience consciously aware of the artifice of the theater and to encourage them to critically examine the play's message.
3. Structure and Form:
- Greek Theater: Greek plays often followed a set structure with a prologue, episodes, a climax, and a resolution.
- Shakespearean Theater: Shakespearean plays exhibited structural variety, with a mix of comic and tragic elements and a five-act structure that allowed for intricate plot development.
- Brechtian Theater: Brecht developed a non-linear, episodic style of storytelling. He disrupted traditional dramatic conventions by using techniques such as montage, flash-forwards, and interruptions to break up the narrative and encourage critical analysis.
4. Characterization:
- Greek Theater: Greek characters often symbolized universal traits and moral values, representing larger societal issues and acting as mouthpieces for the playwright's ideas.
- Shakespearean Theater: Shakespeare created well-rounded and complex characters, exploring their psychological depth, motivations, and interactions.
- Brechtian Theater: Brecht's characters were often archetypes or caricatures, representing societal archetypes or social classes. They were often distantiated and presented as objects of observation, allowing the audience to critically examine their behaviors.
5. Language and Style:
- Greek Theater: Greek theater used poetic and elevated language, employing lyrical verse to enhance emotional impact and convey symbolic meanings.
- Shakespearean Theater: Shakespeare's plays exhibit a mastery of language, with rich imagery, eloquent speeches, and clever wordplay.
- Brechtian Theater: Brecht adopted a more direct, colloquial, and didactic style of language. He used简洁, straightforward dialogue and songs with simple, repetitive lyrics to communicate his ideas clearly.