And because the Wine-God was supposed to live in the
vineyards, amidst a merry mob of Satyrs (strange creatures
who were half man and half goat), the crowd that joined the
procession used to wear goat-skins and to hee-haw like real
billy-goats. The Greek word for goat is ``tragos'' and the
Greek word for singer is ``oidos.'' The singer who meh-mehed
like a goat therefore was called a ``tragos-oidos'' or goat singer,
and it is this strange name which developed into the modern
word ``Tragedy,'' which means in the theatrical sense a piece
with an unhappy ending, just as Comedy (which really means
the singing of something ``comos'' or gay) is the name given
to a play which ends happily.
But how, you will ask, did this noisy chorus of masqueraders,
stamping around like wild goats, ever develop into the
noble tragedies which have filled the theatres of the world for
almost two thousand years?
The connecting link between the goat-singer and Hamlet is
really very simple as I shall show you in a moment.
The singing chorus was very amusing in the beginning and
attracted large crowds of spectators who stood along the side
of the road and laughed. But soon this business of tree-hawing
grew tiresome and the Greeks thought dullness an evil only
comparable to ugliness or sickness. They asked for something
more entertaining. Then an inventive young poet from
the village of Icaria in Attica hit upon a new idea which proved
a tremendous success.
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