'Even in the cannon's mouth': The hero in the drama of war

War is a constant part of societal upheaval in human history. The drama of war, usually immediate, provides a practical measure of the effects of war on society. Heroes are born in times of war, and it is in the drama of war that a society's changing concept of the warrior hero can be found.;The plays are discussed using specific Greek terminology to help determine what preconceptions of the hero and the heroic can be found in the contents of the three modern American plays when compared to the ideal created in the drama by the Greek playwrights. The terms in question are ;All six of the plays are examined for their own relevance to the time periods in which they were written. This is done to help the reader better understand the impact of war and other events of the time upon the plays and the playwrights. Consequently, this dissertation illustrates how, in a comparison of the ancient Greek and modern American texts, the ideal of the hero in the drama of war has changed and how it has remained constant with the hopes that this revised image of the warrior hero will allow the ancient paradigm of the heroic to not be completely lost but simply re-defined in modern terms.;This dissertation undertakes an analysis of the hero in the drama of war as seen in the dramatic literature of the Golden Age of fifth century B.C. Greece and modern America's Vietnam era. Citing one play from each playwright, the development of the heroic ideal in the drama is investigated starting with the Greek playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Also analyzed is the impact of the heroic ideal formed with the Greeks on the plays of three modern American playwrights whose plays specifically concern the war in Vietnam and its effect on America.