The Tragic Buskin

We can see how much shoes progressed through the Buskin. Today we have a variety of shoes that show conections to the Buskin, and they certainly are for show… the heights of the Buskin connect to all high heels but the most obvious would be stilettos, heeled sandals / flipflops , and platform shoes. Sandals show all of the foot just as Buskin. There are many sandals, and boots that lace up all the way to the knee, not to mention ice skates, rollor skates, and rolor blades. Some tennis shoes have plant life on their sides. Other high heeled shoes and shoes from other countries have carvings on the soul, or around the rim just as the Buskin. These pieces of theatrical foot wear had an amazing amount of influence on todays shoes, but so did its counter part the sock.

The Buskin is distinctly an item of Greek tragedy, and should not be mistaken for its comedic counter part, the Sock. For reference, the Sock is a small, thin, slip-on shoe. It was almost always black, and did not have very good grip on its nearly non-existent soul. The actor could then easily slide around the stage when necessary. Tripping, falling and tumbling would have been much easier with these on your feet. It was nothing fancy. They came cheap, and did not take much work to make. The Actors in Comedy did not need shoes with the qualities of the Buskin because that larger than life mood was not really there in comedy. The characters were sometimes small, stupid, or pitiable, in which case they just needed to be able to make the audience laugh, not gain respect as with the Buskin. Although being less dignified than the Buskin the Sock had its own importance and connections, for instance the small, thin, soulless slip we put on under own shoes is to this day called a sock. Still the two should not be mixed up.

Pehaps next time the discusion of Greek Theatre, and or the Tragety arises, the first thing that will pop into a sppecific chatter’s head, (before the extensive monolgue about masks or stage formation of course) will be the shoes… yet some how I doubt it. As shown her,e the Buskin of the ancient Greek Tragedy, not to be confused with the sock of Greek comedy, had an extremely important role in history. They put one of the most important touches to the costumes, and encourage the progression of foot wear in general. They tell us about the shows, they tell us about the times, they tell us wear ideas have come from. Again the Buskin proves so much.

Works Cited

Riley R. “Buskin.” Wikipedia. 2006. 29 Apr. 2009

Smith Kendall K. “The Use Of High-Soled Shoe Or Buskin In Greek Tragedy Of The Fifth And Fourth Centuries B.C.” Harvard studies in classic philology, 1905. 30 apr. 2009 < http://www.jstor.org/pss/310339>

“Buskin.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster Online. 2009. 29 Apr. 2009 <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Buskin>

Unknown author “Sock and Buskin.” Wikipedia. 2006. 29 Apr. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sock_and_Buskin>