Through the addition of a second actor (by Aeschylus) and a third (by Sophocles), the representation was made possible of a drama which could show and develop a human situation in all its aspects. Now it should be made clear that from this point on we are talking about the evolution of tragedy and tragic theatre in Athens, and that this evolution was connected and depended on the evolution of democracy in that city. This new political independence meant that any free male citizen of Athens could achieve being one of the rulers of the city and having the fate of his community in his hands. The need to understand and to be taught how to deal with power was obvious for the men of the city, and it was in this climate that Greek tragedy emerged.
The purpose of the athenian tragic poets was to ask questions about the nature of man, his position in the universe, his relation to the powers that govern his life, in short: Therefore the prime function of these dramas is the expression of the feelings and reflections excited by man's encounters with the external forces which appear to rule his life, and the actions man takes in such an encounter. If a man understands his position in the world, it is easier for him to succeed in his duties towards his fellowmen.Since all men were raised with the ambition of gaining fame and glory, tragedy should deal with heroic figures and great events. The plays, which were based on legends or remote history (though given the appearance of truth), were interpreted so as to convey some religious, moral, or political meaning, according with the beliefs of the tragic poet.
With the possibility of dialogue between the actor and the chorus, more complex themes and modes of storytelling could be developed. The earliest surviving texts of plays are seven tragedies by Aeschylus dating from the first half of the 5th century BC. Adding a second actor and reducing the chorus from 50 to 12, Aeschylus laid the foundation for an aesthetics of drama that was to influence subsequent plays for well over 2,000 years.