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Fear and Healing Through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy

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Fear and Healing Through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy Fear and Healing Through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Dasteridou, Magdalini. 2015. Fear and Healing Through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy. Master's thesis, Harvard Extension School. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:24078361 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Fear and Healing through the Serpent Imagery in Greek Tragedy Magdalini Dasteridou A Thesis in the Field of Foreign Literature, Language, and Culture for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies Harvard University November 2015 © 2015 Magdalini Dasteridou Abstract This work explores how the tragic poets, by means of snake imagery, convey the notion of disease. Moreover, it examines how snake imagery contributes to the process of healing through the emotion of fear that it triggers. My analysis of the tragedies in which the three main tragedians employ snake imagery builds upon findings from ancient authors that refer to snakes and their characteristics, and upon the findings of contemporary scholars. My overall method relies on tools from structuralism and psycholinguistics. Through snake imagery the tragic poets portray disease as it manifests itself through arrogance, deception, physical pain, and madness. For this purpose the poets employ images inspired by the particular anatomy and behavior of the snake. Within the context of tragedy, and through the fear that it triggers, the snake imagery encourages self-knowledge and healing through self-correction. Dedication “For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You” David Chronicles 1.29.14 I would like to dedicate the first fruits of my harvest to God, who has been making the last ten years of my life a continuous miracle; and to my father, who is with us, but not among us. iv Acknowledgments I am very much grateful to Dr. Naomi Weiss for her guidance through the completion of my thesis. Apart from her priceless comments, she helped me to stay focused on my topic at the times that I was veering away from it. Moreover, I acknowledge her patience and tact; she has been the right person at the right time. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Albert Henrichs; strict and enthusiastic at the same time, through his courses he has influenced the ways that I use to unlock an ancient Greek text. Also, I acknowledge Dr. Gregory Nagy and Dr. Kevin McGrath who initiated me mentally into the world of the ancient Greek heroes and their cult; that course was a transforming experience. Furthermore, I am grateful to Dr. Sue Schopf; not only did she help me to begin my thesis’ writing, but also she and Dr. Henrichs contributed decisively to the completion of my studies at a very crucial moment. In addition, I would like to thank Vicky Sue Gilpin for her encouragement and support all these years and my colleague and friend Yimali Gonzalez for reading my drafts. Moreover, I am indebted to Dr. George Kafkoulis, President of the Archimedean Schools in Miami, Florida. He supported my residency in the United States when it became highly uncertain. Finally, I have no words to express my gratitude to my brave and patient mother Iphigeneia Dasteridou, to my sister Dora Dasteridou, my son-in law Stavros Voulgaris, and my little nephew Demetrios Voulgaris for cheering me up, encouraging me, and praying for me all these years. v Table of Contents Dedication.....................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................v I. Introduction........................................................................................................1 II. Arrogance and Snakes: How High Can Serpents Fly?.......................................9 Snakes and Warriors: Aiskhylos’ Seven against Thebes and Euripides’ Phoinissai...........................................................................11 Grooms and Snakes in Aiskhylos’ Suppliants.....................................20 A Kingdom and a Snake: Aiskhylos’ Persians....................................25 Snakes and Tyranny in Aiskhylos’ Agamemnon and Khoephoroi.......29 A Snake against a God: Euripides’ Bakkhai........................................36 III. Snakes and Deception: Criminal Minds...........................................................41 When Love Goes Wrong: Aiskhylos’ Klytemnestra in Agamemnon and Khoephoroi....................................................................................46 Snake-fighting in Aiskhylos’ Khoephoroi and Euripides’ Orestes......50 Rapes, Murders, Snakes, and the Athenian Lineage in Euripides’ Ion........................................................................................................57 The Snake’s Double Tongue and Odysseus in Euripides’ Trojan Women and Sophokles’ Philoktetes.........................................62 A Snake in Panic: Hermione in Euripides’ Andromakhe.....................67 IV. Snakes, Poison, and Mad Heroes.....................................................................74 Snakes and Punishment in Sophokles’ Trakhiniai and Philoktetes, and in Euripides’ Bakkhai....................................................................77 vi Possessed by Lyssa: Herakles in Euripides’ Herakles.........................85 Avenging Spirits in Aiskhylos’ Khoephoroi and Eumenides and Euripides’ Elektra, Iphigeneia among the Taurians, and Orestes.......89 V. Conclusion......................................................................................................101 Notes...........................................................................................................................105 Bibliography...............................................................................................................110 vii Chapter I Introduction This thesis is a study of snake imagery as it occurs in the plays of the three Greek tragic poets Aiskhylos, Sophokles, and Euripides, and as it connects with the notion of disease. Scholars, such as Jacques Jouanna in Greek Medicine from Hippocrates to Galen, have explored the interplay between tragedy and the medical texts of the 5th century B.C.E. and indicate the common vocabulary that the tragic poets and the medical authors used to describe disease and suffering (81). The tragic heroes describe as disease any condition that causes suffering and not necessarily only an unhealthy physical condition. Therefore, a hubristic behavior, caused by arrogance and cunningness, which ends up in suffering is considered as disease as well. In order to highlight a specific quality of their heroes, the tragic poets often use images of animals, both domesticated, such as heifers and dogs, and predatory animals, such as lions, eagles, and wolves; among them, the snake imagery is dominant. So far, many scholars have studied the animal imagery in ancient Greek literature, but they have not focused exclusively on the snake imagery in relation to disease and healing in Greek tragedy. The goal of my study is to examine why the tragic poets employ snake imagery so often in their tragedies and how this relates to suffering. I hypothesize that the tragic poets employ serpent imagery often because the snake as a symbol encompasses qualities of other animals, such as the lion’s pride, strength, and cruelty, the wolf’s cunningness, and the dog’s hunting skills. Moreover, due to its particular nature and due to its poison, the snake inspires metaphors, similes, and metonymies that portray disease and suffering. Therefore, the tragic poets use snake imagery to indicate physical suffering and madness 1 as well as pride and deception, which they perceive as mental disease. Through serpent imagery and the demonstration of human suffering, the tragic poets deliberately evoke the audience’s fear by way of empathy, which may lead to a certain level of self- knowledge. Ultimately, through the reenactment of their suffering, the tragic heroes who take on serpentine aspects become the people’s wounded healers and teach humility and moderation. In order to convey arrogance, deception, or physical and psychological suffering, the tragic poets employ images derived from the snake’s anatomy and particular behavior, such as the never-closing eyes, the double tongue, the poison, the hissing, the snake’s particular movement and coils, its flexibility, adjustment, hiding skills, and unexpected attacks. In Drakõn: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, Daniel Ogden tracks down the appearance of snakes in myths and suggests some explanations regarding the connection of certain snake features with fear and pain, such as the poison’s connection with fire (220). However, he does not connect the snake features with arrogance and deception. In Greek tragedy, arrogance is expressed through unjust violence and impiety. In order to indicate a hero’s cruelty, the tragic poets either compare the hero with a snake, a drakõn, or they focus on the hero’s fierce snake-like glance. Among the scholars who do not concentrate only on violence when they comment on such comparisons but also see arrogance is Froma Zeitlin. In
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