POURING OUT TEARS: ANDROMACHE IN HOMER AND EURIPIDES BY REBECCA M. MUICH DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Philology in the Graduate College of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2010 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor David Sansone, Chair Associate Professor Maryline Parca Associate Professor Ariana Traill Assistant Professor Angeliki Tzanetou ABSTRACT This thesis begins to examine the role of Andromache in the Trojan War saga and tradition by providing an in-depth analysis of Andromache in the Iliad, Euripides’ Andromache and Euripides’ Trojan Women. Using theories of character derived from the narratological study of modern fiction, it strives to draw attention to the role of Andromache’s character in each work and the methods of characterization each author uses. The close analysis of the mechanics of character-building aids in the delineation of the themes Andromache helps to develop in each work and aids in establishing the continuity of the character between her epic and tragic manifestations. The thesis shows how the Homeric poet and Euripides utilize three features in Andromache’s characterization. First, by making her a paragon of feminine virtue, the authors position her as a useful comparandum for the actions of other, more dangerous women. Second, by focusing attention on the nature of her victimization, the authors call into question the prevailing social values of the time, and the actions of victors in war. Third, by highlighting Andromache’s role as mourner, the authors closely examine the particular suffering of women in times of war. The thesis concludes that Andromache has remained a powerful, iconic figure in the Trojan War tradition because of her role as a representative of the universal hardships facing women during and after wartime. ii For Jon animae dimidium meae iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is my distinct pleasure to acknowledge the many individuals whose help and support contributed to the completion of this project and degree. First and foremost I must thank my adviser and director Dr. David Sansone, who encouraged the idea that eventually became this dissertation and who patiently worked through several incarnations of the project despite the difficult distance situation. I am also happy to thank my committee, Dr. Maryline Parca, Dr. Angeliki Tzanetou, and Dr. Ariana Traill for their close readings, helpful suggestions, patience and encouragement. I am grateful to Dr. Scott Garner who read drafts of the first three chapters and whose insights greatly shaped my thinking on the whole project. I would also like to thank Mrs. Mary Ellen Fryer for her help in completing the dissertation and degree on time. I am very pleased to acknowledge the encouragement and support of my friends and colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Wake Forest University. Their kind interest in my work and their unrelenting optimism helped more than I can ever say. I benefitted especially from the support of my dear friends Jill and Matt Barber, Stephanie Aktipis, Danielle Carpenter, Ingrid Albrecht, and Loula Strolonga. Joe, Kathy, Joe, and Rachel Muich have been unswervingly dedicated to helping me succeed from the beginning. Words are not enough to adequately thank them for always being there. The Zarecki family, Steve, Marcia, Dawn, and the kids, made me feel like one of their own and added their love and support along the way. I cannot forget to thank Fizzgig for her unique contributions to my work and for making me feel useful and important on even the worst of days. Finally, I am so happy to acknowledge my husband Jon and the hard work he put into this project and this degree. He has done an admirable job of the difficult task of advising, listening to, cheering for, and generally taking care of a stubborn graduate student for eight years now. I could not have finished were not for his unwavering belief in me, and it is to him that I affectionately and gratefully dedicate this work. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: METHOD .................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2: ANDROMACHE’S SELF DEFINITION AND SPEECHES IN THE ILIAD .......38 CHAPTER 3: DIRECT DEFINITION AND INDIRECT PRESENTATION IN THE ILIAD .....83 CHAPTER 4: EURIPIDES’ ANDROMACHE ............................................................................133 CHAPTER 5: EURIPIDES’ TROJAN WOMEN .........................................................................181 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................220 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................223 v Chapter 1: Method I. Introduction Particular characters from classical mythology have endured in the art and literature of Western civilization because something about their story or their experiences has resonated with audiences for centuries. Because of their persistence in artistic and literary works through time, they have, in the words of Uri Margolin, “become common cultural property,” characters who retain their symbolic meaning even when extracted from any particular textual or visual representation.1 The very names of some characters, for example “Odysseus” or “Medea,” are enough to signify a particular set of properties which have been “culturally entrenched or codified” to the extent that a character or person who exemplifies these qualities need not even be named “Odysseus” or “Medea” but may be referred to as “an Odysseus” or “a Medea.”2 The durability and popularity of these characters are manifested in the fact that each of their stories presents a moral dilemma, ethical question, or emotional response which speaks to readers across generations. Though the details of the character’s life or actions or genre of the story may vary from work to work, certain core elements of the character retain their power in each work and ultimately become inseparable from the character herself. The critical studies of mythological characters who have appeared in several textual and visual representations have examined both the consistency and inconsistency of characterization and have analyzed how each character exemplifies, challenges, or perverts the ethics and morals of a given society at a given time.3 But no such in-depth study exists for Andromache, a character whose literary legacy reaches far back to the earliest origins of Western literature and stretches far into modern theatre, film and fiction. 1 Uri Margolin, “Characters and Their Versions.” Fiction Updated: Theories of Fictionality, Narratology, and Poetics, ed. Calin-Andrei Mihailescu and Walid Hamarneh (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1996) 116. 2 Margolin 117. 3 William Stanford’s The Ulysses Theme examines the Odysseus/Ulysses character from ancient to modern literature. Stanford claims that Odysseus has remained popular because his character and exploits were varied and ambiguous, and because a hallmark of his characterization is adaptability. There have been several works on Helen in literature, either examining her character only in ancient literature, or comparing her ancient characterizations to medieval, renaissance, or modern characterizations. Mihoko Suzuki’s Metamorphoses of Helen offers an explicitly feminist reading of the character in the literary tradition starting with the Iliad and ending with Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida; Matthew Gumpert’s Grafting Helen looks at the tradition of the Helen character in ancient literature and in French literature, aiming to discuss a figure within a tradition as well as the history of literary tradition itself; Norman Austin’s Helen of Troy and her Shameless Phantom focuses exclusively on the variant story of Helen remaining in Sparta while her eidolon goes to Troy, and discusses Helen as a focal point for shame, either her own or the Greeks’. 1 This thesis is intended to be the first step towards a comprehensive study of Andromache’s important place in ancient literature. This is not to say that the literary representation of Andromache has been completely ignored. Jacqueline de Romilly has traced the transformations of Andromache’s character from Homer to Baudelaire, but she declines to look too deeply into the reasons behind the transformations, choosing to focus instead of the universality of her experience.4 Gérard Genette looks at the continuations of Andromache’s story as part of a larger discussion of how continuations of the Trojan War saga allow the reader to retroactively examine the interpretation of the epic ethos.5 Genette argues that the heroic “world situation,” that is, war, continues to captivate poet and audiences as long as there is space for “the expression of that pathetic other truth, whereby a woman’s voice is heard to say that heroism is not man’s most profound, or noblest, calling.”6 He does not, however, provide a survey of the various transformations of her character or even delve too deeply into the themes her character touches upon, but rather argues that her character type is a necessary element in securing the longevity of the Trojan War saga. Both studies conclude that the experience of female suffering is universal and therefore its representation is essential to the survival of these epic sagas, but the examination of the literary character herself suffers from the breadth