1 the EURIPIDEAN PROLOGUE by James Geach

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1 the EURIPIDEAN PROLOGUE by James Geach The Euripidean Prologue Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Geach, James Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 01/10/2021 03:44:49 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/613579 1 THE EURIPIDEAN PROLOGUE by James Geach ________________________ A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2016 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR The thesis title The Euripidean Prologue prepared by James Geach has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a master's degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgment of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: James Geach APPROVAL BY THE THESIS DIRECTOR This thesis has been approved on the date shown below: _________________________________ ________________ Arum Park May 3rd, 2016 Assistant Professor of Classics 3 Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………...4 1 Introduction......................................................................................................................... 5-10 1.1 Ancient Theories of the Prologue......................................................................... 5 1.2 The Prologue After Euripides............................................................................... 7 1.3 Modern Scholarship.............................................................................................. 8 1.4 Scopes and Aims................................................................................................... 10 2. Part One: The Prologue Monologue................................................................................... 11-44 2.1 The Prologist......................................................................................................... 11 2.2 The Elements of the Prologue............................................................................... 12 2.2.1 Identification of Self.............................................................................. 13 2.2.1.a Identification of Family (and Self) ........................................ 19 2.2.2 Identification of Location...................................................................... 20 2.2.2.a. Delayed Identification of Location........................................ 22 2.2.3 Prehistory of the Drama......................................................................... 25 2.2.4 Current Crisis......................................................................................... 26 2.2.4.a. Suppliant Drama Crises.......................................................... 27 2.2.5 Prediction of Events............................................................................... 28 2.2.5.a. False or Misleading Predictions............................................. 33 2.2.6 Identification of Characters.................................................................... 37 2.2.7 Announcement of Exit........................................................................... 41 2.2.8 Announcement of Entrance.................................................................... 43 2.2.9 Gnomes................................................................................................... 44 2.2.10 How to Conclude the Prologue Monologue: Survey............................ 44 3. Part Two: The Second Part of the Prologue........................................................................ 44-60 3.1 The Form of the Prologue...................................................................................... 45 3.2 The Speaker of the Second Part of the Prologue................................................... 49 3.3 Summary of the Second Part of the Prologue........................................................ 51-58 3.3.1 Monologue Followed by Monody........................................................... 52 3.3.2 Monol. Followed by Dialogue Including the Monologist....................... 52 3.3.3 Monol.-dialogue-monologue................................................................... 57 3.3.4 Monol. Followed by Dialogue between Two new Characters................ 57 3.4 Survey..................................................................................................................... 58 4. Conclusion........................................................................................................................... 60-61 5. Bibliography........................................................................................................................ 62-64 4 Abstract This thesis examines the prologues of all the Euripidean plays except Iphigenia in Aulis and Rhesus. It is divided between discussion of the monologues and discussion of the scene or scenes which followed it but preceded the parodos. The following elements were identified as common to the standard Euripidean form: Self-Identification, Identification of Location, Description of the Prehistory of the Drama, Identification of the Current Crisis, and Prediction of Future Events. These, in addition to several other less prominent elements of the Euripidean prologue, are discussed in detail. The thesis attempts to define the standard form and position of these elements. It also contains discussion of Euripides’ choice of prologists and the various forms that the prologue could take. 5 1. Introduction Beginnings are always difficult, in drama as much as in scholarship. They are of secondary status, supposed to introduce the audience to the material of true interest that follows, and yet they are also expected to be interesting in themselves. Euripides' prologues indisputably fulfilled that first requirement: they provided a wealth of information to his audiences about the plays which they were about to witness. In this thesis, I will posit that his prologues are also interesting, at least for scholars: studying them will allow us to understand key aspects of Euripides' dramatic technique. 1.1 Ancient Theories of the Prologue The prologue was already thought of as a portion of ancient drama by Euripides' contemporaries. In Aristophanes' Frogs, Euripides is represented as comparing his own prologues favorably with those of Aeschylus: καὶ μὴν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοὺς τοὺς προλόγους σοι τρέψομαι, ὅπως τὸ πρῶτον τῆς τραγῳδίας μέρος πρώτιστον αὐτοῦ βασανιῶ τοῦ δεξιοῦ· [ἀσαφὴς γὰρ ἦν ἐν τῇ φράσει τῶν πραγμάτων.] Now I'll turn to the prologues by themselves, in order to first examine the first portion of tragedy of this good man himself: [for he was unclear in expression of affairs] (1119-22)1 These lines, introducing "the earliest surviving example of literary criticism" (Dunn 1992: 1), also provide us with our earliest definition of πρόλογος as τὸ πρῶτον τῆς τραγῳδίας μέρος "the first part of the tragedy". Half a century later, listing the elements κοινὰ μὲν ἁπάντων "common to all" tragedies (1452b17-18), Aristotle gave a stricter definition of the prologue in his Poetics: 1 All translations are my own. 6 ἔστιν δὲ πρόλογος μὲν μέρος ὅλον τραγῳδίας τὸ πρὸ χοροῦ παρόδου "the prologue is the entire portion of the tragedy before the πρόλογος of the chorus" (1452b19-20). This definition is slightly confused by the modern use of the term parodos as 'choral entrance song': the chorus in Children of Heracles does not sing until line 353, despite entering and speaking at line 73, for instance. While it is true that Aristotle also gave his own definition of πάροδος as ἡ πρώτη λέξις ὅλη χοροῦ "the entire first speech of the chorus" (1452b23),2 even according to this definition it cannot be said that the prologue is 'common to all tragedies': the earliest surviving drama, Persians, and possibly the latest, Rhesus, both open with lines delivered by the chorus. Moreover, Aristotle's definition is at odds with that of Aristophanes and probably many contemporaries. As Dover notes, all of the examples from prologues that Euripides and Aeschylus argue over in the Frogs come from the opening monologues of their plays (1993: 331), a definition that Aristotle, by his use of μέρος ὅλον "the whole portion" seems to be deliberately defying (Erbse 1984: 5). This reflects a source of ambiguity throughout the ancient period: the prologue could be referred to as the opening section of the play, whether monologue, dialogue, or some combination of both, or it could refer to the simple monologue that opened many plays. This confusion is paralleled in the definition of προλογίζειν which, as Nestle has pointed out, could mean 'make the preliminary speech or dialogue', but could also imply exposition (1967: 10). 3 Hellenistic theories of the prologue were not articulated in the same comprehensive
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