ORESTEIA by Aeschylus in a New Adaptation by Tom Wright
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THE THEME of ORESTEIA in EUGENE O'neill' S MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA UDC 821.111-21.09 Petra Mitić
FACTA UNIVERSITATIS Series: Linguistics and Literature Vol. 6, No 1, 2008, pp. 73 - 84 THE THEME OF ORESTEIA IN EUGENE O'NEILL' S MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA UDC 821.111-21.09 Petra Mitić Faculty of Philosophy, Niš Abstract. The paper is concerned with the mythical theme of Oresteia as it has been reworked in Eugene O'Neill's play Mourning Becomes Electra. After juxtaposing the key elements in the story as they appear in Aeschylus and Sophocles on the one hand, and Eugene O' Neill on the other, the analysis moves on to consider the significance of the changes introduced in O'Neill's version of this ancient story. The focal point of the analysis is the brief comparison of two disparate models of reading – the Freudian and the Jungian model – and the relevance of their different implications for the patriarchal culture of reason. Key words: Oresteia, Eschylus, Eugene O'Neill, the myth of Oedipus, Fromm, Freud, Jung While dreaming, man is a great poet; when he wakes up he is a wretched man again. At least in most of the cases.1 I In his dreams man comes back to his inner self. Both dreams and myths are messages that we send to ourselves from the depths of the unconscious. They are the storehouse of our deepest insights connecting modern man with his primeval roots. In them we have the perennial experience of the human race recorded. And yet, in his waking hours, while preoccupied with the self-centered drives of the ego, modern man seems to have forgot- ten the language of his true self.2 According to Giambattista Vico, the l8th century Neapolitan philosopher, man is in- stinctively poetic in his response to the world. -
Late Sophocles: the Hero's Evolution in Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus
0/-*/&4637&: *ODPMMBCPSBUJPOXJUI6OHMVFJU XFIBWFTFUVQBTVSWFZ POMZUFORVFTUJPOT UP MFBSONPSFBCPVUIPXPQFOBDDFTTFCPPLTBSFEJTDPWFSFEBOEVTFE 8FSFBMMZWBMVFZPVSQBSUJDJQBUJPOQMFBTFUBLFQBSU $-*$,)&3& "OFMFDUSPOJDWFSTJPOPGUIJTCPPLJTGSFFMZBWBJMBCMF UIBOLTUP UIFTVQQPSUPGMJCSBSJFTXPSLJOHXJUI,OPXMFEHF6OMBUDIFE ,6JTBDPMMBCPSBUJWFJOJUJBUJWFEFTJHOFEUPNBLFIJHIRVBMJUZ CPPLT0QFO"DDFTTGPSUIFQVCMJDHPPE Late Sophocles Late Sophocles The Hero’s Evolution in Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus Thomas Van Nortwick University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor Copyright © Thomas Van Nortwick 2015 All rights reserved This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and ex- cept by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Published in the United States of America by the University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid- free paper 2018 2017 2016 2015 4 3 2 1 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Van Nortwick, Thomas, 1946– . Late Sophocles : the hero’s evolution in Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus / Thomas Van Nortwick. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 472- 11956- 1 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 472- 12108- 3 (ebook) 1. Sophocles— Criticism and interpretation. 2. Sophocles. Electra. 3. Sophocles. Oedipus at Colonus. 4. Sophocles. Philoctetes. I. Title. PA4417.V36 2015 882'.01— dc23 2014049364 For Nathan Greenberg colleague, mentor, and friend Preface Oh children, follow me. I am your new leader, as once you were for me. (Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1542– 431) Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus ends with his most famous character walking serenely through the central doors of the stage building (skēnē) in the Theater of Dionysus and into the grove of the Eumenides. -
The Oresteia of Aeschylus
The Oresteia of Aeschylus The Libation Bearers Translated in verse by Robin Bond (2014) University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand The Oresteia of Aeschylus : The Libation Bearers by Robin Bond (Trans) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/10503 The Libation Bearers Dramatis Personae Orestes, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra Pylades, his friend Electra, his sister Chorus of foreign serving women A servant (doorkeeper) Clytemnestra, now wife of Aegisthus Cilissa the Nurse Aegisthus A follower of Aegisthus Various attendants (all silent) The Oresteia of Aeschylus : The Libation Bearers Page 2 Orestes Lord Hermes, guide to the dead and guardian of my father's realm be now my safeguard and companion in answer to my prayers. For I have come back home, returned to this land of mine Here at the mound of my father's tomb I speak aloud to him, that he may hear and mark my words... one lock of hair I dedicate to Inachus who reared me, and here a second lock to mark my grief... I was not here to grieve your fate in person, father, nor did I stretch out my hand to carry out your corpse. But what is this I see? What is this group of women 10 that hurries along all dressed in robes of black? What chance event should I imagine to have taken place? Or does some fresh disaster tyrannize the house? Perhaps these women bring my father gifts and offerings to pour for him as please the dead? That is the truth and nothing else; for there I do believe I see Electra. -
Power Struggles in Aeschylus' Oresteia
ILCEA Revue de l’Institut des langues et cultures d'Europe, Amérique, Afrique, Asie et Australie 40 | 2020 English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and the Underlying Dynamics of Power, Empowerment and Disempowerment Power Struggles in Aeschylus’ Oresteia: ESP, Law and Literature and Greek Tragedy Luttes de pouvoir dans l’Orestie d’Eschyle : anglais de spécialité, droit et littérature et tragédie grecque Malcolm Harvey Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ilcea/10741 DOI: 10.4000/ilcea.10741 ISSN: 2101-0609 Publisher UGA Éditions/Université Grenoble Alpes Printed version ISBN: 978-2-37747-204-8 ISSN: 1639-6073 Electronic reference Malcolm Harvey, « Power Struggles in Aeschylus’ Oresteia: ESP, Law and Literature and Greek Tragedy », ILCEA [Online], 40 | 2020, Online since 04 June 2020, connection on 06 September 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ilcea/10741 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ilcea.10741 This text was automatically generated on 6 September 2020. © ILCEA Power Struggles in Aeschylus’ Oresteia: ESP, Law and Literature and Greek Tra... 1 Power Struggles in Aeschylus’ Oresteia: ESP, Law and Literature and Greek Tragedy Luttes de pouvoir dans l’Orestie d’Eschyle : anglais de spécialité, droit et littérature et tragédie grecque Malcolm Harvey Introduction 1 In a departure from mainstream ELP1 studies and their primary focus on the language of the law, this paper is situated in the broader perspective of French ESP studies, which reflects the dominantly academic background of ESP in France and other Continental European countries. While the use of contemporary specialised popular fiction (novels, films, TV series, video games, etc.) in LSP2 has attracted considerable research interest in France and elsewhere since the identification and codification of a relatively new genre known as fiction à substrat professionnel (FASP),3 this paper seeks to go a step further, exploring possible convergences between ESP and the Law and Literature (L&L) movement. -
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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 40 3rd International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Inter-cultural Communication (ICELAIC 2016) Genre Specificity of S. I. Taneyev's "Oresteia" Trilogy Galima Lukina State Institiute of Art Studies Russian State Specialized Arts Academy Moscow, Russia E-mail: [email protected] Abstract—The article reveals the originality of Sergei designated the absence of the external stage effects, Taneyev's approach to tragedy. S. Taneyev treats opera as an theatrical illustrations, nation-specific story, characters, oratorical performance with the features of mystery. The viewed from the modern-day musical drama's perspective. author of the article shows the organic fitting of an oratorical Many composer's peers viewed that as obvious shortcomings. component with both the choral component of the Aeschylus' Yet, those "flaws" belong to the most important properties of source work and a monumental cantata-like style of the tragedy, as indicated by Aristotle in his "Poetics". Russian opera and Russian choral culture in S. Taneyev's "Oresteia". While creating the opera, Taneyev sought to move away from the realism of modern theater's musical drama, thus Keywords—history of music; genre; Russian opera; S. I. eluding the course, taken by the opera poetics of the 19th Taneyev; tragedy century; according to M.G. Aranovskiy, "The struggle for truth to nature led to the personalization of narrative plots, to I. INTRODUCTION the description of diverse human destinies and kinds" [1. P. 16]. Individuality interested Taneyev as a manifestation of It is considered that in "Oresteia" S.I. Taneyev bases the universal, choral origin. -
The Patriarchal Nature of Justice in the Oresteia Monideepa Talukdar
The Patriarchal Nature of Justice in The Oresteia Monideepa Talukdar Course: Honors 311 Instructor: George Dorrill Essay Type: Literary Analysis The Oresteia trilogy, which includes the plays Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides, has justice as its central theme. Aeschylus wrote these plays sometime during the period after the end of the Persian wars, when the star of Athens was on its ascendancy. It was the dawn of a new age, marked by the establishment of a new socio-political order based on democracy and the rule of law. The rule of law meant the institutionalization of justice. Justice was no longer a personal responsibility to be meted out according to the rule of family vendetta - blood for blood; it was now a state responsibility embodied in the law that the state, representing the community as a whole, set down. It was a step forward in the direction of realizing a more peaceful and orderly coexistence. However, this institutionalization of justice was also a step forward in the institutionalization of male dominance. The rule of law also came to stand for the rule of man over woman: patriarchy. This must not be understood to mean that the subjugation of women began with the emergence of the legal order, or other social institutions, for women had been relegated to an inferior status in society long before that. But as long as the family was the sovereign unit of society, the nerve centre of social life, women had voice and representation. However, with the shifting of power from the family to the polis, and the organization of society into complex formal institutions that assumed authority to set down rules governing social life, the alienation and marginalization of women was complete. -
Sophocles' Electra
Sophocles’ Electra Dramatic action and important elements in the play, scene-by-scene Setting: Mycenae/Argos Background: 15-20 years ago, Agamemnon (here named as grandson of Pelops) was killed by his wife and lover Aegisthus (also grandson of Pelops). As a boy, Orestes, was evacuated by his sister Electra and the ‘Old Slave’ to Phocis, to the kingdom of Strophius (Agamemnon’s guest-friend and father of Pylades). Electra stayed in Mycenae, preserving her father’s memory and harbouring extreme hatred for her mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. She has a sister, Chrysothemis, who says that she accepts the situation. Prologue: 1- 85 (pp. 169-75) - Dawn at the palace of Atreus. Orestes, Pylades and the Old Slave arrive. Topography of wealthy Argos/Mycenae, and the bloody house of the Atreids. - The story of Orestes’ evacuation. ‘It is time to act!’ v. 22 - Apollo’s oracle at Delphi: Agamemnon was killed by deception; use deception (doloisi – cunning at p. 171 is a bit weak) to kill the murderers. - Orestes’ idea to send the Old Slave to the palace. Orestes and Pylades will arrive later with the urn containing the ‘ashes’ of Orestes. «Yes, often in the past I have known clever men dead in fiction but not dead; and then when they return home the honour they receive is all the greater» v. 62-4, p. 173 Orestes like Odysseus: return to house and riches - Electra is heard wailing. Old slave: “No time to lose”. Prologue: 86-120 (pp. 175-7) - Enter Electra, who addresses the light of day. -
Opera Oresteai 7-10 Opt 2 RBF Program 4-16 2
the richard b. fisher center for the performing arts at bard college Sergey Taneyev’s July 26 – August 4, 2013 About The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, an environment for world-class artistic presentation in the Hudson Valley, was designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 2003. Risk-taking performances and provocative programs take place in the 800-seat Sosnoff Theater, a proscenium-arch space, and in the 220-seat Theater Two, which features a flexible seating configuration. The Center is home to Bard College’s Theater & Performance and Dance Programs, and host to two annual summer festivals: SummerScape, which offers opera, dance, theater, film, and cabaret; and the Bard Music Festival, which celebrates its 24th year in August with “Stravinsky and His World.” The 2014 festival will be devoted to Franz Schubert. The Center bears the name of the late Richard B. Fisher, the former chair of Bard College’s Board of Trustees. This magnificent building is a tribute to his vision and leadership. The outstanding arts events that take place here would not be possible without the contributions made by the Friends of the Fisher Center. We are grateful for their support and welcome all donations. The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College Chair Jeanne Donovan Fisher President Leon Botstein presents Oresteia Music by Sergey Taneyev Russian libretto adapted by A. A. Venkstern after Aeschylus Directed by Thaddeus Strassberger American Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Leon Botstein, Music Director Set Design by Madeleine Boyd Costume Design by Mattie Ullrich Lighting Design by JAX Messenger Hair Design by Jon Carter Makeup Design by Lucia Aloi Sung in Russian, with English surtitles Sosnoff Theater July 26 and August 2 at 7 pm July 28, 31, and August 4 at 3 pm Running time for this performance is approximately three hours and 40 minutes, including two intermissions. -
Transgendering Clytemnestra Jennifer Rae Mcdermott
Transgendering Clytemnestra Jennifer Rae McDermott Many Greek tragedies have mysteriously evaded the controlling influence of time; they are read today with as much admiration and emotion as they would have inspired in their first audiences. Works immor - tal, they rekindle in modern readers the passionate fires of ancient times and peoples. Two names still common on modern lips are those of the great poets Aeschylus and Homer. While Aeschylus penned tragedies for the theatre in the early fifth century BC, Homer, in the eighth century BC, composed epics of Greek culture that encompassed in their scope “material for [many] tragedies.” 1 The relationship between these forms of narrative is evidenced in the shared myth of Agamemnon’s murder by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus in both Homer’s epic poem Odyssey and Aeschylus’ tragedy Oresteia . In comparing the different angles with which these poets choose to treat the same tale, certain discrepancies are imme - diately apparent regarding the role, treatment, and function of Clytemnestra. I will argue that the differences in Clytemnestra’s characterization in these two works are predom - inantly related to gender: whereas in Aeschylus’ work she is cast as manly, Homer casts her as womanly. In Oresteia , she commands the play; in Odyssey , she remains but a shadowy figure on the outskirts of the story. This is evidenced, first in the immediacy and manner of her portrayal, second, in her domi - nance or subservience to men, and third, in her degree of responsibility for Agamemnon’s murder. Furthermore, these gender related distinctions correspond to Clytemnestra’s function in each text; Aeschylus creates Clytemnestra as a tragically human heroine, whereas Homer uses her, coupled to Aegisthus, to foil the central situation of Penelope and the Suitors. -
The Oresteia of Aeschylus
The Oresteia of Aeschylus Eumenides Translated in verse by Robin Bond (2014) University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand The Oresteia of Aeschylus : Eumenides by Robin Bond (Trans) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/10502 Eumenides Dramatis Personae Priestess of Apollo Apollo Hermes (silent) Ghost of Clytemnestra Orestes Athena Chorus of Eumenides (Furies) Second Chorus (Women of Athens) Jurymen, Herald, citizens of Athens (silent parts) The Oresteia of Aeschylus : Eumenides Page 2 Priestess First in my prayer I honour the goddess who, first of all the gods, herself gave prophecy, yes, Gaia; then Themis, her daughter, who, according to the myth, succeeded to the seat of prophecy; and in the third allotment, no force put forth, her sister willing, Phoebe took her place, another child of Earth and yet another of the Titan breed. And she it was that gave the privilege to Apollo as a birthday gift, who thereby took himself the name of Phoebus. Accordingly, he left behind the seas of Delos and its reefs to find safe landfall on the busy coasts of Attica and come 10 to this place to make his home beneath Parnassus' mount. The children of Hephaestus were his escort then, who did him mighty honour; and they it was that made the road for him, transformed this savage land and made it tame. The people gave him honours when he came, along with Delphus, lord and guiding master of the land. And Zeus imbued his godly spirit with the skills of prophecy and placed him fourth upon the seer's chair. -
An Ethical Literary Reading of Clytemnestra's Tragedy in The
International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science ISSN: 2307-924X www.ijlass.org An Ethical Literary Reading of Clytemnestra’s Tragedy in the Oresteia Meng Xihua School of Foreign Languages, Shangqiu Normal University No. 55 Pingyuan Road, Liangyuan District (476000), Shangqiu, Henan Province, China E-mail: [email protected] Published: 31 May 2020 Copyright © Xihua. Abstract: The Oresteia is the only surviving trilogy composed by Greek Tragedian Aeschylus. This dramatic works keeps on drawing attention from critics and audiences for centuries. This paper aims at studying this work from the perspective of ethical literary criticism, a flourishing approach to literature at present. In the Oresteia, Clytemnestra’s tragedy is obviously an ethical tragedy. In ancient Greece, ethics plays the role of laws to keep the society in order, but Clytemnestra violates three aspects of the patriarchal ethics: religious ethics, political ethics, and family ethics. Therefore, she is doomed. Key words: ethical literary criticism; ethics; tragedy; Oresteia; Introduction: The Oresteia is a trilogy composed by the famous Greek Tragedian Aeschylus, consisting of three plays: Agamemnon, The Choephori (Libation Bearers), and Eumenides. As the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians, Aeschylus has enjoyed great reputation as the father of tragedy for centuries. He was a frequent first prize winner in the Spring Festival when there was a dramatic competition due to his excellent tragedies. The Oresteia is the only surviving trilogy among his great tragedies as well as among all ancient Greek trilogies. This trilogy is considered as a landmark which exerts great influence upon later Greek playwrights and their composition of tragedies. -
Aeschylus' Tragedy of Law: Kinship, the Oresteia, and the Violence Of
University at Albany, State University of New York Scholars Archive English Honors College 5-2012 Aeschylus’ Tragedy of Law: Kinship, the Oresteia, and the Violence of Democracy Grace Hobbs University at Albany, State University of New York Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/honorscollege_eng Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Hobbs, Grace, "Aeschylus’ Tragedy of Law: Kinship, the Oresteia, and the Violence of Democracy" (2012). English. 9. https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/honorscollege_eng/9 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at Scholars Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in English by an authorized administrator of Scholars Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Hobbs 1 Aeschylus’ Tragedy of Law: Kinship, the Oresteia, and the Violence of Democracy Grace Hobbs Submitted for Honors in English University at Albany, SUNY Directed by Charles Shepherdson May 2012 Hobbs 2 AESCHYLUS’ TRAGEDY OF LAW: KINSHIP, THE ORESTEIA, AND THE VIOLENCE OF DEMOCRACY Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One Mourning, Murder, and Mutable Kinship 7 I. Notes 28 Chapter Two Orestes and the Construction of Peitho 30 Chapter Three The Violence of the Law: Peitho and the Impossibility of Justice 47 Works Cited 68 Hobbs 3 Introduction To read Greek tragedy, as any text, is to immerse oneself in the culture of a particular people at a particular time. For tragedy, however, this frame of reference is still more specific, limited to the slim interval of the fifth century BC, when it was written for and performed at tragic contests during the yearly festival of Dionysus.