GREEK TRAGEDY and POLITICAL THEORY Course Information
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Euripides : Suppliant to the Divine Feminine
Montclair State University Montclair State University Digital Commons Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects 1-2020 Euripides : Suppliant to the Divine Feminine Liz Amato Montclair State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Amato, Liz, "Euripides : Suppliant to the Divine Feminine" (2020). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 333. https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/333 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Montclair State University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects by an authorized administrator of Montclair State University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The Euripidean tragedies Hippolytus., The Bacchae and The Medea present us with female characters who have sacred and profcrund interactionrs with the gods. These women havr: powerful ritualistic abilities that move the tragic a,ction. Sirrrilarly, Euripides' versions of Hecuba ancl Electra present us v,rith dynamio female characters who derive their agency from tlhe religio-judiroial need for cosmic ;,rtonement. .tt is up to these heroines to uphold the sacred laws decreed by the gods. Why does l:uripides errLpower these fernales with such direct means of divination? Arguably, Euripides felt it necessary to use these,deistic feminine connections to destroy the titular male characters. The tragedian's implicaticn is clear: divine feminine power supersedes patriarchal power. This divine power is inherent in all women and it compels them act on behalf of cosmic necessity'. The importance of Medea's, Phaedra's and Agave's respective spiritual connections shows us the crucial role that women ptayed in ancient religious worship. -
Second Thoughts in Greek Tragedy Knox, Bernard M W Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1966; 7, 3; Proquest Pg
Second Thoughts in Greek Tragedy Knox, Bernard M W Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1966; 7, 3; ProQuest pg. 215 Second Thoughts in Greek Tragedy Bernard M. W. Knox "IN HUMAN LIFE," says the Nurse in Euripides' Hippolytus (435-6), "second thoughts are somehow wiser." Like many another character in Euripidean tragedy, she has just changed her mind, and, in true Euripidean style, she justifies her action with a generaliza tion. It is not a generalization which would have recommended itself to Aeschylus and Sophocles; before Euripides, change of mind is a rare phenomenon on the tragic stage.! Aeschylus, as Bruno Snell has demonstrated, broke new ground in Greek poetry with his explicit presentation of a conscious human choice between alternatives, a free human decision which commits its taker to a tragic course.2 The responsibility the hero thus assumes, and the complex relation of his choice to the will of the gods and his own heredity, allow little scope for a change of mind. Aeschylean drama is linear; its principal figures, their decision once made, pursue their chosen course to the bitter end.3 In the Persians, which is the tragedy of a whole people rather than an individual, and which furthermore works through retrospect and prophecy rather than through present action, a change of mind is excluded by the nature of the dramatic organization. In the Seven against Thebes, Eteocles, at the end of a slow, almost static, preparation, makes his swift decision to fight against his brother; it is a decision, but not a change of mind-he had already decided to fight in person at one of the gates (282) and the gate where Polynices awaits him is the last remaining assignment. -
Americans Use Greek Tragedy: Great Expectations on Stage
Americans Use Greek Tragedy: Great Expectations on Stage MARIANNE MCDONALD Foley has given us a useful, updated account of Greek tragedy in America.* She knows Greek, has taught Greek literature, has seen many plays, has written volumes of interpretations, and obviously has made this study her life’s work. As she shows, this can be a frustrating busi- ness—the reason this review alludes to Dickens’ novel (Great Expectations)—because of the exasperating differ- ence that can arise between what one wants and what one gets, particularly when playwrights who know little Greek, less poetry, and care nothing about choral music and dance seek to “reimagine” Greek tragedy. The results can be tragi- comic, if not tragic. Having taught all of Greek tragedy, having translated it from the Greek (some with J. Michael Walton), and, since 1999, having had performances—in San Diego and around the world—of over thirty versions and translations, I have come to the conclusion that the original masterpieces still surpass all translations and versions, unless written by a true master of the theatre who has lived, eaten, and breathed the- atre—like Racine, O’Neill, Cocteau, Anouilh, Soyinka, Fu- gard, or Friel. The exceptions, then, are those playwrights who have read Greek tragedy (preferably in the original), understood the plays, and have been profoundly moved by them to the *Helene Foley, Reimagining Greek Tragedy on the American Stage (Sather Classical Lectures, v. 70; Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press, 2012; A Joan Palevsky Book in Clas- sical Literature), xv + 375 pages, $95.00, hardcover. -
A Greek Tragedy by Sophocles
Antigone A Greek Tragedy by Sophocles Tragedy • A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances. The formation of tragedy was the blend of lyrical and epic poetry combined with ritual dancing. Chorus • The chorus was considered to be the mouthpiece of society and suffered along with the heroes. • After Sophocles, the chorus had 15 members and stood in a circle Ancient Greek Masks • The members of the chorus wore masks, usually similar to each other but completely different from the leading actors Ancient Greek Masks • Because the number of actors varied from one to three, they had to put on different masks, in order to play more roles. • The actors were all men. The mask was therefore necessary to let them play the female roles. Sophocles • A definitive innovator in the drama, he added a third actor, increased the size of the chorus, abandoned the trilogy of plays for the self- contained tragedy, and introduced scene painting. Antigone • A tragedy written in 442 BC by Sophocles • Chronologically the third of the three Theban plays but was written first – Oedipus the King – Oedipus at Colonus – Antigone • After Oedipus is exiled, he leaves the ruling rights of Thebes to his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices who must take it in turns to rule. • Eteocles rules first but the two becomes enemies after Eteocles refuses to give up the throne, and Polynices is exiled. • At the beginning of the play, both brothers are dead, apparently slain by the other's hand. -
'Significant Actions in Sophocles' Philoctetes'
Significant Actions in Sophocles' "Philoctetes" Taplin, Oliver Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1971; 12, 1; ProQuest pg. 25 Significant Actions in Sophocles' Philoetetes Oliver Taplin HAT HAPPENS in a Greek tragedy? The tale is widespread W that nothing happens; that all the action takes place off stage, and that on stage people stand still and simply talk or sing. On the contrary, all the significant action takes place on stage: what goes on off stage only matters in so far as it is given a bearing on the play on stage. All the great brute deeds-voyages, battles, crunching of bones and sacking of cities-all these concern the play in as much as they are given attention on stage; while the small stage actions-arrival, departure, embracing, separating, handing over ob jects-slight deeds like these take on, in their context, greatly magni fied significance, and become the embodiments of tragedy. Greek tragedy may be static and uneventful compared with some other kinds of drama, but there is still plenty of action if you look for the right kind of thing. It is a commonplace these days that Greek tragedy was created to be performed; that the dramatist was his own producer, composer and choreographer, and the reader must therefore try to envisage the play in his mind's eye and to hear it with his inner ear. Yet while nearly all scholars pay lip service to these tenets, very few put them into practice. Translations, let alone commentaries, are very careless with even the minimal stage instructions. -
Hermes As Guide and Leader of Souls by Brian Clark
CROSSING THE THRESHOLD: Hermes as Guide and Leader of Souls Brian Clark The Threshold to the Underworld The classical motif of the hero’s descent into the underworld or katabasis has been used in psychoanalytic writings (especially Jungian) as a metaphor for a descent into unconscious terrain, which is dark and unknown, contrary to the Olympian ideals of the ego. The underworld sphere is unlike anything the hero has known to date: the values, customs and laws of this domain are alien. The encounter with the underworld terrain is a rich metaphor for passages in a life when the psychological landscape shifts and becomes unfamiliar. These passages in one’s life are evoked out of a sense of loss, grief or an encounter with death. The space that separates the two spheres between what has been known, but now lost, and what is unknown but looming ahead is a liminal or suspended state. What the hero has previously known is now suspended; old forms of familiarity are not available. The hero, symbolic of the conscious knowing of self and mastery of the world that encompassed him, now faces a descent into an alien realm that is dark, foreign and dangerous. The threshold between these two worlds (between what is known, light and conscious and what is unknown, dark and unconscious) requires guidance and direction. Once the threshold has been crossed into the unknown, the hero cannot be in control of this world through his strength; his identity now is suspended and the fixed mental images that once bound him to the world are in flux. -
CLAS 346 Fall 2013 GREEK DRAMA Prof. Philip Waddell 3:30-4:45 TTH
CLAS 346 Fall 2013 GREEK DRAMA Prof. Philip Waddell 3:30-4:45 TTH Modern Languages 310 214 Learning Services Building Office Hours: TTh 2-3 (and by appt.) Office: (520) 621 – 7418; [email protected] COURSE TA: Victor Republicano Office Hours: TBA email: [email protected] REQUIRED TEXTS: Aeschylus Aeschylus I: The Persians, The Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliant Maidens, Prometheus Bound, Mark Griffith, Glenn W. Most, David Grene, Richmond Lattimore, eds., transls. (University of Chicago, 3rd Edition, 2013) ISBN: 978-0226311449 Aeschylus II: The Oresteia, Mark Griffith, Glenn W. Most, David Grene, Richmond Lattimore, eds., transls. (University of Chicago, 3rd Edition, 2013) ISBN: 978-0226311470 Aristophanes Four Plays by Aristophanes: The Birds; The Clouds; The Frogs; Lysistrata, William Arrowsmith, Richmond Lattimore, and Douglass Parker, ed., transl. (Meridian Classics, 1984). ISBN: 978-0452007178 Euripides Euripides I: Alcestis, Medea, The Children of Heracles, Hippolytus, Mark Griffith, Glenn W. Most, David Grene, Richmond Lattimore, eds., transls. (University of Chicago, 3rd Edition, 2013) ISBN: 978-0226308807 Euripides II: Andromache, Hecuba, The Suppliant Women, Electra, Mark Griffith, Glenn W. Most, David Grene, Richmond Lattimore, eds., transls. (University of Chicago, 3rd Edition, 2013) ISBN: 978-0226308784 Euripides V: Bacchae, Iphigenia in Aulis, The Cyclops, Rhesus, Mark Griffith, Glenn W. Most, David Grene, Richmond Lattimore, eds., transls. (University of Chicago, 3rd Edition, 2013) ISBN: 978-0226308982 Sophocles Sophocles I: Antigone, Oedipus The King, Oedipus at Colonus, Mark Griffith, Glenn W. Most, David Grene, Richmond Lattimore, eds., transls. (University of Chicago, 3rd Edition, 2013) ISBN: 978-0226311517 Sophocles II: Ajax, The Women of Trachis, Electra, Philoctetes, The Trackers, Mark Griffith, Glenn W. -
Clytemnestra, Electra, and the Failure of Mothering on the Attic
CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, AND THE FAILURE OF MOTHERING ON THE ATTIC STAGE by DEANA PAIGE ZEIGLER (Under the Direction of Nancy Felson) ABSTRACT I first extract a normative model for mother-daughter relationships from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter as well as a story pattern of the succession narrative from Hesiod’s Theogony and Homer’s Odyssey . Using both of these patterns or models, I investigate the troubled relationship between Clytemnestra and Electra. In Sophocles’ Electra and Euripides’ Electra the behavior of each character not only fails to conform to the normative model of a mother- daughter pair, it, in fact, exceeds all negative expectations for a functional, reciprocal mother- daughter relationship. Nevertheless, Clytemnestra and Electra are both aware of these societal norms. Both characters are disadvantaged because of the limits of female power, for Clytemnestra at an earlier phase of her life before she killed Agamemnon and usurped the throne. This fact contributes to the failure in mothering and the reproduction of mothering on the Attic stage. INDEX WORDS: Mothers, Daughters, Ancient Greece, Greek Tragedy, Sophocles, Euripides, Electra, Clytemnestra, Succession CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, AND THE FAILURE OF MOTHERING ON THE ATTIC STAGE by DEANA PAIGE ZEIGLER B.A., The College of Charleston, 2006 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2008 © 2008 Deana Paige Zeigler All Rights Reserved CLYTEMNESTRA, ELECTRA, AND THE FAILURE OF MOTHERING ON THE ATTIC STAGE by DEANA PAIGE ZEIGLER Major Professor: Nancy Felson Committee: Charles Platter Chris Cuomo Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2008 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. -
Greek Theatre and Tragedy: an Introduction to Antigone
Monday, September 17th For tomorrow, please make sure you’ve read Oedipus Rex: Prologue - Ode 2 (pp. 3-47). We’ll begin class by discussing your questions, so please make notes in your text As you begin reading, consider how the crisis unfolds How is Oedipus initially characterized? Use your notes to guide your annotations If you do not have a book, there is a copy posted on my website. Greek Theater and Tragedy: An Introduction An Introduction to Greek Theatre *this is not in your notes… it’s a preview Lecture Outline I. Greek Theater i. Role of theater in society ii. Conventions of Greek drama ▪ Staging ▪ Actors ▪ The chorus II. Greek Tragedy i. Defining characteristics ii. Aristotle ▪ Theory of tragedy ▪ Aristotelian unities iii. Dramatic structure iv. The tragic hero v. Sophocles ▪ Background ▪ The Sophoclean Hero III. Oedipus IV. Antigone In the grander scheme of Greek literature… Supposedly written toward the mid to end of the 8th century B.C. i.e. latter part of the 700s B.C. A few CENTURIES pass… Focus on heroic exploits of Focus on individual suffering, events an individual, high depicted are increasingly tragic, minimal adventure, war, action, etc. to no direct interaction with gods Heavy interaction with Gods i. Role of Theater in Society Theater was a religious & civic occasion in 5th century B.C. The plays (comedy, satyr, tragedy) were performed annually at festivals in honor of Dionysus, god of wine, revelry, and theater were entered in a competition (between 3 playwrights) and voted on Plots drawn from mythic or legendary events of the past i. -
Aeschylus and Euripides on Orestes' Crimes
25th IVR World Congress LAW SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Frankfurt am Main 15–20 August 2011 Paper Series No. 099 / 2012 Series D History of Philosophy; Hart, Kelsen, Radbruch, Habermas, Rawls; Luhmann; General Theory of Norms, Positivism Felipe Magalhães Bambirra / Gabriel Lago de Sousa Barroso Crisis and Philosophy: Aeschylus and Euripides on Orestes’ Crimes URN: urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-249572 This paper series has been produced using texts submitted by authors until April 2012. No responsibility is assumed for the content of abstracts. Conference Organizers: Edited by: Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Ulfrid Neumann, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main Department of Law Professor Dr. Klaus Günther, Goethe Grüneburgplatz 1 University, Frankfurt/Main; Speaker of 60629 Frankfurt am Main the Cluster of Excellence “The Formation Tel.: [+49] (0)69 - 798 34341 of Normative Orders” Fax: [+49] (0)69 - 798 34523 Professor Dr. Lorenz Schulz M.A., Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main Felipe Magalhães Bambirra* and Gabriel Lago de Sousa Barroso**, Belo Horizonte / Brazil Crisis and Philosophy: Aeschylus and Euripides on Orestes’ Crimes Abstract : Since the XIX century, a pleiad of philosophers and historians support the idea that Greek philosophy, usually reported to have started with the presocratics, lays its basis in a previous moment: the Greek myths – systematized by Homer and Hesiod – and the Greek arts, in particular the lyric and tragedy literature. According to this, it is important to retrieve philosophical elements even before the pre-Socratics to understand the genesis of specific concepts in Philosophy of Law. Besides, assuming that the Western’s core values are inherited from Ancient Greece, it is essential to recuperate the basis of our own justice idea, through the Greek myths and tragedy literature. -
Female Voices of Solitude, Resistance, and Solidarity
Oral Tradition, 23/2 (2008): 267-295 Thrênoi to Moirológia: Female Voices of Solitude, Resistance, and Solidarity Andrea Fishman Margaret Alexiou’s The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition offered a diachronic, comprehensive study of Greek ritual lament that emphasized continuities between ancient and modern lament traditions while incorporating stylistic and thematic analyses of lament texts. In the past three decades, Alexiou’s seminal work has been fundamental in shaping the field of lament studies; it has influenced scholars from such various academic fields as classics, comparative literature, anthropology, ethnomusicology, and folklore to engage in explorations of mourning that take into account textual, performative, and cultural contexts.1 The anthropologist Anna Caraveli-Chaves, whose fieldwork emphasizes cultural issues of gender and lament in rural Epiros and Crete, has identified the following salient elements of modern Greek women’s lament: the role of the lamenter as mediator, or “bridge” between the worlds of the living and the dead; the aesthetics and function of ponos (“pain”); lament as vehicle for revenge; lament as an instrument for social criticism and protest; and finally the role of lament in establishing solidarity among the community of women mourners.2 This essay explores the relationship between gender, lamentation, and death in the Greek tradition, making use of Alexiou’s diachronic paradigm and by expanding upon Caraveli-Chaves’ ideas regarding the social role of lament by examining and comparing ancient literary -
BIBLIOGRAPHY Quotations from the Bible and the Apocrypha
2007122. Larsen. 10_Bibliography. Proef 4. 18-3-2008:14.08, page 225. BIBLIOGRAPHY Quotations from the Bible and the Apocrypha comply with the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) when nothing else is stated. Ancient Texts Achilles Tatius.TranslatedbyS.Gaselee.Rev.ed.LoebClassicalLibrary.Lon- don: William Heinemann, 1969. Achilles Tatius. Leucippe and Clitophon.TranslatedbyJohnJ.Winkler.Pages170– 284 in Collected Ancient Greek Novels. Edited by B.P. Reardon. Berkeley: Uni- versity of California Press, 1989. Aeschylus.TranslatedbyHerbertWeirSmyth.2 vols. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann, 1963. Aeschylus. The Libation Bearers. Translated by Richmond Lattimore. Pages 1:93– 131 in The Complete Greek Tragedies. Edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. 4 vols. Centennial ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Aristophanes. Frogs. Assemblywomen. Wealth.TranslatedbyJeffrey Henderson. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002. Aristotle. The “Art” of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000. ———. Poetics. Translated by Stephen Halliwell. Loeb Classical Library. Cam- bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995. Augustine. In Evangelium Johannis tractatus. Patrologia latina 35:1579–976. Edited by J.-P. Migne. 217 vols. Paris, 1844–1864. The Bible: Authorized King James Version. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Chariton. Callirhoe. Translated by G.P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library. Cam- bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995. ———. Chaereas and Callirhoe.TranslatedbyB.P.Reardon.Pages17–124 in Collected Ancient Greek Novels. Edited by B.P. Reardon. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. Epiphanius. Panarion.Patrologiagraeca41:173–42:832.EditedbyJ.-P.Migne. 162 vols. Paris, 1857–1886. Euripides.TranslatedbyDavidKovacs.6 vols.