Tragic Heroines in Ancient Greek Drama

Tragic Heroines in Ancient Greek Drama

Author: Hanna M. Roisman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-01-14

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1350104000

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The heroines of Greek tragedy presented in the plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides have long captivated audiences and critics. In this volume each of the eleven chapters discusses one of the heroines: Clytemnestra, Hecuba, Medea, Iphigenia, Alcestis, Antigone Electra, Deianeira, Phaedra, Creusa and Helen. The book focuses on characterisation and the motivations of the women, as well as on those of the male playwrights, and offers multiple viewpoints and critiques that enable readers to understand the context of each play and form their own views. Four core themes bridge the depictions of the heroines: the socio-political dynamic of ancient Greek expectations of women and their roles in society, the conflict of masculinity versus femininity, the alternation of defiance and submission, and the interplay between deceit and rhetoric. Each chapter offers clear descriptions of plot and mythical background, and builds on the text of the plays to enable reflections on language and performance. All technical terms are explained and key topics or references are pulled out into box features that provide further background information. Discussion points at the ends of chapters enable readers to explore various topics more deeply.


Book Synopsis Tragic Heroines in Ancient Greek Drama by : Hanna M. Roisman

Download or read book Tragic Heroines in Ancient Greek Drama written by Hanna M. Roisman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-14 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The heroines of Greek tragedy presented in the plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides have long captivated audiences and critics. In this volume each of the eleven chapters discusses one of the heroines: Clytemnestra, Hecuba, Medea, Iphigenia, Alcestis, Antigone Electra, Deianeira, Phaedra, Creusa and Helen. The book focuses on characterisation and the motivations of the women, as well as on those of the male playwrights, and offers multiple viewpoints and critiques that enable readers to understand the context of each play and form their own views. Four core themes bridge the depictions of the heroines: the socio-political dynamic of ancient Greek expectations of women and their roles in society, the conflict of masculinity versus femininity, the alternation of defiance and submission, and the interplay between deceit and rhetoric. Each chapter offers clear descriptions of plot and mythical background, and builds on the text of the plays to enable reflections on language and performance. All technical terms are explained and key topics or references are pulled out into box features that provide further background information. Discussion points at the ends of chapters enable readers to explore various topics more deeply.

Female Acts in Greek Tragedy

Female Acts in Greek Tragedy

Author: Helene P. Foley

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2009-01-10

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 1400824737

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Although Classical Athenian ideology did not permit women to exercise legal, economic, and social autonomy, the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides often represent them as influential social and moral forces in their own right. Scholars have struggled to explain this seeming contradiction. Helene Foley shows how Greek tragedy uses gender relations to explore specific issues in the development of the social, political, and intellectual life in the polis. She investigates three central and problematic areas in which tragic heroines act independently of men: death ritual and lamentation, marriage, and the making of significant ethical choices. Her anthropological approach, together with her literary analysis, allows for an unusually rich context in which to understand gender relations in ancient Greece. This book examines, for example, the tragic response to legislation regulating family life that may have begun as early as the sixth century. It also draws upon contemporary studies of virtue ethics and upon feminist reconsiderations of the Western ethical tradition. Foley maintains that by viewing public issues through the lens of the family, tragedy asks whether public and private morality can operate on the same terms. Moreover, the plays use women to represent significant moral alternatives. Tragedy thus exploits, reinforces, and questions cultural clichés about women and gender in a fashion that resonates with contemporary Athenian social and political issues.


Book Synopsis Female Acts in Greek Tragedy by : Helene P. Foley

Download or read book Female Acts in Greek Tragedy written by Helene P. Foley and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-10 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although Classical Athenian ideology did not permit women to exercise legal, economic, and social autonomy, the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides often represent them as influential social and moral forces in their own right. Scholars have struggled to explain this seeming contradiction. Helene Foley shows how Greek tragedy uses gender relations to explore specific issues in the development of the social, political, and intellectual life in the polis. She investigates three central and problematic areas in which tragic heroines act independently of men: death ritual and lamentation, marriage, and the making of significant ethical choices. Her anthropological approach, together with her literary analysis, allows for an unusually rich context in which to understand gender relations in ancient Greece. This book examines, for example, the tragic response to legislation regulating family life that may have begun as early as the sixth century. It also draws upon contemporary studies of virtue ethics and upon feminist reconsiderations of the Western ethical tradition. Foley maintains that by viewing public issues through the lens of the family, tragedy asks whether public and private morality can operate on the same terms. Moreover, the plays use women to represent significant moral alternatives. Tragedy thus exploits, reinforces, and questions cultural clichés about women and gender in a fashion that resonates with contemporary Athenian social and political issues.

Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages

Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages

Author: Tanya Pollard

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 0198793111

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"The book argues that rediscovered ancient Greek plays exerted a powerful and uncharted influence on sixteenth-century England's dramatic landscape, not only in academic and aristocratic settings, but also at the heart of the developing commercial theaters."--Introduction, p. 2.


Book Synopsis Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages by : Tanya Pollard

Download or read book Greek Tragic Women on Shakespearean Stages written by Tanya Pollard and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The book argues that rediscovered ancient Greek plays exerted a powerful and uncharted influence on sixteenth-century England's dramatic landscape, not only in academic and aristocratic settings, but also at the heart of the developing commercial theaters."--Introduction, p. 2.

Greek Tragedy and the British Theatre 1660-1914

Greek Tragedy and the British Theatre 1660-1914

Author: Edith Hall

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2005-07-14

Total Pages: 768

ISBN-13: 0191541419

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This lavishly illustrated book offers the first full, interdisciplinary investigation of the historical evidence for the presence of ancient Greek tragedy in the post-Restoration British theatre, where it reached a much wider audience - including women - than had access to the original texts. Archival research has excavated substantial amounts of new material, both visual and literary, which is presented in chronological order. But the fundamental aim is to explain why Greek tragedy, which played an elite role in the curricula of largely conservative schools and universities, was magnetically attractive to political radicals, progressive theatre professionals, and to the aesthetic avant-garde. All Greek has been translated, and the book will be essential reading for anyone interested in Greek tragedy, the reception of ancient Greece and Rome, theatre history, British social history, English studies, or comparative literature.


Book Synopsis Greek Tragedy and the British Theatre 1660-1914 by : Edith Hall

Download or read book Greek Tragedy and the British Theatre 1660-1914 written by Edith Hall and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2005-07-14 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lavishly illustrated book offers the first full, interdisciplinary investigation of the historical evidence for the presence of ancient Greek tragedy in the post-Restoration British theatre, where it reached a much wider audience - including women - than had access to the original texts. Archival research has excavated substantial amounts of new material, both visual and literary, which is presented in chronological order. But the fundamental aim is to explain why Greek tragedy, which played an elite role in the curricula of largely conservative schools and universities, was magnetically attractive to political radicals, progressive theatre professionals, and to the aesthetic avant-garde. All Greek has been translated, and the book will be essential reading for anyone interested in Greek tragedy, the reception of ancient Greece and Rome, theatre history, British social history, English studies, or comparative literature.

Debating with the Eumenides

Debating with the Eumenides

Author: Vayos Liapis

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2018-07-27

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1527514676

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Modern Greek national and cultural identities consist, to a considerable extent, of clusters of cultural memory, shaped by an ongoing dialogue with the classical past. Within this dialogue between modern Greece and classical antiquity, Greek tragedy takes pride of place. In this volume, ten scholars from Cyprus, Greece, the United Kingdom and the United States explore the various ways in which Greek tragedy and tragic myth have been reimagined and rewritten in modern Greek drama and poetry. The book’s extensive coverage includes major modern Greek authors, such as Cavafy, Seferis, and Ritsos, as well as less well-known, but equally rich and rewarding, 20th- and 21st-century texts.


Book Synopsis Debating with the Eumenides by : Vayos Liapis

Download or read book Debating with the Eumenides written by Vayos Liapis and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2018-07-27 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern Greek national and cultural identities consist, to a considerable extent, of clusters of cultural memory, shaped by an ongoing dialogue with the classical past. Within this dialogue between modern Greece and classical antiquity, Greek tragedy takes pride of place. In this volume, ten scholars from Cyprus, Greece, the United Kingdom and the United States explore the various ways in which Greek tragedy and tragic myth have been reimagined and rewritten in modern Greek drama and poetry. The book’s extensive coverage includes major modern Greek authors, such as Cavafy, Seferis, and Ritsos, as well as less well-known, but equally rich and rewarding, 20th- and 21st-century texts.

Rebel Women

Rebel Women

Author: Stephen Wilmer

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-07-04

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1408150174

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A collection of essays by many distinguished contributors, focused on the portrayal of rebel women in ancient Greek drama. Ancient Greek drama provides the modern stage with a host of powerful female characters who stand in opposition to the patriarchal structures that seek to limit and define them. For contemporary theatre directors their representation serves as a vehicle for examining and illuminating issues of gender, power, family and morality, as germane today as when the plays were first written. Rebel Women brings together essays by leading writers from across different disciplines examining the representation of ancient Greek heroines in their original contexts and on today's stage. Divided into three sections, it considers in turn international productions, Irish versions, and studies of the original texts. The articles explore how such characters as Iphigenia, Medea, Antigone and Clytemnestra have been portrayed in recent times and the challenges and provocation they offer to both contemporary audiences and dramatists alike. 'Seamus Heaney and Athol Fugard are brought together as contributors by the inspiration that ancient Greek tragedy has offered to them both. There are offerings here on Iphigenia, edea, Antigone, Clytemnestra, film, drama, Greece, Russia ... and especially Ireland. Amidst all this variety, the level of interest and of scholarship are consistently high.' Oliver Taplin, Professor of Classical Languages and Literature, Oxford University


Book Synopsis Rebel Women by : Stephen Wilmer

Download or read book Rebel Women written by Stephen Wilmer and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-07-04 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays by many distinguished contributors, focused on the portrayal of rebel women in ancient Greek drama. Ancient Greek drama provides the modern stage with a host of powerful female characters who stand in opposition to the patriarchal structures that seek to limit and define them. For contemporary theatre directors their representation serves as a vehicle for examining and illuminating issues of gender, power, family and morality, as germane today as when the plays were first written. Rebel Women brings together essays by leading writers from across different disciplines examining the representation of ancient Greek heroines in their original contexts and on today's stage. Divided into three sections, it considers in turn international productions, Irish versions, and studies of the original texts. The articles explore how such characters as Iphigenia, Medea, Antigone and Clytemnestra have been portrayed in recent times and the challenges and provocation they offer to both contemporary audiences and dramatists alike. 'Seamus Heaney and Athol Fugard are brought together as contributors by the inspiration that ancient Greek tragedy has offered to them both. There are offerings here on Iphigenia, edea, Antigone, Clytemnestra, film, drama, Greece, Russia ... and especially Ireland. Amidst all this variety, the level of interest and of scholarship are consistently high.' Oliver Taplin, Professor of Classical Languages and Literature, Oxford University

Female Characters in Fragmentary Greek Tragedy

Female Characters in Fragmentary Greek Tragedy

Author: P. J. Finglass

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-07-02

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1108864708

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How were women represented in Greek tragedy? This question lies at the heart of much modern scholarship on ancient drama, yet it has typically been approached using evidence drawn only from the thirty-two tragedies that survive complete - neglecting tragic fragments, especially those recently discovered and often very substantial fragmentary papyri from plays that had been thought lost. Drawing on the latest research on both gender in tragedy and on tragic fragments, the essays in this volume examine this question from a fresh perspective, shedding light on important mythological characters such as Pasiphae, Hypsipyle, and Europa, on themes such as violence, sisterhood, vengeance, and sex, and on the methodology of a discipline which needs to take fragmentary evidence to heart in order to gain a fuller understanding of ancient tragedy. All Greek is translated to ensure wide accessibility.


Book Synopsis Female Characters in Fragmentary Greek Tragedy by : P. J. Finglass

Download or read book Female Characters in Fragmentary Greek Tragedy written by P. J. Finglass and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How were women represented in Greek tragedy? This question lies at the heart of much modern scholarship on ancient drama, yet it has typically been approached using evidence drawn only from the thirty-two tragedies that survive complete - neglecting tragic fragments, especially those recently discovered and often very substantial fragmentary papyri from plays that had been thought lost. Drawing on the latest research on both gender in tragedy and on tragic fragments, the essays in this volume examine this question from a fresh perspective, shedding light on important mythological characters such as Pasiphae, Hypsipyle, and Europa, on themes such as violence, sisterhood, vengeance, and sex, and on the methodology of a discipline which needs to take fragmentary evidence to heart in order to gain a fuller understanding of ancient tragedy. All Greek is translated to ensure wide accessibility.

Becoming Female

Becoming Female

Author: Katrina Cawthorn

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-11-01

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 1472521242

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"Becoming Female", the first book-length examination of the body in classical Athenian tragedy, reconsiders the figure of the male tragic hero, making use of both feminist and body theory. The male hero becomes female in the space of tragedy through the experience of suffering, and seems unable to return to any secure expression of masculinity. Katrina Cawthorn concentrates initially on the figure of Heracles in Sophocles' "The Women of Trachis", an exemplary specimen of the tragic process of becoming female, who exhibits many of the central issues considered in the book. The male hero is, in the course of the play, undone and feminised, while the instability of masculine identity is revealed.This theme of becoming female, and the resulting failure to circumscribe the feminine and return to any secure and triumphant concept of masculinity, is argued to be a discernible feature of the genre of tragedy. The inconclusive and disconcerting nature of tragic endings contribute to the dislocation of the tragic male and emphasise the Dionysian disturbance of the male hero.Moreover, this state of the dissolute male hero has textual and theatrical consequences, extending to affect the audience so that it too becomes feminised by the processes of tragedy."Becoming Female" is an important work for scholars and students of Classical Studies, Ancient History, Drama and Theatre Studies, Women's Studies and Cultural Studies.


Book Synopsis Becoming Female by : Katrina Cawthorn

Download or read book Becoming Female written by Katrina Cawthorn and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Becoming Female", the first book-length examination of the body in classical Athenian tragedy, reconsiders the figure of the male tragic hero, making use of both feminist and body theory. The male hero becomes female in the space of tragedy through the experience of suffering, and seems unable to return to any secure expression of masculinity. Katrina Cawthorn concentrates initially on the figure of Heracles in Sophocles' "The Women of Trachis", an exemplary specimen of the tragic process of becoming female, who exhibits many of the central issues considered in the book. The male hero is, in the course of the play, undone and feminised, while the instability of masculine identity is revealed.This theme of becoming female, and the resulting failure to circumscribe the feminine and return to any secure and triumphant concept of masculinity, is argued to be a discernible feature of the genre of tragedy. The inconclusive and disconcerting nature of tragic endings contribute to the dislocation of the tragic male and emphasise the Dionysian disturbance of the male hero.Moreover, this state of the dissolute male hero has textual and theatrical consequences, extending to affect the audience so that it too becomes feminised by the processes of tragedy."Becoming Female" is an important work for scholars and students of Classical Studies, Ancient History, Drama and Theatre Studies, Women's Studies and Cultural Studies.

The Verge

The Verge

Author: Susan Glaspell

Publisher:

Published: 1924

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis The Verge by : Susan Glaspell

Download or read book The Verge written by Susan Glaspell and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Cambridge Companion to Greek Comedy

The Cambridge Companion to Greek Comedy

Author: Martin Revermann

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-06-12

Total Pages: 523

ISBN-13: 0521760283

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This book provides a unique panorama of this challenging area of Greek literature, combining literary perspectives with historical issues and material culture.


Book Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Greek Comedy by : Martin Revermann

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Greek Comedy written by Martin Revermann and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-06-12 with total page 523 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a unique panorama of this challenging area of Greek literature, combining literary perspectives with historical issues and material culture.