Classical Literature and Philology Commons^™

A Crown In Death: An (Expanded) Dramaturgical Approach To The Trojan Women Of Euripides, Stephanie Lester

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

In the action-packed, visually-oriented market for modern media, some may assume a 2,400-year-old Greek tragedy to be slightly past its expiration date, especially if it features little to no action onstage like in Euripides’ The Trojan Women. However, it is important to remember that literature is lost when the world fails to cherish it, so if a text survives that long, it may be worth another cursory glance. In this case, that glance involved a full dramaturgical study featuring qualitative script analysis of multiple translations of The Trojan Women with related texts to explore context, themes, common literary devices, and …

From Never Enough To Nothing At All: An Investigation Of Political Commentary In Euripides' Medea, Eleanor Clark

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

When studying the plays of Euripides, scholars have often focused on the playwright’s social commentary while paying less attention to the relationship between the plays’ plots and the political environment in Greece at the time of their production. Furthermore, although many of Euripides’ plays have been identified as referencing contemporary political events, scholars have made no such assertions regarding the Medea. Through an examination of Euripides’ Medea and Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, this study seeks to address this gap in scholarship by taking into account the political context at the time which it was written and first produced. …

This Effeminate Stranger: Dionysus' Gender In Translation And Performance, August Guszkowski

Independent Student Projects and Publications

This Effeminate Stranger: Dionysus’ Gender in Translation and Performance explores the possible interpretation of the character of Dionysus in Euripides’ Bacchae as genderqueer, specifically nonbinary. The project consists of a translation of the Bacchae from Ancient Greek into English which pays special attention to instances where Dionysus’ character is treated as somewhere between or outside of the traditional male-female gender binary, including placing emphasis on the god’s “effeminate” appearance and ability to influence other people to act across gendered lines. The groundbreaking translation refers to Dionysus with they/them pronouns rather than the traditional he/him and embraces this surprisingly well-evidenced reading …

The Curse As A Garment In Greek Tragedy, Judith Fletcher

Ancient Studies Faculty Publications

This article considers how Greek tragedy adapts the metaphor of the curse as a garment used in Ancient Near Eastern rituals and treaties. Using this comparative material, I analyze the fatal garments used by female characters in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, and Euripides’ Medea.

Taking On The Man: Female Rebellion Against Gender Roles In Classical Greek Drama, Gabrielle Killough

Senior Honors Theses

The portrayal of women in Ancient Greek drama seems at times opposed to the societal gender roles within Classical Athens. In the plays, women are strong and dynamic figures who enact change and upheaval in their world. Ancient dramas, like Agamemnon, Medea, Antigone, and Lysistrata, portrayed women with strong autonomy and minds which matched their male counterparts; whereas the women in Classical Athens found themselves in more limited circumstances. In analyzing the nature of these disparities, it seems that the constant factor is that the plays concern the violation of the household. The female characters respond in one of …

Euripides' Second Thoughts, Emily A. Mcdermott

Classics & Religious Studies Faculty Publication Series

Euripides' extant Hippolytus was a rare "re-production" of an earlier play on the same mythic episode. The play contains a series of metadramatic comments on its partial interchange of Phaedra's and the Nurse's original roles. The Nurse's appearance in the "Stephanias" as seducer of a virtuous Phaedra is presented as a "change of mind." Her "second thoughts" (to corrupt, rather than dissuade Phaedra) mirror the playwright's decision to amend a shameless Phaedra's character by, conversely, degenerating the Nurse's. His covert comments on this strategy of reversal underline the oddity of his decision to correct his first try at the story.

Power Bitches Of Ancient Greece, Jennifer Ingram

Anthós Journal (1990-1996)

This paper takes the form of a transcript of the Sally Jessy Raphael show on which Nancy Reagan answers questions about Women in ancient Greek Epics. Specifically, this transcript focuses on Medea (as shown by Euripides) and Clytemnestra (from the Agamemnon by Aeschylus). The focus is on strong “masculine” women and how the story of lover’s revenge is played out by both characters.

Double Meaning And Mythic Novelty In Euripides' Plays, Emily A. Mcdermott

Classics & Religious Studies Faculty Publication Series

The mythic tradition of dle Greeks is protean. Each of the vast number of stories is itself variable, appearing now in one form, now in another, often standing alongside other versions which it flatly contradicts. Critical study of this remarkable tradition is doubly vexed, firSt by received myth's intrinsically fluid nature, then by the fragmentary preservation of mythic source material.

Medea Line 37: A Note, Emily A. Mcdermott

Classics & Religious Studies Faculty Publication Series

A recent article by R. P. Winnington-Ingram elucidates Euripides' penchant for clever "jokes" at the expense of the literary traditions or the stage conventions within which he worked. While Winnington-Ingram voices some trepidation that other critics may find his identification of such levity in a great tragedian "repugnant or even abhorrent," his assessment of these witticisms, which (in a play on the word's current and etymological meanings) he dubs "sophisticated," has offered insight into Euripides' artistry and inspired further study along similar lines, notably by Geoffrey Amott.

A keynote of the examples of cleverness noted by these scholars is their …