Tragic Heroines Medea and Clytemnestra - 994 Words

Aristotle (384-322 B.C. believed that tragedy, as an imitation or mimesis of life as it could be, held more importance than history, which simply records the past. He considered that performance of a tragedy provided the perfect cathartic experience for an audience, leaving them spiritually purified and inspired. He felt spectators seeing and experiencing great hardship befall the play’s hero or heroine would achieve this emotional state and benefit from it. The tragic hero, according to Aristotle, must be essentially good and be of high or noble birth. The misfortune that precedes their downfall must evoke compassion and pity. The tragic hero must experience a peripeteia. Two of the most famous Greek tragic heroes (heroines) were†¦show more content†¦The Chorus chants: Are rivers flowing in reverse? Has everything gone upside down? It should...† (Medea pg. 321). As for Aristotle’s de rigueur error in judgment in the stories of Medea and Agamemnon, Clytemnestra’s hamartia is her decision to kill her husband. Her pronouncement that she and her lover Aegisthus will rule Argos is, perhaps, her worst and final choice. The Chorus laments about destiny, angering the Gods and punishment, â€Å"...to deal in murder, while a womans hand, staining and shaming Argos and its gods, availed to slay him? Ho, if anywhere the light of life smite on Orestes eyes, Let him, returning by some guardian fate, hew down with force h er paramour and her!†. Clytemnestra retorts, â€Å"Heed not thou too highly of them—let the cur-pack growl and yell: I and thou will rule the palace and will order all things well† (Agamemnon, pg. 41). Her choice of Aegisthus as a lover has disastrous results when her son becomes a man and kills him. The Greeks believed a familial curse spans generations. Ignorance or knowledge of the curse collides with predetermined fate and present choices. Destiny inevitably wins out. Similarly, Medea passionately loves Jason and is consumed by the desire to exact revenge for his abandoning her and their children to marry Glauce. Killing her brother seals Medea’s fate. Exiled from her homeland and, bereft of JasonsShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Lives of Athenian Women1880 Words   |  8 Pagesfemale voice was repressed. Our evidence concerning the roles of women within the Athenian state comes through a variety of media; historiography discussing aspects of Athenian law and customs, orators, and imaginative literature such as comic and tragic theatre. Scholars in the past have selectively manipulated these different sources in order to support their predetermined arguments (Pomeroy: 1976; Gould: 1980). I shall briefly look at these individual forms of evidence in turn and try to assessRead MoreMoral Lessons in Antigone3823 Words   |  16 Pagesalive in ancient Greek theater. Woman did not have rights in that time period: she could not participate in government, she had no claim to property or belongings, etc. Many playwrights wrestled with this issue, creating characters such as Clytemnestra, Cassandra, Medea, and Antigone that embodied courage in the midst of a mans world. Ironically, these female heroes would have been played by male hypokrits, as women were not allowed to act in the theater. So phocles hints at the irrationality of the principleRead MoreGreek Mythology8088 Words   |  33 Pages  The  Achaeans  and  Ionians  descended  from  Achaeos  and  Ion,  sons  of  Hellen’s  other   son,  Xuthus.  These  figures,  in  their  turn,  produced  offspring  who,  along  with  children  born  of  unions   between  divinities  and  mortals,  made  up  the  collection  of  heroes  and  heroines  whose  exploits   constitute  a  central  part  of  Greek  mythology.   C   Heroes   Myths  about  heroes  are  particularly  characteristic  of  Greek  mythology.  Many  of  these  heroes  were  the   sons  of  gods,  and  a  number  of  myths  involved  expeditions  by  these  heroes