The usefulness and legitimacy of a Freudian approach to Greek tragedy have often been questioned on account of its tendency to stretch interpretation to the point where there is little support from the text itself. Nevertheless, instead of focussing on the 'Oedipus Complex' as a model for analysis, careful employment of other Freudian theories may yield more convincing interpretations.' Exploration of the human condition is a purpose both of Freudian psychoanalysis and of myth, particularly as employed in fifth century tragedy.2 As Euripides is especially striking for the psychological portrayals of his characters, a search for similarities between these and the supposedly universal types of behaviour analysed by Freud can contribute to our appreciation of the dramatist's understanding of the human condition, and even elucidate certain Freudian concepts in turn. Interpretation of the ton may benefit from such an approach in terms of the characters' maturation and 'therapy', which have not yet been discussed with the depth that a psychoanalytic study could facilitate. In exploring this play I will particularly draw upon Freud's notion of repetition compulsion, as well as other concepts outlined in his 1920 paper Beyond the pleasure principle, but also include more recent psychoanalytic theory concerning children's development.The Zon is full of repetition and duplication, not just within the play itself, in terms of the two recognition scenes, two consultations of the Delphic oracles, and the two murder attempts, but also against the broader background of myth and the characters' own past. The original abandonment of Ion by his mother, his departure away from Athens in the hands of Hermes, and his final restoration there following the reunion at the play's end,Greek quotations are taken from Euripides, Ion, ed. J. Diggle (Oxford 1981) ' See J. Lear, Love and its place in nature: a philosophical interprefatioti of Freudian psychoanalysis (New York 1990) 39-54, for the argument that 'we should kill off Freud's Oedipus' (39). M. Nussbaurn, in 'The Oedipus Rex and the ancient unconscious', in Freud and forbidden knowledge, ed. P. L. Rudnytsky and E. H. Spitz (New York 1994) 42-71, at 43-44 and 64, stresses the gap between the Freudian preoccupation with sexuality and the concerns of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. The ancient unconscious could, however, concern repressed sexual feeling: J. Glenn, in 'The fantasies of Phaedra: a psychoanalytic reading', Classical World 69 (1976) 435-42, for example, convincingly interprets Phaedra's fantasies in Euripides' Hippolyrus (208-3 1) as veiled wishfulfilments of her frustrated desire to consummate physically her love for her stepson. ' On the purpose of myth and its employment in tragedy, see: M. J. Anderson, 'Myth', in A companion to Greek tragedy, ed. J. Gregory (Oxford 2005) 121-35; B. b o x , Word and action: essays on the ancienf theatre (Baltimore 1979). particularly 8-16. N. Loraux, in 'Kreousa the autochthon: a study of Euripides' fan', in Nothing to do with Dionysus? Athe...
This chapter focuses on the motif of absent music in Troades. Instead of generating action, the music of this play appears stagnant, an endless lament for the destruction of Troy. Descriptions of choral song and dance here underscore an overwhelming sense of devastation, and they demonstrate the vital role such communal music-making played within the physical and cultural fabric of the ancient Greek city. Troades also, however, displays the presencing effect of choral performance: toward the end of the tragedy, the chorus produce a visual and auditory enactment of Troy’s fall, bringing offstage scenes into the theater through their own singing and dancing.
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