Discursive and Socioideological Aspects in the Poem “Prometheus”, by Goethe: A Counterword to the Greek Tragedy

Abstract

This study aims to discuss discursive and socio-ideological aspects in Goethe’s poem Prometheus , from the dialogical perspective of language, observing how it is configured as a counterword to the Greek tragedy Prometheus . For in such a way, we find theoretical and methodological endorsement in the thought of Bakhtin (2006a, 2006b [1979]; 2010 [1930-34]), Medviédev (2016a, 2016b [1928]), Volóchinov (2017 [1929]) and Benjamin (2018), which subsidize the research. Using a dialogical approach, we delimited as locus of the study the poem entitled Prometheus , authored by Goethe. From the moment when we understand the poem by Goethe as a counterword, it is possible to glimpse a change of conception in the construction of the character, resulting of discursive interactions between Prometheus and Zeus. In addition, there is a process of discontinuance of the mythical narrative, since Goethe’s perspective reveals dialogues with the German sociopolitical system between the 18th and 19th centuries. It is, therefore, considered a research of qualitative and interpretative matrix. The results had pointed to the fact that the points of view of Goethe, in his work-statement (BAKHTIN, 2006d [1979]), differentiate of the tragic perspective visualized in the Myth of Prometheus , where the character has become a slave and had perpetual punishment.