Seneca's Thyestes: The Tragedy with No Women?

Littlewood, Cedric

doi:10.2307/40236091

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“…(dignum est Thyeste facinus et dignum Atreo, 398 See .e.g. Littlewood (1997), 79, who discusses some interesting parallels; Guastella (2001), 56, 69, 75-83, 105, 154 and 232-33 for parallels beween Atreus' and Medea's revenge and passim on revenge in Seneca's Thyestes and Medea and related texts; Littlewood (2004), 180-205 for a comparison between Atreus' and Medea's revenge. Borgo (1993), 52-62 discusses adultery as a motive for revenge in Thyestes and Medea.…”

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Seneca’s Challenge

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Seneca’s Challenge

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Rending Others: Ethical Contagio in Seneca’s Thyestes

Dodson-Robinson¹

2010

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External agents play a substantial role in the construction of the self in Seneca’s Thyestes . The intersubjective quality of self-formation for which I argue challenges psychoanalytic interpretations that read Senecan drama in terms of self-constructed identity and internal conflict (Shelton 1977; Segal 1986: 10–17, 34, 223–225; Fitch and McElduff 2002; Schiesaro 2003). References to Stoic materialism and Lacanian theory provide both ancient and modern frameworks for reading the inter-subjective logic of the play. The Fury and the ghost of Tantalus invade and overwhelm Atreus’ ethical agency with the furor that impels his crimes: they initiate the impressions, or pre-emotions, that lead to furor and violence. Atreus’ scelus in turn constitutes his identity. From a Lacanian perspective, the paternal metaphor in the tragedy collapses around Tantalus, who represents a failed figure of the law. When Atreus confronts Thyestes, his uncanny double, in a struggle that calls into question his sexual identity and the paternity of his sons, it precipitates a breakdown between the self and outer world. The contagio of one subject’s agency with the agency of an “other” ironizes autarchic self-construction and dramatizes that what is at stake in acceding to the impetus of another’s emotions is one’s very self. Les agents extérieurs jouent un rôle substantiel pour la construction du soi dans le Thyeste de Sénèque. La qualité intersubjective de l’autoformation, que je défends, défie les interprétations psychanalytiques, qui lisent le théâtre sénéquien en termes d’identité auto-construite et de conflits internes (Shelton 1977; Segal 1986: 10–17, 34, 223–225; Fitch et McElduff 2002; Schiesaro 2003). Les références au matérialisme stoïcien et à la théorie lacanienne fournissent des modèles à la fois anciens et modernes pour lire la logique intersubjective de la pièce. La Furie et le fantôme de Tantale envahissent et submergent l’instance éthique d’Atrée avec la furor qui le pousse à ses crimes : ils initient les impressions, ou pré-émotions, qui mènent à la furor et à la violence. Quant au scelus d’Atrée, il constitue son identité. D’une perspective lacanienne, la métaphore paternelle dans la tragédie connaît un échec avec Tantale, lequel représente une figure manquée de la loi. Quand Atrée confronte Thyeste, son double inquiétant, dans un combat qui remet en question son identité sexuelle et la paternité de ses fils, cela précipite une rupture entre le soi et le monde extérieur. La contagio de l’instance d’un sujet avec l’instance d’un « autre » tourne en dérision l’auto-construction autarcique et met en lumière que le risque en accédant à l’impulsion émotionnelle d’un autre, c’est de compromettre la sienne propre.

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La strana coppia. Tieste e Cassandra profeti di sventura nell’Agamemnondi Seneca

Berno

2022

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In Seneca’s Agamemnon, we find two prophecies of the king’s murder: the first made by Thyestes’ ghost in the opening of the play, and the second made by Cassandra. Thyestes reads the events as a posthumous revenge against his brother Atreus, who was Agamemnon’s father: to fulfil this aim, he also committed incest with his daughter. His prophecy is thus focused on the son of the incest, Aegisthus. Cassandra, on her side, considers the killing of Agamemnon as a vengeance for his destroyed motherland Troy, and the death of his father and brothers. Her prediction is centered on Helen’s sister, Clytemnestra. The factual narrative of the murder, delivered by the same Cassandra, differs from both prophecies, and shows how the two seers tried to manipulate the events at their personal revenge aims. Indeed, they both read the play as their own drama, competing for authorship.

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Seneca's Thyestes: The Tragedy with No Women?

Cited by 4 publications

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Seneca’s Challenge

Seneca’s Challenge

Rending Others: Ethical Contagio in Seneca’s Thyestes

La strana coppia. Tieste e Cassandra profeti di sventura nell’Agamemnondi Seneca

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