Sibling Relationships in Ancient Greek Plays

To see how sibling relationships function in the plays under consideration, it may be useful to examine the mythic context in which the plays emerge. The presence of gods and goddesses in the unfolding action positions the plays as cosmological treatments. In these plays, there is a dynamic interaction between the human presence in the cosmos and the eternal cosmic presence of the gods that has the effect of constructing the dimensions of human reality. As Eliade puts it, in the "archaic world . . . every act which has a definite meaning . . . in some way participates in the sacred" (28).

The fact that the gods declare themselves to be stakeholders in human experience means that virtually any moment of human time or any human choice can be penetrated with cosmic significance, and human action frequently has a double effect in the Theban plays of Euripides and Sophocles. The quality of relationships between and among brothers and sisters demonstrates how human priorities and attitudes interpenetrate cosmic ones and construct for the human beings invol

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enactment of extreme irrationality. Agauë . . . paid no heed to [Pentheus]. She grasped His left arm between wrist and elbow . . . On the other side Ino was at him, tearing at his flesh; and now Autonoë joined them, and the whole maniacal horde (Bac. 1159-64). Upon returning to Thebes with Pentheus's head in her cloak, which she takes to be that of a lion cub, Agauë claims a kind of victory for the daughters of Cadmus as "the noblest daughters of this age" (Bac. 1265). Cadmus understands the irony of that statement. He has seen "Autonoë, who bore Actaeon to Aristaeus, / And Ino with her, there among the trees" (1259-61). They are to share not nobility but shame and sorrow. As Agauë says, "I go to lead my sisters by the hand / To share my wretchedness in a foreign land" (Bac. 1379-80). The portent of sharing is all too apt, for Greek myth records a definite pattern to the fate of the children of Agauë's sisters. Actaeon, after seeing Artemis naked, was turned into a stag and torn to pieces by his own hunting hounds (Graves 1.84-5). Ino's son Learchus was killed by Athamas, who then "proceeded to tear his still-quivering body into pieces" (Graves 1.227). In Sophocles' Theban plays, sibling relationships are decisive mover
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Colonus Antigone, Polyneices Etiocles, Polyneices Antigone, Pentheus Theban, According Hegel, Oedipus Antigone, Actaeon Aristaeus, Bacchanal Agauë, Antigone Antigone, Thebes Oedipus, theban plays, polyneices etiocles, sibling relationships, antigone ismene, robert fagles theban, penguin classics, robert fagles, oedipus colonus, trans robert, plays london, london penguin, trans robert fagles, penguin classics 1984, london penguin classics, theban plays london,
Approximate Word count = 3044
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)