Sibling Relationships in Ancient Greek Plays

This research examines how sibling relationships function in the action of Euripides' The Bacchae and Sophocles' Theban plays, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. The research will set forth the pattern of ideas surrounding the structure of sibling ties in the plays and then discuss how development of the relationships over the course of the action affects or is affected by the meanings that emerge in the 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

Related Essays

Biblical Sibling Rivalry .... major divisions of peoples known to the ancient world - those of .... The distortion of human relationships is seen in various sibling relationships in which .... (1451 6 )

AGGRESSION Introduction The development of ag .... to disorders involving the phylogenetically ancient limbic system .... with physical punishment and sibling violence. .... with secure attachment relationships early in .... (2640 11 )

Models for Dealing with Wife Abuse .... Pathological relationships between paranoid women and dependent men .... physical punishment and sibling violence .... involving the phylogenetically ancient limbic system .... (2848 11 )

Cultural & Literary Portraits of Jewish Women .... the secret password with her sibling rather than .... Deborah, a prophet of ancient times, was instrumental .... prioritized according to her relationships -- as daughter .... (5528 22 )

Cultural & Literary Portraits of Jewish Women .... the secret password with her sibling rather than .... Deborah, a prophet of ancient times, was instrumental .... prioritized according to her relationships -- as daughter .... (5538 22 )

enactment of extreme irrationality. Agau� . . . 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 Autono� 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, Agau� 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 "Autono�, 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 Agau� 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 Agau�'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

Category: Literature - S