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Two Greek Myths

The ancient stories set down by the Greeks have, for centuries, provided a means of socialization and cultural interpretation for many societies. Mythology, not just the myths from the Greeks, has in fact provided a way to organize and explore areas of commonality between cultures and different historical periods. Under the rubric of the nature of mankind, therefore, mythology gives the contemporary observer insights into the past, the present, and the possible future. Functionally, mythology organizes and maintains a sense of human participation for the individual. It fulfills the imagination, the senses, and the emotional need for spirituality, while at the same time teaches certain societal and human lessons about life and living.1 It is perhaps this pedagogical interpretation of mythology that lends itself well to the object of this paper, the psychoanalytic method as used in comparing two Greek myths, Hesiod's Theogony and Electra by Sophocles. The paper itself will present a brief summary of both myths, and then analyze both using psychoanalysis to determine how events, situations, and desires expressed in the myths symbolize reality.

1 See Joseph Campbell, Historical Atlas of World Mythology, Vol. 1, "The Way of the Animal Powers," (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), 810.

Sophocles' Electra is a play about passion, intrigue, betrayal, and the subconscious desires of repressed sexuality. In essence, the basic conflict within the play is a morality question: Orestes had asked the oracle how he should kill his mother, not specifically whether he should do it. Thus, Orestes' freewill is not the question in this play, he had already decided that he must commit murder, but was concerned about the pragmatism of the event itself.2

The play then concerns an extensive dialog between Orestes, his sisters Electra and Chrysothemis, Orestes' tutor, and a Chorus of women representing society as a whole. The mother, Clystemnes...

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Two Greek Myths. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:18, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1684733.html