D.Litt. et Phil. / The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a contemporary reading of Euripides’ dramas, the Helen and the Alcestis. The main problem investigated is how Euripides treats the motif of love in the Helen and the Alcestis. This problem is approached by way of an analysis of the function of language. It is not just a simple interpretation of the female and male type but an exposition of the characteristics of the motif of love. The motif of love is explored as an event between husband and wife regulated by certain norms and expectations. The result of this research is given as an account of how Euripides deconstructs the traditional social norms governing the interaction between husband and wife. The method used is the application of Wittgenstein’s gloss analysis as it is described in his work Tractatus Logico Philosophicus. Gloss analysis is the philosophical analysis of language that extracts the underlying propositions. It is chosen because it allows for a deconstruction of the social order implied in literary texts. It also allows for a rereading of such texts within a surrealistic and post–modern framework that reveals Euripides’ enduring relevance. Gloss analysis is applied to the Helen and the Alcestis as follows: first of all, the use of language and how it functions are analysed both in the traditional myth and in Euripides’s version. Secondly, the philosophical grammar of his language is examined so that the reader can understand the function of the surface and the depth grammar especially with regard to the use of metaphors. Thirdly, his language games are analysed pragmatically by illuminating the elementary propositions of the traditional myth as well as of Euripides’ version. Finally, the theme of illusion related to the Helen and the theme of restoration with regard to the Alcestis are recreated in a modern–day version. Generally speaking, special emphasis is placed on the role of metaphorical language in order to show up the tensions in a classical marriage. Classical society was patriarchal and military and it prescribed fixed roles to male and female. Public life was organised mostly around the male, while domestic life was organised around the female. It is especially through the use of metaphors that Euripides shows up the dysfunctions of gender ideology and that he calls for social reform. Through gloss analysis his use of metaphors is illuminated, and this reveals the function of the value system and how it failed in the classical era. In the Helen, the result of the method applied to the motif of love is a new image of Helen: through gloss analysis, the Helen of Euripides appears as a cubist product of modern art because it represents a double reality, namely the theme of illusion. It reflects a false world which the couple must escape. The tragic world of Euripides speaks to the contemporary reader or artist in a surrealistic way. The epic Helen is represented by a range of circles that symbolise irrationalism, while the Egyptian Helen is represented by squares that symbolise rationalism. In the Alcestis the heroine’s restoration is the antidote to her husband’s patriarchal deficiency, namely his selfishness. Through gloss analysis, the Alcestis of Euripides is rewritten as an experiment in the principles of what is called today the Theatre of the Absurd. The result of the method applied to the motif of love is a new reading of the Alcestis¬¬ – the most creative part of this study – that is based upon the irrational elements of Euripides’ version, such as the theme of restoration. The Helen and the Alcestis are still relevant because the problems dealt with, such as the gender role, adultery and woman’s value remain crucial issues in modern society. The female and male interaction is regulated by rules which may vary but still show how people are controlled in a loving relationship and how they experience interpersonal problems. The modern reader who enters the fictional world of Euripides comes back to reality wiser after a therapeutic self–discovery journey that is worthwhile. Finally, it is hoped that the findings of this research may lead to a better understanding of the Euripidean dramas, the Helen and the Alcestis.

The author's Habilitationsschrift--Universität Kiel, 1969. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. [169]-171).

Euripides’ Alcestis and Medea are plays about a woman of exemplary virtue and a woman of horrible vice, respectively. This thesis examines how both heroines have a subjectivity that is destructive because they are female, and which is expressed by making deals with men. Women’s deal-making is dangerous because it conflicts with a system of exchange exclusive to men, in which women function as objects of exchange which solidify men’s homosocial bonds. Alcestis’ and Medea’s deals with men disrupt these bonds. Alcestis’ dangerous subjectivity is contained when she is made the passive object of exchange between men, while in Medea’s case, the absence of deals between men allows the uncontained effect of her deal-making to destroy her family and community. Comparison of the plays shows that the suppression of women’s deal-making, and not the benign or malicious intent of the deal-maker, is crucial to the happy resolution of the play.

This study explores how in central plays of Euripides – namely, Alcestis, Hippolytus, Helen, and Bacchae – bodies, landscapes, and objects (both seen on stage and described in speeches, dialogues, and choral odes) serve as media for assessing affective states, materializing the characters’ feelings and sensations and hence enabling the audience to vividly perceive them. My focus is grounded in the ancient conceptions of bodies and the senses in material from the Pre-Socratic and the Hippocratic writings, including theories about how the surrounding environment influences bodily types. It is also underpinned by theoretical perspectives that have come to prominence in recent research in ancient literature and culture. First, it draws on insights from phenomenology, aesthetics, and affective theory that in ancient drama highlight embodiment, synaesthesia, and the circulation of affects among characters and spectators. Second, it engages with works inspired by the new materialisms, which have produced a new attention to the mutual and symbiotic relationship between humans and nonhuman entities. Finally, it is based on the “enactive” approach to cognition, which makes a compelling case for visualization (e.g., spectators’ imagination of the things sung, spoken, or narrated) as grounded in the active, embodied structure of experience. Building on such theories, I posit that Euripides’ plays illustrate how the characters’ feelings and emotions combine with sensory indicators (sight, taste, smell, and touch), so that they operate as visible marks of states usually conceived of as inner. These states are, I suggest, exteriorized not only on bodies but also in their surroundings, such that landscapes as mapped onto the dramatic stage and objects with which the characters interact function as supplements to embodied affective manifestations. In addition to onstage action, I focus on how Euripides’ language triggers a strong resonance in the spectators’ imagination. In this regard, my argument takes up the insights of ancient critics such as Longinus, who has praised Euripides’ ability to generate “emotion” (τὸ παθητικόν) and “excitement” (τὸ συγκεκινημένον) in the audience through “visualization” (φαντασία) and “vividness” (ἐνάργεια). Thus, I examine how references to onstage performance and visualizing language interact, giving the spectators a full picture of the dramatic action. In Alcestis, I explore how embodiment, sensorial phenomena, and physical interactions put the characters’ feelings of pain and grief on prominent display, eliciting the audience’s sensory reaction. In Hippolytus, I examine how the characters’ emotions blend into the surroundings, such that forms, colors, and textures of landscape and objects allow the spectators to perceive inner states more forcefully. In Helen, I investigate how material and nonhuman things, such as rivers, plants, costumes, weapons, statues, ships connect to the characters as parts of an affective entanglement that heightens the experiential appeal of the characters’ feelings and sensations. In the Bacchae, I regard Dionysus’ action as an affective force that spreads throughout the world of the play, cracks, and mutates things, including human and animal bodies, natural elements, and objects. This action creates an enmeshment between things, which is embodied by the thyrsus topped with Pentheus’ head (mask) that gives the spectators a keen sense of the multiple, productive, and transformative nature of Dionysus’ power. In conclusion, this study argues that bodies, landscapes, and objects represent the privileged sites for exploring the affective exchange between the characters and the audience, refining our understanding of the intensity, impact, and reception of the Euripidean theater.