In Poetics, Aristotle defines lexis as being the “language” of tragedy, and this language is one of the elements of tragedy that creates the mimetic representation. As Aristotle literally describes of the words of tragic composition as “doing” something, I consider lexis as an equivalent to J.L. Austin’s locutionary function of language, and the creation of the mimetic representation as the illocutionary. Aristotle’s conception of tragic composition requires a rigid understanding of the tragic form and its proper deployment as he leaves no room for perlocution, and so I also employ Jan Mukařovský’s theory of intentionality/unintentionality in art to explain how a play such as Euripides’s Electra may be understood as a product of the literary culture in which it arose. I then review historical trends of translating Greek tragedy into English to establish how modern translation is moving further away from reverence to the lexis of tragedy. Finally I address the various sections of Electra, a play with an almost non-existent performance record in English, to establish how I may respect the original lexis in my own translation, thereby imparting a (hopefully) similar effect on a modern audience.

In this dissertation, I consider Euripides’ tragedies of 415 (Alexandros-Palamedes-Troiades) and 412 (Helen-Andromeda), and books 6-8 of Thucydides’ Histories (on 416/15-411), with attention to particular thematic elements in each text. These include: ritual and religious impiety; infighting and power struggles between the upper-classes; and personal or collective abandonment to erotic impulses. I propose that during the period in question (or when writing about the period in question, in Thucydides’ case), both authors place novel emphasis on the combined effect of all three elements. This novelty expresses itself in two major ways. First, the authors treat religious indecorum, aristocratic jockeying, and erotic impulsivity as a set, with a consistency that exists neither in Euripides’ previous works, nor in Thucydides’ Histories 1-5. Second, both authors develop a particular vocabulary for these religious and socio-political struggles. Thucydides introduces new terms, or prefers alternative definitions for some that he regularly employs. The result is a section of text that is at once consistent with the material that precedes it, yet outstanding for its peculiar thematic and verbal elements. The focused consistency of Euripides’ thematic and verbal choices in his trilogy of 415 supports the argument that the tragedies of this year must be read as an interdependent set, in which the first two works hold the keys to the content and reading of the third. In his works of 412, choice terms signal Euripides’ unique engagement with the mythical tradition; choice themes link Helen and Andromeda while separating them from Euripides’ other works. My aim in considering these innovations is to offer a fresh way into a wide-ranging conversation regarding Euripides’ and Thucydides’ shared historical context and the similarities between their respective texts. A focused perspective calls attention to the exceptionality of the narrative subset in question, the perception of which can be dulled by generalizing, comprehensive approaches. Euripides and Thucydides appear to have shared certain literary sensibilities that set them in close alignment with one another — and apart from their contemporaries — as men whose contributions to the broader literary landscape were remarkable for the precise features of their construction and expression. / 2020-10-08T00:00:00Z

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:25:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-02-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:53:18Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 assumpcao_tam_me_arafcl.pdf: 377441 bytes, checksum: 5845206036c6f1b1f4d3fb36ae855af2 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Esta pesquisa visa a compreender a questão do espaço n’ As bacantes de Eurípides desde a forma como ele é criado através do diálogo entre as personagens até a influência que esse mesmo espaço exerce na ação. O teatro representa visualmente em cena, através de gestos e falas dos atores, linguagens que são processadas mentalmente no público. Ao ler uma peça, deve-se estar ciente de que elementos concretos são usados pelo dramaturgo para criar o teatro mental. N’As bacantes de Eurípides, a ação, em certos momentos, remete a um universo mítico, como o nascimento de Dioniso, ou a um espaço exterior à cena, o monte Citerão, por exemplo, que se concretiza apenas na mente do espectador ateniense do século V a.C. Isso torna necessário recuperar e compreender esse espaço mutável para a leitura consciente da peça. / This research seeks to comprehend the space subject in Euripides’ Bacchae from the way it is created through characters’ dialogue to the influence this space puts on the action. The theater performs visually, by actors’ voice and action, the language that is mentally processed in the audience. When we read a play, we must be aware that concrete elements are been used by the dramatist to create the mental theater. In Euripides’ Bacchae, the action, sometimes, refers to a mythic universe, like Dionysus’ birth, or to an offstage space, like mount Cithaeron, for example, that is materialized only in the fifth-century Athenian spectator’s mind. It makes necessary the recovery and the comprehension of this shifting space for the conscientious reading of the play.

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar como se dá a ligação entre poesia e política nAs Rãs, de Aristófanes. O poeta estrutura a peça de modo que esses dois temas estão presentes o tempo todo, pois, desde o início, Dioniso está em busca de um bom poeta, para que ele salve a cidade. Assim, ao longo da peça, Aristófanes associa Eurípides à nova geração de políticos, demagogos cuja cidadania é muitas das vezes contestada e que são retratados como bajuladores e corruptores do povo. Esses, por sua vez, são contrapostos a Alcibíades, único dentre os políticos da nova geração citados na peça que tem origem aristocrata e é justamente o escolhido por Ésquilo para governar a cidade, tragediógrafo que ganha a competição no Hades e recebe o prêmio de voltar à vida e a missão de salvar Atenas. / This work aims to analyse the connection between poetry and politics in Aristophanes Frogs. In The Frogs, the poet structures the play in such a way that both themes are present at all times. An example of this is found in the beginning of the play when Dionysus, looking for a good poet that can save the city, journeys to Hades to bring Euripides back from the dead. Throughout the play, Aristophanes associates Euripides with a new generation of politicians, demagogues who have their citizenship questioned many times and are portrayed as flatterers and corrupters of people. These politicians are set against Alcibiades, a politician of a new generation that comes from an aristocratic background and is the one chosen by Aeschylus to lead the city. Aeschylus, on his turn, is the tragedian who wins the competition in Hades and is granted the prize to go back to life and receives the mission to save Athens.

O presente trabalho tem como objeto de estudo a tragédia Electra de Eurípides no que concerne à atualização que o poeta faz do episódio em sua versão dramática do mito de Orestes. Para tal, divide-se em duas partes, sendo que a primeira compreende o estudo propriamente dito e a segunda traz uma tradução integral do poema dramático seguindo os moldes de uma tradução acadêmica para fins de estudo. O estudo apresenta três capítulos que abordam a questão da atualização sob diferentes perspectivas. O primeiro trata da história do mito desde Homero até sua chegada à poesia dramática e apresenta um estudo comparativo das três versões trágicas que têm o mito por matéria, a saber, a Oresteia de Ésquilo e as Electras de Sófocles e Eurípides. A partir do segundo capítulo, o foco é dado à Electra euripidiana. Parte-se, então, de uma análise pontual de algumas das personagens e do coro com vistas a um estudo dirigido às inovações do enredo. A encenação da tragédia é, por fim, matéria de estudo do terceiro capítulo, ainda sob o ponto de vista da atualização. De uma forma geral, o estudo tem por objetivo uma reflexão sobre os modelos visados por Eurípides, sobre as adaptações que esses sofreram e, finalmente, sobre a recusa de alguns paradigmas. / This thesis focuses on the tragedy Electra by Euripides taking a more specific look at the way the poet updates this episode in his dramatic version of the myth of Orestes. The thesis is divided in two parts. The first contains the study itself and the second offers an integral translation of the dramatic poem according to the standards of academic translations intended for study. The study encompasses three chapters that address the issue of updating from different perspectives. The first concerns the story of the myth from Homer to its appearance in dramatic poetry and presents a comparative study of the three tragic versions of the myth, namely Aeschylus Oresteia and the Electras of Sophocles and Euripides. From the second chapter on, the focus is on Euripides Electra. This chapter resorts to a detailed analysis of some of the characters and the chorus in order to study the innovations in the plot. Finally, the third chapter discusses the staging of the tragedy, once again from the point of view of the updating. Overall, the study intends to reflect on the models used by Euripides, as well as the adaptations that these models have gone through and, finally, the refusal of some paradigms.

M.A. / The goal of this research is to list, explore and explain the similarities and differences between the Electra of Euripides and the film of Michael Cacoyannis. Some critics regard the film as completely unfaithful to the original; others view it as a faithful cinematic rendition of the original; while others still regard it as a reworking of, and an improvement on, Euripides’ version of the Electra myth. The myth as treated by Euripides is about the revenge of the two children of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After Agamemnon had returned victorious from the Trojan War, he was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. His daughter, Electra, finally takes the initiative when she and her brother, Orestes, avenge their father’s murder by killing their mother and her lover. The method devised to address the research problem is firstly to compare the text of the original tragedy with the screenplay of Cacoyannis. Thereafter, the dramatic structure (plot, time frame, characterization, setting, mood, narrative perspective and theme) of the tragedy and the film are compared. Next, the media of film and theatre are explored and compared. For the stage production of Euripides’ Electra, the aspects of the set, masks, choral movement, mirror scenes, objects and tokens, off-stage violence, actions and gestures, the deus ex machina, and tableaux are examined. Regarding the film, the features of set design, costume design, cinematography, music, acting and directing are surveyed. Finally, the respective socio-historical contexts of the original play and the film, as well as relevant biographical material from both Euripides and Cacoyannis, are investigated. It is concluded that Cacoyannis remained true to the spirit of the original drama of Euripides as well as to the genre of tragedy. However, the way in which he adapted Euripides demonstrates his secularism, his dedication to contemporary issues, like the plight of women, an unequal society, oppressive and authoritarian regimes, and the futility of revenge. In this way he forcefully demonstrated the timeless power and universality of an ancient myth even in the twentieth century.

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[pt] Essa dissertação pretende analisar como a tragédia de Eurípides, Medeia, encenada pela primeira vez em Atenas no ano de 431 a.C, apresenta características essenciais da obra do autor. As influências filosóficas e sofísticas que Eurípides compartilha empregam inovações consideráveis às suas tragédias e ao debate politico no cenário da polis de Atenas durante o século V a.C. Através da leitura de Medeia pretende-se verificar como esse testemunho constrói um determinado conjunto de representação e conhecimento acerca da concepção euripidiana da politica ateniense e seus princípios, assim como sua relação com os impasses da guerra e da violência. O desdobramento das considerações feitas por leitores modernos e a possibilidade de uma abordagem contemporânea da tragédia de Medeia, para além da feiticeira traída e a figura feminina marginalizada. Dessa forma, na obra de Eurípides, o teatro e a política compartilham elementos para a elaboração de uma reflexão constante sobre o instante no tempo no qual a vida compartilhada entre pares, consuma o horror e o deslumbramento de uma sociedade humana. / [en] This essay intends to analyse how the Euripides tragedy, Medea, first performed in Athens in the year 431 b.C., presents essential features of the author work. The Sophistic and phlisophical influences tha Euripides shares, employes considerable innovations to his tragedies and to political debate on the Athens polis scenario, during the V b.C. century. By reading Medea it is intended to verify how this testimony builds a certain representation and knowledge set of Euripides conception about Athenian politc and their respective principles, as well as it correlation with war and violence dilemmas. The unfolding of the considerations made by modern readers and the possibility of a comteporary approach of the Medea tragedy, goes beyond the betrayed sorceress and marginalized female figure. Thus, in the Euripides work, theater and politcs share elements for the formulation of a constant reflection about the moment in time in which, the shared life among pairs, consumes the horror and fascination of the possibility of a human society.

Medea is, even though a mythological woman from ancient Greece, very popular today and her story feels modern, which many recent adaptations clearly prove. How can this ancient material be so applicable and thought-provoking to discuss today? This study shows how different translators and authors have interpreted and re-imagined Medea to make her feel relevant to their contemporary societies. Focus is put on Medea’s roles as a woman and a foreigner, because these aspects are especially relevant today. The following research compares three Swedish translations of Euripides Medea from 1860, 1931 and 2012 with each other and analyses three modern adaptations (a movie by Lars von Trier, a novel by Christa Wolf and a play by Viktor Tjerneld) to reveal similarities and differences in the reception of the ancient material. This is achieved by a close reading and analysis of the source material with a theoretical approach that focusses on classical reception and drama theory. The results show that the different translations only differ in nuanced details because all of them try to stay as true as possible to the ancient Greek original. Only the prefaces and character lists written by the translators reveal significant differences in the values that they express and that are signs of their contemporary societies. The modern adaptations offer more possibilities for changing the original depending on which aspects are important during the time of publication. The results show that Medea’s role as an independent woman is important today, but also that her role as a foreigner becomes even more significant as the debates about refugees are getting more evident in our society.