This study aims (1) to document and classify the materials and techniques of
persuasive speech in Euripidean drama, and (2) to develop an understanding of
the ways in which the balanced arguments and abstract speculations of
Euripidean characters contribute to the construction of plots, themes and
characters. The results are intended to be useful both as a contribution to
criticism concerned with the "tone" of Euripidean tragedy and as a resource for
the study of early oratory and argumentation in the period of the Sophists.
The first two chapters classify and analyse speeches and scenes according to
dramatic context. In Chapter I, single speeches of several types are shown to rely
on similar techniques of presentation and argument. Chapter II analyses
patterns of correspondence between the speeches of a scene. The debate scenes of
Alkestis and Hippolytos are discussed with a view to determining how stylised
and conventional rhetorical material affects our view of the characters involved.
Analysis is next offered of some common techniques for the presentation of
arguments. Chapter III discusses the "probability argument" and related forms
involving the use of rhetorical questions and conditional formulations. Chapter
IV examines Euripides' use in argumentative contexts of gnomic material and
so-called "utopian reflections".
Chapter V considers the use of rhetorical techniques and scenes in three plays.
Phaidra's monologue in Hippolytos 373-430 is discussed in terms of its rhetorical
purpose and its contribution to important themes and formal relationships in
the play. The rhetorical confrontations of the first half of Suppliant Women are
seen to contribute to the delaying and highlighting of the action that follows
while exploiting an opportunity for abstract moral and political debate. The play-long
rhetorical preparation for the sacrifice of Iphigeneia in Iphigeneia at Aulis
similarly is shown to serve the purpose of enhancing the importance and value
of the girl's death, while involving an intricate formal balancing of scenes and
speeches that should be appreciated in its own right.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/6611 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Clausen, Bruce |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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