This dissertation illuminates how fear of the undead constitutes an integral part of the surviving ancient Greek tragedies, while also yielding dramaturgical research that can revivify contemporary productions. Following a survey of scholarship demonstrating the need for academics and theatre practitioners to acknowledge horror's role within the existing tragedies, it explains how descriptions of corpse mutilation within the dramatic worlds of the plays establish a fear of the undead. Next, it suggests how principal personages within these plays who might be undead justify this fear. It then considers how an undead ethics both founds and frames this fear so that even the undead can possess ethical claims against the living, which further justifies the fear while simultaneously avoiding the pitfalls of moralistic melodrama. Finally, it closes noting how fear of the undead might broaden our understandings of the classical Greek tragic emotions by clarifying the ancient Greek distinction between fear and horror and hypothesizing how horror, fear, and pity interact within the plays. Analysis of Aeschylus' tragic trilogy Oresteia serves as the dissertation's main case study across the chapters, with each chapter concluding with a brief supplemental discussion of another extant tragedy, namely Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, Electra, or Euripides' Hecuba. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Theatre in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2013. / March 1, 2013. / Greek Tragedy, Horror, Undead / Includes bibliographical references. / Mary Karen Dahl, Professor Directing Dissertation; Laurel Fulkerson, University Representative; Krzystof Salata, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253386 |
| Contributors | Poole, Charles B. (authoraut), Dahl, Mary Karen (professor directing dissertation), Fulkerson, Laurel (university representative), Salata, Krzystof (committee member), School of Theatre (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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