The World of Myth in Euripides' Orestes
The following essay is concerned with the significance of the references to the realm of heroic myth in Euripides' Orestes. It will deal with the way in which Euripides constructs the context of myth in which the action of the play is set and the importance of this perspective for interpretatio...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
1978
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| In: |
Traditio
Year: 1978, Volume: 34, Pages: 1-28 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The following essay is concerned with the significance of the references to the realm of heroic myth in Euripides' Orestes. It will deal with the way in which Euripides constructs the context of myth in which the action of the play is set and the importance of this perspective for interpretation of the drama. My object is to show that this dimension of the drama is both more explicit and significant than has been commonly recognized. I believe that an examination of the references to the traditional tales about the house of Atreus will reveal that they are not just a bow to either the conventions of the Attic stage or the sensibilities of the audience, but rather that they form an important component of Euripides' drama. In most studies of the play the significance of these references has been neglected; few critics or commentators have expended much interest or enthusiasm on this facet of the drama, and the references to this dimension of the drama's experience have tended to be regarded with little more than antiquarian interest. Consequently, before I turn to the examination of the mythical references in the Orestes, I would like to comment briefly upon two interrelated areas of inquiry which have tended to support this general attitude toward the play; these are the problems of interpretation posed by the play as a whole and then the very problematic question of Euripides' attitude to myth. |
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| ISSN: | 2166-5508 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Traditio
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S036215290001607X |