Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Bacchae (Euripides)'

Thesis (M.A.)--Dept. of Theatre. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2005.
"A thesis in theatre history." Typescript. Advisor: Felicia Hardison Londré. Vita. Title from "catalog record" of the print edition Description based on contents viewed June 23, 2006. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-67). Online version of the print edition.

The Classical Tradition, now more commonly known as Classical Reception, is a growing sub-discipline in Classics which seeks to trace the influence of Greco-Roman culture in post-classical works. While scholars have already done much to analyze specific texts, and many of these analyses are theoretically complex, there has yet to be a review of the theories these scholars employ. The purpose of this study is to provide researchers with a theoretical tool kit which allows them greater scope and nuance when analyzing usages of classical mythology. It examines five different approaches scholars have used: adaptation, allusion, intertextuality, reception, and typology. Each theory is followed by an example from Spanish literature or film: Apollo and Daphne in Calderón's El laurel de Apolo, Orpheus in Unamuno's Niebla, Dionysus in Unamuno's San Manuel Bueno, mártir, Persephone in del Torro's El laberinto del fauno, and the werewolf in Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky films. This thesis argues that a critical pluralist approach best captures the nuance and variety of usages of classical mythology. This allows for both objective and subjective readings of texts as well as explicit and implicit connections to classical mythology.

This is the first time I choose the play for my project of stage design and costumes and with this thesis there is a qustion I would like to answer to: which is my personal stagn ´s language? That´s why I need a play which helps me to solve this knot.

The first section of this thesis was developed from two major papers I had written during my coursework for the degree. The first, entitled “Orientalism and Dionysos: a look at translations of Euripides’ Bakkhai,” was written for Edwin Genzler’s Translation and Postcolonial Theory class in the spring of 2002. The second, “Postcolonial Greek: Hellenism and Identity in the Early Roman Empire,” was written for Maria Tymozcko’s Translation Theory and Practice class in the spring of 2007. Together, they argue that Greek literature is postcolonial in that it was used by the Roman Empire to certain ends, which resulted in its interpretation being influenced and changed by means of that Roman power and legacy throughout Western Europe, and that Euripides’ Bakkhai in particular was misinterpreted for centuries as a result of that influence. The second section of my thesis is a translator’s note, which discusses the particular theory behind my translation strategy, as well as the choices I made concerning spelling, lines missing from the manuscript, et cetera. The third section of the thesis is the translation itself, on which I began in the fall of 2002 and finished this past summer. The final section of this thesis is a commentary on the play itself. I have focused on the concepts of sophrosune (safemindedness) and paideia (education) around which to weave my analysis. The central idea is that the play serves as a lesson to the audience that sophrosune is part of Dionysos’ sphere, and to deny the life-affirming nature of his ritual is to court danger—the danger of rigidity and oppression. The death of Pentheus, after he rejects this education despite Dionysos’ best efforts to dissuade him, is merely an object lesson, not the repudiation of Dionysos’ worship and the Greek gods as a whole that previous generations have held it to be.

Στην παρούσα μελέτη οι Βάκχες εξετάζονται ως θεατρικό κείμενο, το οποίο δυνάμει περιέχει τη σκηνική του πραγμάτωση. Η τραγωδία αναλύεται με σκοπό να εντοπιστούν οι σκηνοθετικές ενδείξεις και τα πιθανά σκηνικά προβλήματα και να αναδειχθεί η σχέση και η αλληλεπίδραση κειμένου και παράστασης.
The aim of this study is to present a detailed analysis of the stagecraft of Euripides’ Bacchae. It proposes possible staging arrangements taking into account the text of the play, the staging conventions of 5th century tragedy, the topography of the ancient theatre and parallel scenes from the tragic corpus. The study offers an analysis of the stage action bringing together different elements of performance, such as entrances and exits of the actors and the chorus, masks and costumes, scenery, music and dance, in order to illuminate the meaning constructed by the visual dimension of tragedy.

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.

Η παρούσα εργασία εστιάζεται στη μελέτη των εννοιών Φύσις (= φυσική κατάσταση, φυσική τάση) και Νόμος (= ανθρώπινη σύμβαση, θεσμός, έθιμο) ως διπολικού σχήματος ενταγμένου αφενός στα πλαίσια της διδασκαλίας των σοφιστών και αφετέρου στην τραγωδία του Ευριπίδη Βάκχαι. Κατά τη διάρκεια του 5ου αιώνα π. Χ., εποχής έντονης πνευματικής ζύμωσης εμπνευσμένης από τις κοινωνικές, πολιτικές και πολεμικές συγκυρίες, αναδύεται στη σοφιστική σκέψη το εννοιολογικό και ιδεολογικό αντιθετικό σχήμα Φύσις- Νόμος. Αρκετοί σοφιστές διατυπώνουν πεποιθήσεις που κλίνουν υπέρ της Φύσεως, η οποία ταυτίζεται με το όντως αληθινό και συμφέρον, κατά τον Αντιφώντα, με την πηγή της ελευθερίας, κατά τον Αλκιδάμα, με τη δικαιοσύνη την εκπορευόμενη από την υπερίσχυση του δυνατότερου και με την αναίρεση κάθε σύμβασης, κατά τον Καλλικλή. Κάποιοι άλλοι σοφιστές υιοθετούν θέσεις που κλίνουν υπέρ του Νόμου, ο οποίος αποτελεί πηγή δικαιοσύνης και απαραίτητη προϋπόθεση για την επιβίωση του ανθρώπου, κατά τον Πρωταγόρα, κριτήριο ηθικά ενδεδειγμένης χρήσης των αρετών και εγγυήτρια δύναμη ευπραγίας, κατά τον Ανώνυμο του Ιάμβλιχου. Ποια, όμως, η παρουσία της Φύσεως και του Νόμου μέσα στην ευριπίδεια τραγωδία Βάκχαι; Η παρουσία αυτή γίνεται αντιληπτή κατά την εξέταση της αντιπαράθεσης του θεού Διονύσου με τον ηγεμόνα της Θήβας Πενθέα. Από τη μία πλευρά, η διονυσιακή λατρεία είναι άρρηκτα συνδεδεμένη με τη Φύσιν σε ό,τι αφορά τόσο τις τελετουργικές πρακτικές της, όσο και την υπόσταση του ίδιου του τιμώμενου θεού Διονύσου. Από την άλλη πλευρά, ο ηγεμόνας της Θήβας Πενθέας ενεργεί ως ο θεματοφύλακας του Νόμου, προασπιζόμενος μία συμβατική μορφή δικαίου η οποία δρα ως συνεκτικός ιστός μεταξύ των πολιτών. Είναι, ωστόσο, η έννοια του Νόμου εντελώς εξοβελισμένη από τη διονυσιακή λατρεία, στα πλαίσια της οποίας επιβάλλεται η εφαρμογή ενός συγκεκριμένου τελετουργικού τυπικού; Μήπως ο Νόμος, του οποίου υπεραμύνεται τόσο σθεναρά ο Πενθέας διώκοντας τους μαινόμενους ακολούθους του Διονύσου, είναι αναπόσπαστο κομμάτι της βακχείας; Άραγε ήταν η ανάγκη επίτευξης ισορροπίας ανάμεσα στις δυνάμεις της Φύσεως και τις δυνάμεις του Νόμου η αλήθεια που διέφυγε του Πενθέα, καθορίζοντας έτσι το τραγικό του τέλος; Αυτά είναι τα ερωτήματα στα οποία καλείται τελικά να απαντήσει η έρευνα που διεξάγεται στην παρούσα εργασία.
This essay focuses on the study of the concepts of the Nature (=natural condition, natural inclination) and the Law (=human convention, institution, custom) when linked by a bipolar relationship. The two concepts mentioned above are studied on the one hand within the framework of the teachings of sophists and on the other hand in the context of the tragedy Bacchae of Euripedes. During the fifth century B.C., an age characterized by a long and intense intellectual agitation which was inspired by the social, political and polemic conjunctures, the semantic and ideological antithetical scheme Nature – Law rises out of the thinking of sophists. Some sophists express convictions defending the Nature that is identified with the real truth and the real profit, according to Antiphon, with the source of freedom, according to Alkidamas, with the justice deriving from the prevalence of the strongest person and with the refutation of the conventions, according to Callicles. Some other sophists adopt positions defending the Law constituting the source of justice and a prerequisite for the survival of the humankind, according to Protagoras, a criterion of the morally right use of the virtues and the guarantee of prosperity, according to Anonymous of Iamblichus. But what about the presence of the Nature and the Law in the context of the tragedy Bacchae of Euripedes? This case could be understood after a careful study of the juxtaposition of the god Dionysus to the king of Thebes Pentheus. On the one hand, the worship of Dionysus is indissolubly associated with the Nature as far as both the rites and the substance of the honored god Dionysus himself are concerned. On the other hand, the king of Thebes Pentheus acts as the guardian of the Law defending a conventional form of justice functioning like a binding tie between the citizens. Is, though, the concept of the Law absolutely eliminated from the worship of Dionysus, within the framework of which the application of a specific ritual is imposed ? May the Law, which is defended so vigorously by Pentheus who persecutes the maniac worshippers of Dionysus, constitute a part and parcel of the bacchanals? May the necessity of a balance between the powers of the Nature and the powers of the Law be the principle that escaped Pentheus’ notice determining his tragic end? These are the questions that the research held in this essay aspires to answer.