On next Monday night, we'll take a close look at these passages from "Prometheus Bound," by Aeschylus in Great Conversations I:
page 67, from "Bright light, swift-winged winds, springs of the rivers ..." to "I pay nailed in my chains under the open sky."
page 78, from "Do not think that out of pride or stubbornness I hold my peace ..." to "all arts that mortals have come from Prometheus."
page 92: "Yet shall this Zeus, for all his pride of heart be humble yet..." to "So, in his crashing fall shall Zeus discover how different are rule and slavery."
page 96: "I have said too much already ..." to the end of the play.
Showing posts with label Aeschylus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aeschylus. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
What You Need to Know about "Prometheus Bound"
The subject of discussion at our meeting on Monday, February 27th will be the drama "Prometheus Bound." Prometheus is chained to a crag in the Caucasus. In a twist on the idea of "crimes against humanity, Prometheus is being punished for "crimes for humanity"! He gave humankind fire and other useful arts.
"Prometheus Bound" consists of a sequence of dialogues between Prometheus and the other characters: Oceanos, Io, Hermes, and perhaps most significantly, the daughters of Oceanos who form the Chorus.
The Greek divine order, or "pantheon" forms an important backdrop to the work. There had been a dynastic struggle among races of gods. Prometheus's kin, the titans, were overthrown by the Olympian gods. In essence, "Prometheus Bound" is about the aftermath of this struggle.
Below is a glossary of some of the names of the play. I hope it helps you to follow the story line.
"Prometheus Bound" consists of a sequence of dialogues between Prometheus and the other characters: Oceanos, Io, Hermes, and perhaps most significantly, the daughters of Oceanos who form the Chorus.
The Greek divine order, or "pantheon" forms an important backdrop to the work. There had been a dynastic struggle among races of gods. Prometheus's kin, the titans, were overthrown by the Olympian gods. In essence, "Prometheus Bound" is about the aftermath of this struggle.
Below is a glossary of some of the names of the play. I hope it helps you to follow the story line.
Amazons: A race of warrior women.
Armipasians: A one-eyed people who live near a gold-bearing
river
Atlas: A titan, best known as the giant who held the earth
separate from the sky.
Hades: the underworld
Haephaestus: God of metallurgy
Hera: wife of Zeus
Hermes: Messenger of the gods
Io: A daughter of the river god Inachus; changed in to a cow
by Zeus
Kronos: Father of Zeus
Loxias: a title of Apollo meaning “interpreter,” relating to Zeus’s prophetic
power.
Might: a demon and servant of Zeus
Oceanos: A river and its god
Phorcys: A sea-god
Prometheus: A titan
Rhea: a titaness
Tartarus: A dark region below the earth, far below Hades
Themis: mother of Prometheus
Thetys: a sea goddess
Typho: a monster
Uranos: God of the sky
Violence: like Might, a demon and servant of Zeus; “muta
persona”, or “silent character”
Zeus: The top Olympian god.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Questions for "Agamemnon" discussion, Monday, Oct. 27th, 7:00 p.m., Huntington Public Library
Interpretive questions
What is the significance of the tapestries, why does Agamemnon step on them, and why does that act seal his fate? (cf. p. 14: "Come to me now, my dearest/Down from the car of war, but never set the foot/That stamped out Troy on earth again, my great one.")
By convincing Agamemnon to go "trampling royal crimson," is she also showing her defiance of the gods to whom she was forced to give up her daughter" (p. 117, third paragraph : "There is the sea ... to bring that dear life back.")
Why is Cassandra also killed?
Why does Clytemnestra commit the killings, not Aegisthus?
Interpret Clytemnestra's line (p. 137): "By the Child's Rights, by Ruin and Fury -- the three gods to whom I sacrificed this man"?
Was Iphigenia's death a "sacrifice" or a "murder"? Agamemnon's?
Compare the roles of the watchman (pp. 83-85) and the herald (pp. 100-103, 105-107)
Why in the concluding dialog between Aegisthus and and the chorus leader does the leader question Aegithus's right to become the ruler of Argos? (pp. 143-145).
Textual analysis:
Read and interpret these two choral passages:
pp. 96-99: From "The sky stroke of god!" to "rumors voiced by women come to nothing."
pp. 107-109: From "Who -- what power named the name that drove your fate?" to "She steers all things towards their destined end."
Read and interpret the Agamemnon-Clytemnestra dialog on
pp. 110-118, from "First, with justice I salute my Argos and my gods," to "Speed our rites to their fulfillment once for all!"
Evaluative question
How does the play manifest the biblical notion (Exodus 20) of "the iniquity of the fathers being visited upon the sons"? Does this happen in real life? If it does, are we stuck or can we break free from this mold?
What is the significance of the tapestries, why does Agamemnon step on them, and why does that act seal his fate? (cf. p. 14: "Come to me now, my dearest/Down from the car of war, but never set the foot/That stamped out Troy on earth again, my great one.")
By convincing Agamemnon to go "trampling royal crimson," is she also showing her defiance of the gods to whom she was forced to give up her daughter" (p. 117, third paragraph : "There is the sea ... to bring that dear life back.")
Why is Cassandra also killed?
Why does Clytemnestra commit the killings, not Aegisthus?
Interpret Clytemnestra's line (p. 137): "By the Child's Rights, by Ruin and Fury -- the three gods to whom I sacrificed this man"?
Was Iphigenia's death a "sacrifice" or a "murder"? Agamemnon's?
Compare the roles of the watchman (pp. 83-85) and the herald (pp. 100-103, 105-107)
Why in the concluding dialog between Aegisthus and and the chorus leader does the leader question Aegithus's right to become the ruler of Argos? (pp. 143-145).
Textual analysis:
Read and interpret these two choral passages:
pp. 96-99: From "The sky stroke of god!" to "rumors voiced by women come to nothing."
pp. 107-109: From "Who -- what power named the name that drove your fate?" to "She steers all things towards their destined end."
Read and interpret the Agamemnon-Clytemnestra dialog on
pp. 110-118, from "First, with justice I salute my Argos and my gods," to "Speed our rites to their fulfillment once for all!"
Evaluative question
How does the play manifest the biblical notion (Exodus 20) of "the iniquity of the fathers being visited upon the sons"? Does this happen in real life? If it does, are we stuck or can we break free from this mold?
Friday, October 17, 2008
Tragedy and Democracy
This month's reading, "Agamemnon," by Aeschylus, dates from fifth century B.C. Athens. The play was first performed as part of a festival known as the Great or City Dionysia held in honor of Dionysus, god of fertility, vegetation, ritual dance, and mysticism (big portfolio!). "Agamemnon" is the first part of the great Oresteia trilogy, the only surviving Aeschylean trilogy.
To the citizens of fifth century Athens, "Agamemnon" was a well-known tale from the legendary past. The Greek leader Agamemnon's returns in victory to his home in Argos from the Trojan war. Upon his arrival, Agamemnon and his captive, the Trojan princess Cassandra, are murdered by Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra and her paramour Aegisthus (who also happened to be Agamemnon's cousin).
In the second play of the trilogy, "Libation Bearers," Agamemnon's son Orestes avenges his father's murder by killing his mother Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and in the third and final play, "Eumenides," Orestes is tried for his act.
Simon Goldhill asks in his book Aeschylus: The Oresteia (Cambridge University Press, 2004) : "How does tragedy as a genre and the festival in which tragedy was performed relate to democracy? Is there a necessary link between democracy and tragedy?"
I'll take a stab (no pun intended) at a response with the not-so-original observation that human relations can be messy, and those of our prominent leaders even more so. In Greek tragedy, actors wore buskins, or cothurni (lace-up boots) that raised them higher than members of the chorus. By means of such a device, the audience perceived these central players to stand larger than the hoi polloi, the masses.
Tragedy staged in a public venue in effect helped free citizens to find mechanisms to adjudicate conflicts that arose in society.
In their classic How to Read a Book (Touchstone, 1972), Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, both leading proponents of continuing adult education in the classic texts of Western civilization, comment that the reading of play scripts allows you to become, in effect, the director of the the play in your mind. In so "directing" a tragedy such as "Agamemnon," your imagined audience are also citizens of an imagined polity : fifth century Athens, the twenty-first century United States, etc.
To the citizens of fifth century Athens, "Agamemnon" was a well-known tale from the legendary past. The Greek leader Agamemnon's returns in victory to his home in Argos from the Trojan war. Upon his arrival, Agamemnon and his captive, the Trojan princess Cassandra, are murdered by Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra and her paramour Aegisthus (who also happened to be Agamemnon's cousin).
In the second play of the trilogy, "Libation Bearers," Agamemnon's son Orestes avenges his father's murder by killing his mother Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and in the third and final play, "Eumenides," Orestes is tried for his act.
Simon Goldhill asks in his book Aeschylus: The Oresteia (Cambridge University Press, 2004) : "How does tragedy as a genre and the festival in which tragedy was performed relate to democracy? Is there a necessary link between democracy and tragedy?"
I'll take a stab (no pun intended) at a response with the not-so-original observation that human relations can be messy, and those of our prominent leaders even more so. In Greek tragedy, actors wore buskins, or cothurni (lace-up boots) that raised them higher than members of the chorus. By means of such a device, the audience perceived these central players to stand larger than the hoi polloi, the masses.
Tragedy staged in a public venue in effect helped free citizens to find mechanisms to adjudicate conflicts that arose in society.
In their classic How to Read a Book (Touchstone, 1972), Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren, both leading proponents of continuing adult education in the classic texts of Western civilization, comment that the reading of play scripts allows you to become, in effect, the director of the the play in your mind. In so "directing" a tragedy such as "Agamemnon," your imagined audience are also citizens of an imagined polity : fifth century Athens, the twenty-first century United States, etc.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
"Agamemnon," by Aeschylus: Monday October 27th
Our next discussion will be held on Monday, October 27th at 7 p.m. The featured selection will be "Agamemenon," by Aeschylus (ca. 525 B.C. to ca. 456 B.C.), the first play in the celebrated Oresteia trilogy. This drama recounts the return of Agamemnon, co-leader of the Trojan invasion, to his native Argos and what happens in lieu of the expected victory celebration.
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