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Theseus in Fragmentary Tragedy
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Abstract
Error and human suffering are central to tragedy: as Phrynichus discovered at the cost of 1 ,ooo drachmas, it is easier for an Athenian audience to look at others’ errors than their own (Hdt. 6. 21), and therefore the role of representative of the ideal city, in which Theseus is normally cast in tragedy, fundamentally conflicts with any attempt to make him into a tragic hero like those whose crimes and punishments are judged by Aristotle to be part of the ‘best’ tragedies (Poetics 1453a17 ff.). A hero who embodies Athens must normally be competent and successful, and in the Hippolytus, where he is neither–and more like traditional tragic heroes–his connection with the ideal Athens has been cut.
Title: Theseus in Fragmentary Tragedy
Description:
Abstract
Error and human suffering are central to tragedy: as Phrynichus discovered at the cost of 1 ,ooo drachmas, it is easier for an Athenian audience to look at others’ errors than their own (Hdt.
6.
21), and therefore the role of representative of the ideal city, in which Theseus is normally cast in tragedy, fundamentally conflicts with any attempt to make him into a tragic hero like those whose crimes and punishments are judged by Aristotle to be part of the ‘best’ tragedies (Poetics 1453a17 ff.
).
A hero who embodies Athens must normally be competent and successful, and in the Hippolytus, where he is neither–and more like traditional tragic heroes–his connection with the ideal Athens has been cut.
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