tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52998726372720742062024-02-07T00:37:46.344-08:00Eftychia LoizidesProducer - Director - ActorAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-86906784742915628082012-12-19T05:11:00.002-08:002012-12-19T05:11:24.533-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>EFTYCHIA LOIZIDES</i></span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Aristocratic thought versus a realistic theory of conduct.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Key-words for the two groups: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Aristocrats: idleness, prudence and honor</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Realists: versatility, intelligence and self-knowledge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Idleness-Versatility:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Versatility is the characteristic of an Athenian democrat according to Thucydides. Euripides taught us about the difference between versatility and idleness. Amphion, the ideal of an educated young Athenian aristocrat, prefers a peaceful man rather than a reckless seaman or governor. We find the resonance of this opposition in the work of Sophocles who also believes in idleness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Prudence-intelligence:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mental intelligence is the main important characteristic of an Athenian democrat- and of Themistocles in Thucydides’ Book 2 of the “History of the Peloponnesian War”. However, this characteristic does not have an ethical element, which is the one thing creating a difference between mind and intelligence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sophocles looks for the ethical element of shame (l.249). A man that feels ashamed cannot lie. However, Sophocles that lies will not prevail in the end. An intelligent man will use any resources he has in order to achieve his goals.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On the other hand, Sophocles rejects beautiful words that mask idiotic acts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At this point, we should say that eloquence (the beautiful words or even the political double-speak) of demagogues has always been and still is nowadays a very serious problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Opposite to the mental intelligence of the realists we find Sophocles and his aristocratic idea of prudence. Prudence helps us with discovering the “limits” of the human potential and with logically and carefully observing the changes in our life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Prudence can help people and protect them from stubbornness, extreme self –confidence and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">misleading hope</span>, things that nowadays are serious dangers. People like the heroes of Sophocles deal with this kind of dangers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Prudence has two sides:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">un ethical side (modesty and absence of exaggeration)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">a mental side (knowing the limits of human potential)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We should keep in mind that “Thoughtlessness is called the true sister of Wickedness”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So, Prudence means restraint, modesty. Modesty is the opposite of all forms of outrage and passion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If we examine the gap (that we cannot bridge) between the aristocrats (prudence) and the realists (intelligence without conscience) we end up at a crossroads:</span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Do we wish to rule everything? Or, do we prefer an honorable failure rather than a dishonoring victory?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The aristocratic ideal in Pindar’s work</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Pindar praises on one hand the physical power and beauty of victors and, on the other hand, their ethical strength and restraint. He thought that these qualities were inherited from demigod ancestors. He believed that ideals were based on the innate personal virtue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nature</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sophists applied to the human behavior the principles of mechanical causality- the principles used by the physical or natural philosophers of the 6<sup>th</sup> century BC. Pindar thinks that man is the creation of circumstances. “He is good, if his luck is good, and vicious, if his luck is bad”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sophocles did not agree with the Sophists’ opinion that man’s behavior is merely a result of natural elements. Being himself aware of the dangers of life, he adopted the opinion that the gods watch over the world and that human behavior has a deeper meaning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nature</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Above all, nature means a course of evolution. In one way, it has to do with this common phrase: “it’s in a man’s nature to do this or that”. This phrase refers to a superior or more modest nature. As to what exactly these two kinds of nature mean, aristocrats and realists (philosophers of the 5<sup>th</sup> century BC) are divided in two different sides.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For the realists, nature, besides meaning a course of evolution and the development of the whole world, also means man’s modest nature (his passions).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The sophist Antiphon (who is placed at the group of realists) says: “Most of the rights that are registered in the law are against nature” (Hippias, C.1. Antiphon.) Law and convention are powers that constrain nature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For Sophocles, whose ideas matched those of the aristocrats, the word “φύσις” (“nature”) means that growth comes from a seed that somebody has planted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Like Aeschylus, he thinks that this seed has been planted by the father (l.1413, 1509) and not by the mother. The child inherits the father’s nature and the child’s nature consists of characteristics inherited by its father.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Chrysothemis has inherited her nature and her ideas from her father and when she accepts the attitude and behavior of Clytemnestra, this means that she has abandoned her own nature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Her nature is not only the character she inherited but also the highest level of conduct that this character could achieve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At this point we would like to say that Sophocles appears as a precursor of Plato. Plato builds his ideal of the state on the principal that each citizen is predestined, due to his inherited nature, for specific acts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What is Sophocles’ response to Pindar’s view that: “If nature is defined by birth, change via education is impossible”?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sophocles allows nature to evolve sometimes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">An important factor that can help the young people’s natural growth (so that they can have a stable nature and choose a right path) is the city they live in. Sophocles, creating his play “Electra”, seems to regret the little effect that Athens has on its citizens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At his point, I would like to make clear that the two groups of Realists and Aristocrats are not contradicting each other but they are influencing each other.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sophocles was deeply impressed by Protagoras (the most important sophist and teacher of virtue). Sophocles, like Protagoras, describes the evolution of human civilization and man’s spirit. However, Sophocles in his play “Electra” states clearly the dangers of rationality and puts the theory of moral contamination in the words of an infuriated Clytemnestra (l.528: “It was Trial who killed him also, not only me.”)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The fact that different heroes use the same word but with a different semantic content (ambiguity), like for example the word “prudent” used by Electra and by Chrysothemis, shows us that Sophocles was influenced by Prodicus and his “synonyms”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The divergence or the convergence of the two groups of realists and aristocrats is aptly described by Busse: “Sophocles agrees completely with the sophists when they honor the creativity of man’s spirit in the sphere of cultural progress, but he also explicitly attacks their immorality, when they consider the ethical law as the creation of specific humans and they place themselves above it without any scruples.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The sophists’ biggest influence is obvious at the process of reasoning. Sophists’ arguments appear in the works of Euripides, pseudo-Xenophon, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Herodotus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Protagoras’ method of teaching</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">His method of teaching was “antilogiae”, contradicting arguments on a subject, known as weak and strong logos. Training his students in this way he meant to familiarize them with alternative ways of reasoning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Almost all the writers of that period, even, Thucydides, used pairs of arguments in order to present more clearly an antithesis of opinions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The battle of arguments portrayed the basic questions examined in the play.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sophocles, during the decade of 450-440, is influenced by the new rhetorical processes, a fact that is confirmed by the political content of the speeches he uses in his plays.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A kind of sophists’ argument is the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">interest</span>: “men have the tendency of doing whatever is in their own interest.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">However, this idea is against the ideals of justice, honor, rightness, virtue. Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides devotes his work to the analysis of the real (and therefore material) aspects of war. Sophocles’ observation on Euripides is analogue to that of the elder historian on the younger one: “I present people the way they should be” (Aristotle, “Poetics”).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thucydides presents people the way they are.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Antiphon is generally interested in showing that the human behavior is more influenced by the laws of nature rather than the explicit and inconsistent laws of society. His argument was that of people break the laws of nature they are immediately punished by being unable to survive, but if they break the laws of society there may or may not be a loss.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We find this very interesting matter of the influence of nature and convention (nature-law) in Plato’s “Gorgias” and Aristotle’s “Politics”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Many people supported the idea expressed by Callicles in the dialogue “Gorgias” that powerful people are meant by nature to act at liberty according to their personal interest. This extreme idea appeared for the first time among argumentative circles when democracy reached the point of its worst excesses.</span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Man transcending the law</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This chapter treats the subject of man’s condition when he defies the laws and places himself above the law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The state demands that the citizens obey the laws and the government, but under one condition: that the governor does not only care about the interest of his citizens but also <span style="text-decoration: underline;">knows what that interest is.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reading many translations and renditions of Sophocles’ text brought on some political thoughts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Infringement of the law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lies that must be denounced.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Vicious circle-chain reaction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reparation of justice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reinstatement of the law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shame, lawlessness, tyranny covered by the mantle of democracy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Nowadays, people should be interested in these things. We live in times when the “Golden Boys” and governments “make profane love” without any scruples (l.271 “I look at their latest profanity”).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">L.275: “All this stupidity”. This is a wonderful expression from a human who sees and experiences these profanities. And this universal being that is “electrified” bears the name of “Electra”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because people with authority use whatever laws they like trying to safeguard their private privileges. And this kind of authority is surely tyrannical. I’ m aware of the fact that this word is not going to please certain people, however, I must point out that hubris, as the Chorus in Sophocles’ “Electra” says, is part of a tyrant’s nature. A tyrant rejects the fundamental right of the freedom of speech and annuls equal opportunities (minimum wages exist-and they represent a humiliating number-and the six-figure salaries...no comment!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And this is what a democratic Europe demands.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sophocles could not accept that the state was supposed to be exploited only for the privileges of a few people. He thought that there should be equal opportunities for all people. “The unimportant people could easily be saved along with the important ones and vice versa”. Their collaboration would be for the benefit of both the unimportant and important people, thus leading to the progress of the society, rather than the self-interest of a tyrant or demagogue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Leader wanted”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sophocles said that he created the kind of people that had to be created (Aristotle, “Poetics”, 1460). So, we would say that Sophocles’ political ideal example is a governor that runs the city in the citizens’ interest and is obeyed by the citizens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What happens if this fails?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Clytemnestra (l.1410 “Oh, child, have mercy on your mother!”)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>EFTYCHIA LOIZIDES</i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-12901842616509094002012-11-30T14:29:00.003-08:002012-11-30T14:29:12.217-08:00<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is the role of fanaticism in the application of programs for change?</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Does fanaticism succeed in making a change?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">First of all, the phrase : “I want a change” means : I refuse and reject a view or position, I do not accept the world and civilization as they are created (in general or in part).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I do not agree with the means and ways of acting and behaving that this world has established and I am trying to establish new means and ways.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sophocles’ Electra longs for change as we can see in these lines: l.165 “...He (Orestes) who unwearyingly waits for him...” , l.173 “... did not have the chance to show me...” , l.303 “... and me, constantly waiting for Orestes to end all this.” It looks like change is a vital need for Electra because it satisfies her desire for freedom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A change that will save her from boredom and the emptiness of her soul. These two had destroyed all the goals she had in her life (l.166 “... I go on without destiny and without a husband”). Her only goal now is becoming a mechanical character in action.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Electra’s fanaticism</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fanaticism is a curious combination of passion and virtue. We would say that it is a bond of contradictory elements that cannot coexist in theory. It contains qualities worthy of admiration but also evils that threaten to cause the most terrible disasters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In order to grasp its content, let’s think of the fanaticism of Islam (in the text of Sophocles we come across fanaticism under the name of TRIAL)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The core of fanaticism is a stable, rigid, uncut faith in the value of an ideology aiming at the progress of society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Clytemnestra believes in this Ideology, worships it as a god and promotes it as the savior of mankind. It is a program with specific rules, commands and actions that demand absolute application, execution to the letter and blind obedience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Electra answers to her mother in lines 578-583: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“...Did he have to die by your hand? Be careful, by giving out this law, you place a hot knot around your neck and you will be sorry for it. If you must kill each other, you first will die due to this law.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, we come across the element of fanaticism in Electra too. Anything foreign to her own truth, whether it is a person or an ideology, must be destroyed. (l. 115 “... Come, help, pay for my father’s murder.”, l.348-349 “... I think about my father and you don’t help me and you turn me off my path.”)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This viciousness often exceeds the limits of muscular ferocity and always causes horrific disasters, like the hideous crime at the end of the play: matricide. Electra believes that in order to combat her mother’s cruel and rigid attitude she will need a new change. In the dialogue between mother and daughter the fanaticism of conservation (Clytemnestra) is confronted by the fanaticism of change (Electra).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ancient tragic poets believed that change comes at a price for peoples, but, through destruction, progress timidly appears and mankind moves forward at a slow pace.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A vicious circle, then.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Without fanaticism it is hard to have a change and with fanaticism, a new narrow-minded conservative spirit takes over the adjustment of society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Changes are always planned by theoretical minds (that may not have the power to enforce them). The devoted followers play their role.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fanaticism cultivates in Electra the spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice, coating the purpose with sacredness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It creates groups with common ideas and goals (l.343-344: “... All your advice is her own saying, not even a word is yours...”, l.358: “... However, in reality, you’ve made up with the killers...”)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It makes imminent the reality of the purpose – it fills hearts with enthusiasm and makes the soul eager for action.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It makes fighters strict and rigid, determined to kill and be killed with no mercy. “Hit again, if you can! (l.1417). “Courage! We are almost at the end” (l.1435). For those that possibly have not examined this point of view I add an extract from Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature Of Mass Movements”:</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Though there are some obvious differences between a fanatic Christian, a fanatic Muslim and a fanatic nationalist, the fanaticism that characterizes them can be considered as the same. This is also true about the force that pushes them towards expansion and worldwide domination. All kinds of faith, devotion, ambition, unity and self-sacrifice, share some similarities. Although there are some great differences in the content of every “sacred cause” or theory, we constantly discover correlations between the factors of this cause or theory that support their influence. Whoever – like Pascal – finds out the real reasons for the effectiveness of communist, National Socialist and nationalistic dogma. No matter how different the “sacred cause” that people sacrifice their lives for, they may actually be dying for the same thing.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Judging from the fact that the first followers of every mass movement are recruited mostly by all kinds of disappointed people, and that they join the movement voluntarily, we reach the conclusion that: 1) Failure and disappointment can create most of the characteristics of the “orthodox”. 2)An effective technique for influencing public opinion is the assimilation of the disappointed...”</span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-2731592291764538992012-11-30T14:27:00.004-08:002012-11-30T14:27:29.796-08:00<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The dead cannot rest unless their keen desire to be avenged is satisfied. This is a remnant of the old as time perception that blood must be avenged with blood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This old as time saga of vengeance is one of the unwritten rules of the old law, the Retribution.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unlike Aeschylus (as we can see in his play “The Libation Bearers”) Sophocles adopts Homer’s point of view. In Homer’s work, we do not find the perception that the dead asked for vengeance. They don’t get mad and they don’t tell the living what to do. They are not “angry at the killer” as Plato himself admits (Laws, 8655 d). They don’t interfere with the lives of those still alive. The only thing they ask for is to be buried (if they haven’t already been buried) and to have the necessary libations, offerings and honors appointed to them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Hades, they move around like “lifeless heads” (Odyssey, 11. 29, 49), “images of dead mortals” (Odyssey, 11. 476). They walk around like helpless shadows, without wit, without fibers (Iliad, 23.104, Odyssey, 11.219).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Homer and Sophocles tell us that: when one commits murder, he is exposed to the wrath of the victim’s relatives, which wrath, however, is not appointed by the dead. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sophocles’ heroes, Orestes and Electra, are led by their personal passion for revenge and a higher sense of honor. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sophocles and Aeschylus examined the unwritten rules of Old Law because they could see that this law, in a new form, still regulates and has impact on human relations, despite the fact that the state has substituted this law with a new one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to the old law, the son of the murder victim had the sacred obligation to avenge his father’s death. Thus, Orestes, the only son of Agamemnon (who, according to the etymology of his name, comes from the mountains), has an “alpine” point of view and plans to do credit to his father’s memory and to avenge his dishonorable death. In these tragic circumstances, his enemy is his own mother. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In order to do his duty against his dead father, he must commit the most hideous of crimes: matricide. He is a young man that lived away from his home for so many years (this was Electra’s doing since she gave him away to be raised by the tutor) and has stayed clear from all the blood spilling that polluted his family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is a young man with an immaculate soul, who has committed no unholy act on his own, but who bears the weight of a grave and unforgivable sin committed by his ancestors, for which, though, he has to pay. He has to acknowledge the great debt he is obliged to pay.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nowadays, anything relating to tradition is often considered as an element dead or inhibiting progress. So how can this play of Sophocles, and ancient Greek tragedy in general, be of any help to us?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The word “dead” brings to mind the corpse, something useless and susceptible to endanger its environment. It’s something that people must get rid of, it inhibits, in a way, the progress and evolution of civilization, it stops the improvement of the way of life. However, there is another point of view, with which I agree, that reaches a compromising solution after examining the relations between these concepts. We think of the word “tradition”. We often hear so much about it, however, the reality it represents is not easily understood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Parents pass on to their children the best things they have , that they earned and acquired at their own effort, their language, their abilities, their ethics, their customs, their virtues and vices that they’re unaware of, their perceptions of life and death.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This act of passing on values that takes place every day in the families has been silently repeated in social life for centuries. The previous generations bequeath and deliver to the young people whatever they consider as prime material in order to help them make their lives better and easier. Hence, we understand that tradition is not only elements of civilization created in the past. It is actually an all-time process of uniting the past and the present. We would say it is a function of humanistic and educational character.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because it helps young people of all eras, and their children, to overcome the obstacles and ordeals that their ancestors suffered from.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It passes on, through words and actions, selected elements of previous forms of civilization.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tradition is the basic cultural function that roots from the ancestors’ love and will to help the next generations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tradition presents ideal examples that must be imitated, surpassed or even avoided, as we mentioned in previous chapters: it connects the present to the past while preparing the future. It is perhaps the most important factor for natural unity and independence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Peoples that have no tradition find it hard to deal with the future and are always in danger of falling apart or getting absorbed by other peoples. Tradition pushes peoples towards the creation of a better future. These are some of the positive elements of tradition. However, returning to the introduction of this text, we must consider this question:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What good things can someone expect from superstitions, national and social prejudice, racial disputes and war? No matter how strange it seems, these are traditional elements. They were preserved for the following reasons:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the past, these elements were effective during difficult times of a people’s history, for example, the hatred for a neighboring nation kept the people ready for war, a fact that saved them from slavery in several occasions. This conclusion helps us explain when and in which way traditional elements play an inhibiting role.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Younger generations that receive these traditional elements find them totally correct, perfect and therefore effective, thus reaching the point of sterile adoration of the forefathers and rigid conservatism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although they see that some of these elements have no meaning at the present time, they refuse to replace them with other more practical elements. They consider them sacred and privileged and they don’t think of judging them in order to prove their legitimacy. They object to progress because they think that any change will destroy tradition, so they fight against change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of turning their gaze towards the future, they look all the way back at the past.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The conclusion is this: Tradition is a process of love and union of knowledge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The usefulness of its elements depends on the way the recipients use them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tradition = the conscience of peoples.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Strange as it seems, tradition is the conscience that evaluates, selects and transports elements of culture from the past, incorporating them, unabridged or slightly changed into the present.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Therefore, whatever good exists today was, at its most part, born as an idea and realized in the past.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The process of tradition gives the young people the chance to acquire the knowledge coming from the experience of others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ancient drama and tradition</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my opinion, ancient drama has offered a lot, since it contains some final and some temporary solutions to basic problems of life. Thus, tradition is a sacred support helping us deal with our current problems and also a motive for us to approach new problems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the same time, tradition achieves the union of time, a concept that man is used to grasp in fragments. We would say that tradition prepares the entrance of peoples and individuals into eternity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In conclusion, I cite the beautiful scene described by Plutarch, where three successive generations of Spartans execute a triple dance. Each generation lists its virtues and accomplishments and all of them together plan the future of their country. The younger generation promises: “We will be much better than you”. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-31105646550780646392012-11-30T14:23:00.007-08:002012-11-30T14:23:57.178-08:00<br />
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Speech is dialogue</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the dialogues between mother and daughter and between the two sisters (Electra and Chrysothemis) we see clearly that they have alienated each other. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We feel their differences, the distance between them, their loathing, their hatred, their dispute. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Relationships of this kind cause anomalies in social life and have the tendency to disrupt the unity and to dismantle society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we look closely at the relationships of this kind, we will realize that their common factor is disagreement and lack of emotional connection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus, we could say, with a certain degree of skepticism, that these relationships are “anti-spiritual”. Their origin lies in a tragic misunderstanding regarding the role of others, which role has been described by Jean-Paul Sartre in his quote “My hell is the others”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Roger Garaudy looked deeply in this issue and reached the exactly opposite conclusion: “My heaven is the others”. He even dedicated his book “Human Speech” to proving the great importance of dialogue. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Psychoanalysis- as everyone knows- used effectively the dialogue as a way of curing mental illness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When we disagree with someone, isn’t dialogue the suggested solution? Therefore, we are well aware of its role, judging from our personal experience. </span></div>
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<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dialogue in ancient Greek drama</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The texts of the ancient Greek drama were especially created for the use of dialogue. As we can see in the dialogue between Clytemnestra and Electra, they both talk about the law and justice. So, what is their dispute about? I will answer that with the help of a historical event. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Criton suggests that Socrates escapes from prison. He even justifies his suggestion using a number of arguments and tries to convince his friend of accepting his proposition. Socrates starts the conversation in good faith, without scolding his friend for his immoral suggestion. The first thing he says is: “My friend Criton, your eagerness is valuable, if only your words had a shred of rightness”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Socrates, and also the tragic poets are concerned about rightness and we, as spectators, are prompted to check if the dialogues we hear are in fact correct. The point of the dialogue is that spectators understand this rightness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let’s look closer at the content of the notion “διάλογος” (“dialogue”) in connection to the notion “λόγος” (“speech”) [since these notions are related both through their etymology and their meaning]. The preposition “δια” means that we deal with speech between two or more persons. The “λόγος” (“speech”) is the expression, the revelation of our mental world with the help of language. Language is considered as a tool for communicating and speech is the act of communicating in a logical manner. Because “λόγος” means also justification and rational thought. The dialogue always “means well” since, in order for it to start, good will is required. Line 554: “But if you let me, I will tell you good things about the dead man and my sister.” Line 556: “I leave you and if you start talking this way, then your words will not fall heavy on my ears”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This question arises: Do the ancient Greek texts provide us with solutions?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These texts were written in order to educate citizens and help them reach a deep level of consciousness. The structure itself of these texts is meant to allow the different ideas collide. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When it comes to us, these texts offer us the greatest lesson of democracy.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-80979987874299963642012-11-30T14:20:00.002-08:002012-11-30T14:20:45.739-08:00<br />
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<b>The audience wonders if Orestes had the right to kill his mother and waits for the poet to give an answer. </b></div>
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Sophocles and other tragic poets have not always offered an answer (a given answer).</div>
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In Homer’s work, the son’s (Orestes) vengeance for Agamemnon’s murder is mentioned several times.</div>
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The Twelve Olympians consider the murder of Aegisthus a fine example of a son’s devotion. They don’t say much about the death of Clytemnestra.</div>
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As for Aeschylus, many people think that the poet approves of matricide, since Orestes is acquitted in the end because his act was necessary for the preservation of society.</div>
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In his play “The Eumenides”, Aeschylus acquitted Orestes not because he doesn’t consider him responsible for his actions but because he wanted to stop the vicious circle of blood-spilling. As we mentioned in a previous chapter about the Old Law (Trial), the killer would have to be punished by another killer: an eye for an eye.</div>
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Aeschylus, by including Orestes’ trial in the last play of his trilogy, puts an end to this strife and says:</div>
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“Stop killing each other, justice is the one who will judge criminals”.</div>
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The goddess Athena, mainly the goddess of Wisdom and Justice and the daughter of Zeus, is presiding over this court. Euripides, in his play “Electra”, has a totally different opinion than Aeschylus , and the heroes Electra and Orestes, having committed the crime of matricide, cannot find satisfaction in this act of vengeance.</div>
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There were also some other poets like Stesichorus (a lyric poet) who found nothing ethically wrong with this matricide. As far as we can tell from the few existing fragments of his work “Oresteia”, Stesichorus praised this act and called it a victory of the oppressed over their oppressors. </div>
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Sophocles could not possibly have ignored Clytemnestra’s death, let alone omit it from his play. In the end, which point of view does Sophocles agree with?</div>
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1) With the point of view of Aeschylus, so that he justifies Apollo’s order as a decision deriving from a son’s higher duty to his father, rather than his mother?</div>
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2) With the point of view of Euripides, so that he places human passions (feelings) above the gods?</div>
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Perhaps he traces a path of his own and tries to discover a new solution.</div>
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Orestes has to deal with a dilemma. Should he avenge his father’s death, as the gods dictate (Apollo), or should he respect his mother, as Plato suggests. Plato thought that matricide, under any circumstances, is a monstrous act and no punishment fits this terrible crime. It’s an unjustifiable act, even if the killer was acting under the influence of an uncontrollable passion.</div>
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Sophocles may not offer a solution in the way that Aeschylus does, nor does he present the heroes of the play discussing if vengeance is right or wrong, however, a number of insinuations in the play urge us to think about the consequences of this drama.</div>
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These consequences are presented in a dramatic way and we end up with this question: What are the dramatic characters doing and saying?</div>
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The conclusion may not be as clear as that of Aeschylus it is, however, satisfactory.</div>
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One by one, the dramatic characters of this play express their expectation that the gods will assist this vengeance (lines 82, 110-118, 173-175, 411, 626, 637-659, 792, 825). All these characters believe that the gods will offer their assistance because they are punishers and protectors of the murder victims. We would say that Sophocles carefully creates the defense of this matricide, because he considers it to be moral, religious and legal.</div>
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This is also demanded by the human justice, which is in turn authorized by the gods.</div>
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Euripides asks a very serious question:</div>
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“Is it really right, under any circumstances, that someone should kill his mother, and why?</div>
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If in fact Clytemnestra should die, couldn’t the perpetrator of her murder be someone else?”</div>
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In Sophocles’ play, Electra hears the untrue story of Orestes’ death and decides to finish off the vengeance herself. </div>
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However, in the end, Sophocles does not preserve this ending. Why? Why does he change the turn of events? Isn’t Electra, because of her nature, capable of accomplishing the will of the gods?</div>
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The couple that committed the murder was placed above the law because of the fact that they were not content only with the crime but also, they usurped the dead man’s power. So the law itself (which, as we can see, was created by themselves as rulers of the state) cannot be turned against them.</div>
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In consequence, the act of exterminating the killers cannot be an “inside job”, but it falls on people that they cannot control and that are capable of changing things.</div>
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When the power is in the hands of people that show no respect for the law, justice can be served only by people that have the will and the duty of doing what could, of course, be considered as a crime.</div>
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Sophocles reaches this conclusion, having already created the character of Clytemnestra and portraying her as a woman who is no longer a mother. He created her character in such a way that Orestes does not feel any strong guilt about killing her.</div>
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Electra – always according to the text - says that she no longer considers Clytemnestra as her mother, since her actions are in no way maternal. To sum up, we would say that she does not deserve her children’s affection and respect, because:</div>
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1) She killed Agamemnon.</div>
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2) She usurped his power.</div>
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3) She appointed to her lover the post of her murdered husband Agamemnon.</div>
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4) Aegisthus sits on the dead man’s throne.</div>
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5) He wears his clothes.</div>
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6) He offers libations on the hearth where Agamemnon was murdered and he sleeps in his bed.</div>
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7) Clytemnestra organizes monthly feasts in memory of the murder, meaning that she praises her crime. She treats badly not all of her children but only those that have a different opinion and show it with their attitude and their behavior.</div>
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We understand that Democracy is abolished. Another sign of her bad behavior towards her children is this: As soon as she hears about Orestes’ death, her motherly love fights with fear and hate.</div>
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However, after this inner battle, evil wins. She believes that she is now free to pass the remaining of her days in peace, free of the threat that distressed her.</div>
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The situation that Sophocles has created is that when injustice has reached the highest point.</div>
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Electra realizes that she is wrong but she thinks that her acts are inevitable. She has no other choice. Electra and Orestes are obliged to commit this crime because of the terrible situation created by the original crime of their mother.</div>
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Sophocles accepts this evil act. Of course, in no way does he try to belittle this evil but also he thinks that duty is necessary and fair. This terrible situation can be changed only by terrible means.</div>
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In conclusion of this chapter, I provide an answer to a question addressed to me by an actor. Why is the play called “Electra” and not “Orestes”, since he is the one who kills the two usurpers and the one who takes the power afterwards? </div>
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Electra is the one who has lived in the presence of evil for many years and not Orestes.</div>
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In order to give an answer to this question, I quote the following dialogue. I also explain my point of view, as a director, concerning “Electra-People” (λαός=people), since she is being referred to elsewhere by the name of “Laodice” (λαός=People + δίκη=Trial)</div>
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Orestes: I cannot hold my tongue anymore... Is this the famous face of Electra?</div>
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Electra: Yes, the one that has become like this...</div>
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Orestes: Alas! Poor woman! What a horrible disaster... Oh, body! You are ruined, in an indecent and unholy way!</div>
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Electra: Since I am living with killers.</div>
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Orestes: Of whom?</div>
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Electra: Of my father; and I am forced to work for them.</div>
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Orestes: Who forces you?</div>
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Electra: She is called “mother”. She is not a mother, though.</div>
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Orestes: What does she do? Does she insult or does she hit with her hands?</div>
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Electra: She uses her hands, she insults, and many more.</div>
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Orestes: Is there anyone helping you?</div>
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Electra: Noone.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 10px; min-height: 12px;">
EFTYCHIA LOIZIDE</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-68750179744220775612012-09-10T21:42:00.002-07:002012-09-10T21:53:12.722-07:00Chorus and Theatre<span style="font-family: inherit;">The protagonist of ancient Greek drama will always be the Chorus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In my opinion, the Chorus, which represents the essence of team spirit, affects the thoughts and the feelings of not only the spectators but also of the roles of the drama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">How I justify my opinion:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Chorus represents the Unconscious of people. Unconscious: the stage between the conscious and the subconscious. Subconscious: all the desires we were unaware of having or unaware of having suppressed them or having even buried them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Chorus observes the problems that trouble the actors. Each member of the Chorus has its own thoughts but, the minute something happens, these members react to it as a group: “...While we were washing our robes in the sea, we heard a cry of pain. Lady, share all of your problems with us...”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">However, Plato thought that the Chorus had no rhythm no harmony in its movements. He said that the bodies of the dancers were not expressive, their movements were clumsy and their voices out of tune (Laws, 665e).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I believe, though, that the notion of individuality is not incompatible with the notion of the Chorus. In the Chorus we find the trace of the current events (that even the Chorus itself does not understand, hence its comparison to the Unconscious). “There are some wheat branches moving and we sense that there is wind there.”(Tarkovsky).In what extent can it help? Individuality: the particle seems to be made of energy. In order to modify the particle we would have to modify its inner energy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Einstein said that the field that holds everything together is the Managing Authority. He said that the field defines the individual’s attitude. The field is made of electric and magnetic energy, meaning of particles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nowadays, science teaches us that by modifying the electric or magnetic field we modify the particle. How can it change?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The strongest electric and magnetic field in our body is our heart. There lies our sentiment. Sentiment: the union of our Feeling and our Thought. In our hearts there is Hate, Sorrow, Compassion, Happiness. The sentiment creates waves of electric and magnetic energy in our hearts, which waves change our body (and in extent our world). Our beliefs also modify the electric and magnetic fields.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Chorus expresses a view on the relationship of man and god, on peace in the world. Specifically: while addressing Helen after the exit of the first messenger, “He speaks the truth, my lady. Be friends with gods and not with prophets.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the scene of Helen-Theonoe-Menelaus, the Chorus says to Helen: “... your words and your appearance have made us feel sorry for you.” “Those who are fair prosper, while those who are unfair should be cursed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Till when will hate and blood take the place of peace?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Who can look for god? And who was able to put god in a box? Man is floating on the tide of fortune. Only the word of god is certain and true.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Euripides sometimes used odes that are not in concordance with the plot of the play, that’s why they are called inserts. Some scholars condemned this innovation calling it an anachronism. What were ancient Greeks aware of?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">They were aware of the fact that the heart’s electric field is 100 times more powerful than that of the brain. The heart’s magnetic field is 5000 times more powerful than that of the brain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In conclusion, what was Euripides’ purpose in having the Chorus recite old songs and hymns? He wanted to create feelings in the hearts of the members of the Chorus (and consequently in the hearts of spectators).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In accordance with the poet’s expectations, the Chorus implores Dioscuri, the brothers of Helen, for their aid. They believe and hope that Dioscuri will appear and so they do in the end. In addition, the king came to his senses (he changed his mind).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1901, during an experiment, scientists proved that the spectators could affect the reality of what they were witnessing. Consciousness affected the king’s behavior. This leads us to the conclusion that we are not mere observers of our world. Our existence in this world has a constant effect on it. John Wheeler said that the word “<i>observer</i>” should be replaced by the word “<i>participant</i>”. Hence, the Chorus <i>participates</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In 1998, the above mentioned experiment took place again with the same results and with a more interesting observation: it was discovered that the longer the observation, the bigger the effect it had.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Euripides does not let the Chorus interfere in a great extent. However, it still participates in the play.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Scientists, in 1998, discovered that the more we observe our natural environment, the bigger the influence we have on it, with merely our active presence!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-31667364784506991432012-08-30T22:11:00.001-07:002012-08-30T22:18:58.617-07:00What Would Euripides' Answer to Violence Nowadays?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In a previous chapter we examined the fine
line between democracy, in its fundamental meaning, and the utopian democracy.
Our goal now is to examine the causes that led to this situation, meaning the difference
between Helen-reality and Helen-appearances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">After Theoclymenus finds out by the
messenger's mouth that Helen and
Menelaus escaped, he cries: "Oh! What ineffable shame I have to endure
because of a woman and a Greek (l.1621)". He continues (l.1625): "But
now I will punish my treacherous sister for not revealing to me that Menelaus
was in the palace". He is about to kill his sister.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">Later, we hear the slave trying to prevent
him from performing this act by saying that this is a forbidden act (it is
taboo). If we analyze this word we will understand the point of this enraged
slave talking against his king.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">So, we have the word "taboo".
According to zoology, the term "herd" refers to the way that animals
of the same species are organised and coexist in small or large groups. These
animals live free in the wild or are brought together by man for economical
reasons. In the herd, the individuals are behaving in a congenial way. Each
member's activities are monitored by the orders of another member: the leader-adviser.
The necessary prerequisites for the formation of the herd are: a) the control
of the individual's self-centred passions and b) the prevention of collective
sufferings. The leader's rights are at odds with the individual's rights.
Specifically, the adviser (sovereign) performs his leading duties and
coordinates the masses. Meaning,
he makes sure that the team has discipline and does not stray away. However, we
would say that, in a preferential way, the adviser acts in his own accord (somewhat
like the father of the primeval horde). All the members are restrained while
the leader (of the herd) is free. And this attribute makes him forbidden, sacred and demonic (taboo)
Why taboo? Because the governed members (of the herd) have a dual attitude: a)
they wish to cast off this constraint but b) they are afraid exactly because
they have this desire. Fear is stronger than desire (something that political
powers are well aware of).</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">According to psychology, the
prohibition of desire (imposed by
the leader) causes the birth and advancement of conscience. Because conscience
means consequence (of the desire). So, the development of the individual is the
result of a) the tendency for personal happiness (egoistic) and b) the tendency
for uniting with others and forming a community (altruistic).</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;">However, forbidden (taboo) is not only the
leader but also the rebel who breaks the laws given by the leader. So, he is
taboo because he is dangerous due to his acting in a forbidden way. Why?
Because he tempts people into following his example. He is a dangerous role
model. This wrongdoer against power is bound to try and take over the Adviser's
power (his authority). There are two possible consequences: the old leader
loses his power or the new contender is defeated. It is certain though that
stability is shaken. The result of this battle will lead to a new (note: on the
social level) set of rules, however, the rules remain always the same as far as
their causality is concerned. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-GB">If the male goat loses the tragic fight
(for taking over the power), he will be sent to exile, out of his herd. This
lonely creature will then be mourning because he will have realised his
inability to act in a collective manner. This creature bursts into tragic song,
hence the word tragedy (</span><span lang="EL">τράγος</span> = male goat + <span lang="EL">ωδή</span> =
song).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Let's get back to our
drama. What would happen if the slave had not tried to prevent the murder of
Theonoe? Theoclymenus would be a role model and, since he is so capable of it,
somebody else would try to be a leader in his place. After what we mentioned
before, the individual that breaks the rules gives credit to an important and
absolute (complete) action.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These days, we watched
another tragedy. I'm referring to the incident of August 24th that shocked the
American public. The perpetrator of this incident, Jeffrey Johnson, age 58,
according to the New York Times, killed a 41 year-old former coworker with a
45-caliber handgun, shooting him three times. The culprit did not have a record
and, as the New York Police Department states, this crime is not related to
terrorism. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> A lot of people criticize the fact that it
is very easy for anyone to acquire a handgun in this country (USA). The mayor
of New York has been asking for the prohibition of handguns for years. In
another country, Greece (although, recently, at the London Olympic Games the
great sponsor of Coca-cola chose not to include Greece in the universal map
that the company had prepared for the games) bearing arms is forbidden.
However, the Greeks, after the elections of 2012, used another kind of weapon
to express violence (se the increase of extremism, suicide, fights and crime).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The deeper reasons that
lead people globally to despair should be examined. We can give a possible
reason: both perpetrators (the American and the Greek) took action because they
were fired from the jobs to which they devoted themselves for several years. On
the same day (August 24th) we heard the statement of the Chancellor of Germany
Angela Merkel at her meeting with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras: "I
wish that Greece remains a member of the Eurozone, I'm working for this goal
and I know of nobody inside the government who is against this."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What kind of advice
would Euripides give to Mrs. Merkel? Euripides wrote in his plays:
"Beware! Anything that does not agree with Justice does not last long."
Troy was burnt to the ground, but the Greeks are at fault because they
went too far and murdered women and children. Euripides was kind of foretelling
, as if he knew the end of those who talk about the law and Justice. Yet, they
should know that the words they're using (law, justice) are ambiguous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The answer that
Euripides would give to the question about violence: (l.512-514) "There is
a saying, it's not mine (he is influenced by his teacher Aeschylus and his play
(Prometheus Bound", l.125) but it still is wise : there is nothing
stronger than a horrible need."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-19058304700340463342012-08-28T11:34:00.002-07:002012-08-28T11:34:50.723-07:00Samaras at Colonus? <span style="font-family: inherit;">In a previous chapter we mentioned that the Athenian theatre in the form of art offered to the people the ideological arms they needed to defend their democratic, political and social institutions. Let's have a look at the immortality of the Greeks, understanding finally Theoclymenus' greatest fear that leads him to the elimination of every Greek that "comes in his turf."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">L.154 "He kills any Greek he captures coming here as a stranger." L. 437 "Get away from the palace. Don't disturb my master or you will die because you're Greek. Greeks are not accepted here." L.446 "Stranger, I was given this order. No Greeks are allowed near the palace."L.468 "He is a big enemy of the Greeks." L.479-480 "because if my master catches you he will welcome you with death."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Why all this hatred? Isocrates claimed that the myth of Helen triggered the passionate hatred against barbarians. This feeling led to the freedom of the Greeks and the beginning of the elimination of the Asian danger for Europe. How was this accomplished? As Isocrates points out, for the first time the Greeks agreed to cooperate and so they won a glorious victory. They proved and confirmed this later, during the Greco-Persian Wars, when they were able to protect Europe from "the Asian hordes." We would say that something similar happened during the Greek War of Independence in 1821. Dionysios Solomos, shaken by the Greek Revolution of 1821, wrote in only a month the 158 stanzas of the poem "Hymn to Liberty," the 25 year old poet's first major work. The Hymn (that, we must note, has been translated in most languages) is inspired by the Greek people's fights for freedom from Turkish servitude. If we look closely to the etymology of the words <span lang="EL">Ελ</span>-<span lang="EL">ένη</span> (Helen) and <span lang="EL">Ελ</span>-<span lang="EL">ευθερία</span> (Freedom) we will find many similarities. Like we've mentioned in previous chapters, "<span lang="EL">ελ</span>" symbolizes the positive side, meaning the bright one. However, these two Greek words have also a negative side.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Homer calls Helen "<span lang="EL">ριγεδανήν</span>" ("horrible") because she caused the death of many heroes. Let's see how our national poet Dionysios Solomos recognizes her. "I recognize you by the fearsome sharpness of your sword, I recognize you by the gleam (in your eyes) with which you rapidly survey the earth. From the sacred bones of the Hellenes arisen..." I use these lines to point out her negative side. Homer and Solomos are two artists that did not define death as the end. Their works are works of escape towards something greater than death, and Solomos ends up crying "Hail, o hail, Liberty!" referring to this paramount blessing of freedom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The heroes of the Trojan War, as well as the heroes of the Greek Revolution of 1821, exceed their limits and so they are the only ones that achieve witnessing this paramount blessing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Let's come back to our era. Recently, Prime Minister of Greece Antonis Samaras gave an interview for the German newspaper "Bild" at the Maximos mansion. The Prime Minister was photographed in front of the painting "Grateful Hellas" by Theodoros Vryzakis (1858), a work of art bearing multiple national symbolisms. Long ago, we saw former Prime Minister George Papandreou giving an interview for Greece's state television sitting at the same desk, however, he avoided appearing in front of this painting but chose a blue background. George Papandreou received many negative and defiant comments for this attitude. The comments being justified or not, the answer given to the Hellenic Parliament by the under-secretary was this: "The painting "Grateful Hellas" by Theodoros Vryzakis (1858) belongs to the National art Gallery and Alexander Soutzos Museum which has the institutional responsibility, among others, for the conservation of the works of art that are lent for use to other institutions whenever the Gallery finds it necessary. This particular painting has been returned to the National Gallery and has been replaced by another one with the title "Endless field-Delphi", etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I would like to point out the phrase spoken two years ago, on October 1st, 2010 "whenever the Gallery finds it necessary" that makes necessary the return of the painting in the Prime Minister's office on August 25th, 2012. So, the Prime Minister and the current government make the return of the painting at the Maximos mansion necessary and intentional. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras recently chose to be photographed with confidence in front of this painting for the German newspaper, a photograph that went around the world. We can analyze the message he wanted to send with the help of his interview for the newspaper. First of all, there is the title adopted by many media: "We need some air to breathe." We would say that this desire is inept and his use of the plural "we want " and "we breathe" is apt because he represents a nation. Why inept? Because personal freedom means that one is able to act (not only in a personal way but also) in the social sphere without being confined by coercion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Social freedom is secured by equal opportunities for all the members of society and contains the freedom of employment. Next, he mentions that " a possible return to the use of the drachma would mean the destruction of Greece and the end of democracy. It would mean five more years of depression and unemployment would reach the percentage of 40%. A nightmare for the country, financial collapse, social turbulence and unprecedented crisis of democracy. The return to the drachma would cause a further decline of the living standards by 70%. Which economy, which democracy can survive like this? In the end, (he notes) it would be like the Weimar Republic."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here, we discern fear. He's afraid of the consequences of the collision with more powerful structures. But what is the Prime Minister actually doing? He deprives himself of the ability to use his freedoms. Dictatorships are a typical example of situations where political freedom does not exist. It's typical for societies to ask their government for more political freedom. And the solution for the Prime Minister's keen desire (which is freedom) is given by another "Theoclymenus". According to Bloomberg L.P. , during the earnest meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany and Greece, Minister Westerwelle was adamant against the renegotiation of the terms concerning the austerity measures and Minister Avramopoulos stood "at attention" and noted in his turn that Greece would present in the next weeks the austerity plan containing the announced cuts as part of Greece's constancy concerning its commitments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Prime Minister, if you think that these measures will prevent us from becoming a Weimar Republic, then please take down the painting behind your desk and place a new one invoking Oedipus.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-23625555334228300712012-08-26T10:02:00.001-07:002012-08-28T11:35:18.090-07:00Helen 412 BC – Obama 2012 AD<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">Critics have said a lot about the part of Theonoe. Some believe that this scene (Menelaus+Helen+Theonoe) is superfluous and the play will not sustain any harm if it’s removed. Some believe that the poet included the episode of Theonoe to show his rhetorical skill, due to the fact that this episode contains rhetorical speeches. In my turn, I will quote the reasons that make this scene important, in its time and nowadays, without overlooking its rhetorical elements which help any further clarification.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">In v.973-974 Menelaus says: “... or you make Theonoe be less pious than your father.” Theonoe answers (v.998): “I was born pious and I want to remain so. I will never pollute my father’s name and my name. Because, since I was born, there is inside me a –big- sanctuary of justice. That, I will keep alive.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">Euripides wants to point out that if Proteus was pious and fair, his daughter must be equally pious and fair in order for her to administer justice. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 21px;">Besides, the duty of an offspring, born from a fair father, is to imitate the ways of this father (v.941-942). This conduct makes the offspring better than the father, not only because the father’s piety and justice are preserved, but also because they are further cultivated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">Here, Euripides does not compare the father and his children in order to slight the children, but tries to point out the need for the children to continue their father’s character and carry it forward </span><span style="line-height: 21px;">even more</span><span style="line-height: 21px;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">At this point, we would say that Euripides is influenced by Pericles’ Funeral Oration. Pericles, after dividing Athenians in three generations says: “... each one of them preserves whatever it has inherited from the previous one but on the same time it gets better because, itself, adds something new to its inheritance. Namely, it honors the ancestors as it is fair and proper. Thanks to their valor, our contemporaries left the country free for our sake. They are worthy of praise, but even more our fathers. Because, in addition to all the things they inherited, after they gained all the power we have today, they passed this power on to us.” So, roughly, he analyzes how we got to the power we have today, under what regime and with the help of what habits our power grew stronger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">Barack Obama tried something similar in his presidential campaign speech: “...If some of you are successful, somebody has helped you with that. Sometime in your life, there has been a great mentor. Somebody helped us build this incredible American system that permitted you to flourish...” and he concludes: “Whatever we have accomplished is due to our individual initiative but also to the fact that we endeavor things together.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">Referring to the previous generations that helped building this country, he tries to convince people before the elections that it would be wiser to tax the upper (from a financial point of view) social classes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">Obama received some negative criticism after this speech, as Pericles would say: “...because any man tolerates listening to the praise of others up to the point where he believes he’s capable of accomplishing some of the feats presented. But, envy comes over him, concerning anything that is beyond his power, and so he does not put his faith in it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">However, since the previous generations put this principle to test, Obama felt obliged to comply to the law and cater, as far as possible, to the desires and beliefs of everybody.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">I’m not trying to take a political stand. My goal is to make it known to everybody that <i>poetry</i> and <i>history</i> are on the same level, they both are part of inquiry (Aristotle). The most certain thing is that our leaders have studied history more than ourselves. Therefore, we could say, in certainty, that Ancient Greeks have shaped our world, infusing the conscience of citizens with the utility of democracy. How? Through the union of democratic Athens with its ancient past. Without Pericles there wouldn’t be any tragic poets. Without these poets Pericles wouldn’t exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">Ancient Greeks may not have been able to travel to Mars yet they managed to obtain Immortality. From this point of view, Ancient Greeks are the pillars and the shapers of our contemporary world. If America reaches the level of Immortality of the Fifth-century BC (Golden Age of Athens), this country will have to study the mistakes the Athenians made thousands of years ago and break new ground in preserving democracy’s fundamental meaning.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-9718828637716396002012-08-25T15:01:00.002-07:002012-08-28T11:35:31.925-07:00Euripides' "Helen" in Times Square<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;">Our positive or negative view of matters depends on the way we perceive and decode time. We find this element of time in Euripides' play. Helen asks Teucer how long it has been since the sack of Troy. She receives the answer: "It's been seven years that feel like ten." And she asks again: "and before that, you were in Troy for how long?" The answer: "Ten". Surely, we understand that time is very important for the heroes of our drama. What is happening? Has time stopped existing for Helen? A possible answer is that Helen does not speak about time from an objective point of view but from a subjective point of view. She talks about her inner sense of time. I could give you some clear-cut examples to clarify any possible misunderstandings of the concept of time.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The time spent rehearsing and preparing for the play "Helen" is objective. However, the stressful period until the premiere of the show is subjective for the people involved in the play. Meaning, they perceive differently what time offers and what it takes away.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">In New York, we come across skyscrapers. We understand that time seems to outclass the element of space. We feel the tension in matters. American people accept the responsibility of bearing the cost of change contrary to the situation in Greece where we face the problem of the increase in the number of civil servants and the construction of a lawless, timeless, made-of-cement Athens. Even worse, Greece has come up to the point of becoming a country that does not resolve to make some structural changes. Namely, crime has reached such a high level that people are afraid of going out on the streets, of moving around freely and they prefer living shut in their homes because they don't have the courage, under these circumstances of financial misery, to go out and find new ways of communicating. Our house may not let us move around freely but it can make us feel safe.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Isn't this too a kind of tyranny?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Let's go back to New York. New York is a place far away but also very close to our everyday life. Tourists feel like they are lifted up high (Manhattan). They perceive the energy of a superpower on 5th Avenue, at Dow Jones, on 42nd Street, in the famous Times Square, where all cultural events take place. However, there is a danger that is not easily perceived. Americans have turned time into money. Money=feeling=present. Let's cite an example.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The skull is a very familiar symbol. Lately, we find skulls in different colors and sizes everywhere. This new fashion trend is a part of many collections, bracelets, hair pins, dresses, T-shirts. For this print on a T-shirt people pay the (not to so small) sum of 380 €.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Recently, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of art and witnessed the queues of visitors, fans and otherwise, of the exposition dedicated to the designer Alexander McQueen called "Savage Beauty". The symbol of the skull became prominent after the designer's unexpected death.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Despite his death, the Alexander McQueen brand continued promoting deathly and aggressive creations. Undoubtedly, this is a creator in vogue. I think so because thousands of people wait in line for this exposition and perhaps neglect other timeless works that remain eternal and immortal. I'm talking about works of art that were created thousands of years ago and offer us a glimpse of immortality.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">To sum up: The human skull is a sign of warning against lethal danger. Which is that danger for me?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Time. Because when does death become cruel? When it is a part of time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">For the Ancient Greeks death was never cruel. Because the way of life was different. Contemporary cultures are afraid of death.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Euripides does not consider death as the end. His heroes overcome their passions and reach something grander than time. At the end of the play, Theoclymenus says: "Oh! Great sons of Zeus! I threw my pride away!" Time is the enemy of the Ego. Because Ego dies.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Euripides complains because time has taken the place of eternity, hence the tomb of Proteus. That's the reason why I use a clock in the show. "The abyss of time is a mass grave for all of us."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Like in his time, Euripides would still believe nowadays that we have entered an era of Time. However, he gives us an answer that can be helpful.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Time is not alone. Euripides, like all the ancient dramatists, taught his dramas in the most suitable place for communication: the theatre!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">This is where the fundamental communication between people is found. The heroes, by transcending their limits, are able to witness the ultimate prize. After the end of the tragedy the audience can manage time with the help of an inner rebirth (catharsis).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Nowadays we face problems that lead to this question = In the end, are we free? Those of us who have the ability to overcome our passions are free.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">With this play, Euripides tried to teach us that our absolute tyrant is our utopia. Our whole life is a chase, an "empty shirt" as George Seferis said, the chase of an ideal situation that we will never reach, but still, we torture ourselves being its servants. Yet, we should realize that we serve a tyrant that rules over us and to whom we will never be able to say "no".</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Because Helen is <span lang="EL">Καλλιπάρηον</span>= has a beautiful face.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-85339431055107835942012-08-25T15:00:00.002-07:002012-08-28T11:35:53.526-07:00Euripides and Egypt<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;">The Greeks, under the impression that Helen was real, fought a long-lasting and bloody, real war in a real world. For one prize: death. However, the real woman , Helen, is in Egypt. The Ancient Greeks consider this place a Utopia. Egypt represents the opposite of the social and political conditions of the Fifth-century BC. There, women are of primary importance. Helen is a prevailing figure among Greek women prisoners and is accompanied by a woman called Theonoe who incarnates the highest truth. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;">Who is she? Helen says in her monologue about Theonoe: "She sees matters existing and those that are about to happen". Besides, the etymology of her name leads us also to this conclusion. </span><span lang="EL" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;">Θεονόη</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;">:(</span><span lang="EL" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;">Θεός</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;"> +</span><span lang="EL" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;">Νούς</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22px;">) (God and Mind)= she who understands the divine. She has great prophetic powers. She knows the intimate thoughts, the desires of others : "the whole truth has been exposed to me. I know the name of the man standing next to you! I know what he has endured in the sea." She has the gift of the second thought. She represents rationality, the Mind (Nous) that many philosophers talked about.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">So, this goddess of wisdom and logic can easily be compared to the goddess Athena, the favorite daughter of Zeus (born from her father's forehead) who is the goddess of wisdom.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">More or less, we've all heard of the common saying: "I would like to have a Greek's second thought." The meaning of this saying is that the first thought comes with impulsiveness and consequently leads to destruction. But the second thought comes with logic. We can see matters more clearly and soberly and we are led to actions calmer and not catastrophic. Therefore, we understand that Euripides tries to teach us through Theonoe that when people possess a blind, impulsive, irrational fury they are led to devastating (on many levels) situations. When can we defeat this blind fury? When we use logic. Logic is the one that confines limits and not impulsiveness. That's why logic and wisdom always defeats irrationality. Knowledge always defeats blind emotion.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">On a social level</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">There are demagogues, who can talk eloquently and fire up the people leading them to catastrophic results.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">On a personal level</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">There is television whose goal is to cultivate irrational feelings. On one day you're a leader and the next... "Oh! Gods! to be treated like thus!" (- Menelaus) It makes us act offensively, impulsively and not at all logically.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">So, Theonoe or in other words <span lang="EL">Ειδοθέα</span>=who sees God. Possessor of a superhuman cosmic wisdom, she embodies the highest truth. Free of passions and illusions, she is the possessor of knowledge, a knowledge that transcends the limits of development. A truth beyond logic, the equivalent of the truth as Plato perceived it in his theory of Forms. Using this platonic language we should say that Troy represents the appearance , the <span lang="EL">μη</span><span lang="EL"> </span><span lang="EL">ον</span>= non existing , while Egypt is the <span lang="EL">ον</span><span lang="EL"> </span>= the matter , the being. Helen lies between these two spaces bearing the form of glory.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The real Helen is in Egypt but, in order for one to accept her, one must first shatter the illusion of her idol.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The idol is connected to its prototype, like Helen ("light") is connected to the moon. The moonlight gives us a false vision of reality because in the penumbra our visions are misrepresented. The moon deludes, deceives, overshadows, misleads.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The idol makes the vision an end in itself, it prevents the sight from expanding further away and keeps man imprisoned in the material world.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EL">Ειδοθέα</span> (who sees God) and Plato.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Platonic philosophy is bipolar and divides the cosmos into the material world and the world of Forms.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">His view of knowledge was clearly rationalistic. He believed that the Ideas (Forms), the deepest knowledge of the world's nature, could be perceived only with the use of reason (Nous). The perceptions of our senses, according to Euripides and Plato, were uncertain and even false. However, logical investigation will lead to the insight of the equivalent transcending ideas. Knowledge is a matter of developing the way of seeing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Dioscuri are connected to knowledge, meaning to vision, light. Castor and Pollux. The former is related to the sun, the insight= the future and the latter is related to the moon, the intellect = the past.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Heroes must escape from their prisons to see the truth. Meaning that the heroes visit Egypt to see Helen (=moon= torch) who is the greatest prize: the Truth!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-80778758460009003722012-08-24T10:23:00.003-07:002012-08-24T10:23:22.922-07:00Let's Talk About the End of the Performance: How Can an Ancient Drama be Associated with Christianity?<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Let's talk about the end of the performance. How can an ancient drama be associated with Christianity? I'm referring to Helen singing St. Paul's Epistle and to the end of the performance featuring a cross, an element that invokes Christianity.</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You have forgotten Epiphany or in other words "deus ex machina".<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The quest for God by man of all times and civilizations is a universal fundamental phenomenon. A phenomenon with various forms and expressed in various ways. The quest for God is part of man's effort to reach the (transcendental) existence of God. This is certainly not a simple phenomenon and especially not an easy one to understand.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The vast amount of bibliography on this subject all around the world emphasizes the composite and difficult to investigate nature of this phenomenon of man's quest for God.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"What is God, what not God and what is that in between them?" (verse 1137). This is the verse that is part of the title of this present speech.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This verse presents man's unquenchable desire for seeking out God. It also expresses a distinctly human condition and man's tendency towards God. Meaning who is the God we search for and which are his preceding qualities.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the end of the play we come across an Epiphanic appearance : Dioscuri, the deified brothers of Helen. This appearance is neither momentary nor simple. It contains announcements of significant developments in the life of Theoclymenus as a leader also the lives of the rest of the parts of the play. A substantial part of God's appearance is the dialogue between the god and the king. In this case we have an intervention by Theoclymenus for the sake of people's salvation (the Egyptians' and also the Greeks'- everything is part of a chain). The irreverent has become fair. We would say that this is a divine appearance during which the human side is not a passive receiver but, through this opportunity, is intervening in the historical status quo.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this case we see a God that appears in visible and tangible conditions in order to converse with man and make him participate drastically in formulating the historical developments towards a positive turn. This Epiphanic dialogue is a bright example of the search for a God who gives man the opportunity to intervene, which opportunity can modify even the plan of God himself.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In verses 1495-1505, the chorus implores Dioscuri for sympathy and assistance. I believe that Euripides reveals the tendency, that people had up to that moment to look for a god that would appear in times of "emergency". A god that would be an impartial judge of people and would guarantee the end of every kind of (social ) injustice. It is distinctive that the word "justice" appears since the beginning through the end of the play at the tomb of Proteus, the good and fair king that died and with whom justice also died, as we mentioned in a previous chapter.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We are looking for a buried justice. We are looking for a god that is above all a god of justice. And let's not fool ourselves. Since then till today, isn't he the one we are searching for?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A god that essentially guarantees and offers justice in its purest and most genuine form. A god that provides knowledge and wisdom. A god of mercy. A god of freedom. A real god. This quest is bringing all humans together. We are looking for a crucified and resurrected god. He may be walking among us, besides, he has promised this. What we need is eyes to discover him. Eyes to see him.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Euripides separated himself from the traditional god-centered perception of his era. For the first time, man is the center of dramatic poetry. Anything that the hero has to endure does not come from God. He is the only one responsible for his actions. Euripides enters the labyrinth of the human psyche to explain that man himself and not his fate is responsible for his life. He shows us the reasons that lead heroes to act the way they do. He shows us their weaknesses and the degree of influence these weaknesses have on their actions.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He was accused of being an atheist although the totality of his works is marked by a religiosity never seen before. Is it possible to characterize as an atheist a poet who depicts gods showing mercy for humankind and preaching the gospel of love? This is the new meaning that Euripides gave to the notion of God. Isn't it a Christian meaning?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Perhaps you will say that he propagated an antireligious propaganda. That he attacks the oracles. Meaning that the audience at the end of the play realize this antireligious propaganda or are they smitten by the trick of Helen and Menelaus at the expense of Theoclymenus? Aren't they happy that two people have managed to leave this barbaric country?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If someone isolates some verses against the oracles and the gods he can convince himself and others also that Euripides is propagating antireligious propaganda. This is not a fair attitude. The poets aim was to educate through the stage ( a philosopher through the stage) and not to have his plays read and especially in a fragmentary way that suits our own interests. Euripides, being a realist, knew that it is normal for man, in times of extreme sorrow and despair, in times of misery and while believing that he suffers in vain, to doubt and curse even gods. And that is a sign of faith. He cannot doubt if he doesn't believe and he cannot curse god if he doesn't admit his existence. Of course we must know that a lot of gods are not deities but the personification of natural or psychological forces of love. passion, etc.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">With the help of the ancient drama we can have a greater bond with the immediate reality. What the ancient tragedy aims for is to make clear that a man of this kind or another may say or do this kind of things or he may not say and do this kind of things.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The most important: The hero, acquiring the knowledge of things, connects this knowledge to the weight and the standards of the moral choices. Now the spectator and the reader of the ancient tragedy is urged to get on the stage and make these levels of knowledge his own by incorporating them to his life. However, this process is dramatic. Transition from evolution to knowledge is a drama. Why?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Because finding the courage to overcome your illusions is a very hard thing to do. Most people avoid carrying the cross of torment and willingly avoid the dramatic shift = transition of the soul.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-6656675846093110832012-08-24T10:22:00.005-07:002012-08-24T10:22:42.604-07:00Why to the Modern Man<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Eftychia Loizides, Director-Actress</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">A question asked by a spectator at the end of the performance of “Iphigenia in Tauris” comes to mind. The question was about the extent of Greece’s responsibility for the fact that people’s pensions cannot be paid. I don’t remember what my exact answer was, but I remember the feeling that this question gave me. Actually, Greece is the black sheep. I can however give a lucid answer. Since 2002 (it’s ten years now), we joined a united Europe for a better future. This future did not only get better but we must reanalyze the word “Europe” (“<span lang="EL">Ευρώπη</span>”, from the verb <span lang="EL">ὁ</span><span lang="EL">ρ</span><span lang="EL">ῶ</span>=see). We slave 80 hours a day, some die of starvation, women cannot have children, and those who can, prefer to eradicate them ... Why? Because they are not able to raise them and, most of all, they are afraid for their own life. Are Greeks responsible for this? Of course not. A number of important factors, like financial interests, the game of power, have turned everyday life into a hostile environment. This phenomenon exists not only in Greece but in the whole world. The lofty vision of united Europe ... the Future, has been destroyed... Man on a national, social, personal level has been destroyed. How did we get into this Trojan war? Because this is what it’s all about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Democracy and democratic values are the essence of Europe. Despite all that, democracy has become rigid and distorted. In this case, all we end up with is a figure, an illusion of democracy, while its real meaning is imprisoned. In a previous chapter we mentioned the problem that the heroes came across regarding Helen: if they really can see her or not. This situation can relate to Europe’s conditions nowadays:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">1) The question of total trust (if not captivity) in things visible, material, ephemeral that our senses can see, embrace and savor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">2) The question of focusing on the present, here and now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">3) The mentality that considers opposition and competitive morality as the only means for success, thus leading to intense stress, depression and endless disputes and confrontations. These problems are affecting all members of European societies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Note: I am not against the competitive spirit. I support fair play and competition. But not the kind that bows down before blind avarice and insatiable thirst for power and leads to the destruction of human life, driving people to a wild-goose chase for illusions of wealth and success (the ghost of Helen).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We must pursuit the rebuilding of a worthwhile life, with the right priorities and true values. We have reached a point of savage exploitation of the weak by the powerful. I fear that this frustration will evolve into an explosive rebellion due to injustice and inequality. We are responsible because we have loved hedonism. A tendency that plagued all of societies until the recent past (I use the past tense because we do not have the luxury to savor anymore). We have reached the point where a big percentage of young people are sinking into depressive situations. They don’t care about life that no longer has significant things to offer (see the increase of drug use, emigration, lack of interest for politics and society). However, we still live in an era governed by shallow and superficial forms of human relations. Relationship problems are so intense that people, especially the young, are reclusive and find refuge in total and silent isolation. How is that possible? Young people are the future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Although they were given great opportunities for education, free development and progress, the result is rather dramatic, as we see. One out of a thousand will succeed in making his dreams come true, while the other 999 will find that what they have dreamt of is gone and forgotten and not realized (the last phrase of Euripides in our play).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Also, another important question is that of similarity. The degradation of language is an important example of this problem. Since we perform in front of an American audience we must point out that contemporary Americans believe that they live in a developing and pluralistic country which evolves into a continuously larger differentiation. But, objectively, the meaning is the exact opposite, because pluralism lies behind the identical and shared expressions leading to the point of globalization.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this play, written by Euripides approximately 2500 years ago, we follow our itinerary, where we come from. In times of chaos and confusion, we acquire a genuine relationship with the truth. And the most important: we are obliged to change our priorities, unless we want to continue living as members of humanity enslaved by machines, numbers and matter. Euripides, showing respect for man, human freedom and human rights, became a pioneer in the fight for a genuine and accomplished democracy. I believe in a future with positive development. The new generation is the future (now still a present). I am a part of this generation. Only that this privileged new generation should not forget Saint Paul’s “Epistle to Corinth”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Finally, by presenting a play of this kind, I wish to remind America of the seed sown by Athens in 412 BC so that in 2012 AD American democracy comes to fruition.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-44869651759469210482012-08-24T10:22:00.001-07:002012-08-24T10:22:11.032-07:00Some of the Reasons We Chose This Play by Euripides<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">by Eftychia Loizides, Director- Actress<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Menelaus appears on the stage, presenting the identity of his character. Who he is, where he comes from, what he did and what state-condition he is in. He has left his sailors in a cave with Helen, whom he recovered from Troy. Actually, he has recovered a mannequin of the real Helen, that he thinks to be real. He has reached the palace to ask for food and clothing, the things he lost during the tempest he faced while trying to return to his homeland with his crew. This poorly dressed king asks for help and conjures "Xenios Zeus". The answer he received left him discouraged. The doorkeeper comes out of the palace and sends him away insulting him. However, he doesn't give up easily and tries to change her mind. The doorkeeper feels sorry for him and expresses her fear by saying that "any Greek that sets foot here finds death! Theoclymenos hates all Greeks!" "Why?". cries Menelaus. "For the sake of Helen." We see Menelaus staggering and trying to understand who she is referring to. The answer he receives is "The daughter of Zeus that lived in Sparta." How is this possible? How can the world be turned upside down? Among the Gods, he says, there is only one name, that of Zeus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since we mentioned names, let us examine the etymology of the name "<span lang="EL">Ελένη</span>" ("Helen") . It comes from the root " <span lang="EL">Ελ</span>" of the verb "<span lang="EL">α</span><span lang="EL">ἰ</span><span lang="EL">ρέω</span>-<span lang="EL">ῶ</span>" which means to snatch, to conquer, to deceive, to capture, to destroy, denoting a negative meaning. According to another theory, the name comes from the word " <span lang="EL">σελήνη</span>" ("moon"), thus making Helen a woman of light. Hesychius confirms the positive meaning of the name and mentions that it comes from the noun "<span lang="EL">ελάνη</span>" which means torch. The ambiguity of this name is obvious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So what is the truth? The meaning of Helen is positive or negative?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anaxagoras, Euripides' teacher, teaches us that everything is perceptible through its opposite: "the principle of polarity." Everything is double, has two poles. Everything has its own pair of contrast. Everything is made of a (+) and a (-). Collision is a part of the unity and not a part of rupture as many people think. The same and the opposite are equal in their nature. They differ only in their rhythm. All the true elements are found in the extremes. All the paradox elements can converse. Everything has two poles, two opinions, two opposites that are actually two faces of the same coin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Helen, having heard by Theonoe the good news that her husband is alive, comes out of the palace and ... there! ... she sees him in front of her! But she cannot really see him, due to the fact that this man does not look like her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta, being dressed in rags. She assumes he is a spy sent by Theoclymenos to capture her and deliver her to his master. Menelaus, from his part, recognizes her face and staggers seeing the resemblance between this woman and his companion. He asks her who she is and Helen gives him all the convincing answers that prove her identity. However, this is not enough to convince him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This character has reached the second stage of knowledge, which is faith. He is a man who does not surrender to his imagination. He thinks for a while, "Is this really the way things are? Or are they different?" He lets Helen give him the information. He begins to exert a moderate critical control: "Is this woman telling me the truth? Is she a phantom? What is happening?" He is not dogmatic as we saw before with Teucer. He tries to explain the events logically. However, although the truth was presented in front of him, he did not have the strength to face it and prefers walking away. How many times did man look at the truth in the face and could not stand it? Menelaus prefers the delusion. He prefers the woman in the cave, who is no other than the woman of shadows. He went through all of his misfortunes , he was able to leave the eidola and the shadows in the cave and reached a place where he saw the real light: the Helen-Truth. And still he throws away this truth, because he is not satisfied with this turnout of events. He cannot accept the fact that he spent all these years fighting "... for an empty shirt, a Helen." He prefers, as it suits him, living in the dark. That's why people avoid lifting the cross of ignorance towards knowledge, considering it a weight of life. Trying to avoid the uphill road of transition to knowledge, they choose security. their possessions. The do not have the courage to look at themselves in the mirror and they prefer standing in front of things and judging them from above, without implicating themselves in the situation. So, finally, Menelaus leaves Helen saying: "For seventeen years I've put up with sorrow and pain! And this pain is more real than you!"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He is about to leave when arrives the messenger-a faithful slave of Menelaus, who claims that the pain he had to suffer was in vain. His wife (the phantom that he left at the cave) disappeared. He saw her ascent to the sky. Before leaving she said some horrible things... "Poor Greeks and Trojans, you were killed for my sake! I'm a creature made of mist and air!" "Oh! Glorious day!", cries Menelaus. "This means that you told me the truth."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Next is the scene of recognition, where we see the meeting of Lights. Menelaus looks at the Truth. Then we can hear the messenger talking, imparting wisdom that we never expected coming from a man deprived of his freedom. He was marginalized, suppressed, exploited. However, he managed to do something that his master was not able to achieve. To preserve his qualities, reaching the point of having exquisite intellectual abilities. His devotion to his master is not a sign of servility but a choice of a free mind, a sign of nobility and character.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The most important is this: Helen of Troy left him, but his slave remains faithful to him. Menelaus fought for his "stolen Helen" but did not fight for his slave's freedom, that he himself stole from him!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition, in the play, the slave condemns divination. The oracles played a political role similar to the one played nowadays by television. Tele-vision is the price one pays to see the world. The globalization of vision is promoted, as it is known by colossal business firms that control governments, politics and strategies. The result? A lack of democracy. It leads to a very dangerous separation. It divides people into pessimistic and optimistic. The first category contains people who speak in a lamenting tongue about the evolution of mankind. They present man as being worse than an animal, a mixture of mud, brutality, despair and pain that has no meaning in life. They prophecy a catastrophic future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The other category has a diametrically different view of things. Optimistic people extol the achievements of mankind and believe in a bright future. But they cultivate utopia. The answer to this separation is given by the messenger. He informs the spectators-readers that God's Word is the only solution for reaching the Truth. The slave, actually, frees the human mind from slavery, as far as people like Menelaus are concerned, who ignore God as God+Man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We live in times of fear and oppressive space-time. Due to this fact, a great number of people turn to exotic religions and to the quest for spiritual experiences. The only thing they accomplish is becoming victims of astrology and fortune tellers (the mass media lead us in this direction every day). However, in conclusion, we must understand that the "homo adorans", the functional adoring man that Euripides really appreciated, is a reality that cannot be neither approached-nor, most importantly, described- by computers and polls that lately are out of control!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">All this is taught by a "slave"!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-68316440606211687922012-08-24T10:21:00.003-07:002012-08-24T10:21:25.285-07:00Question: If You Were Asked to End the Play with a Line What Would it Be?<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"What you've seen, you think it's true?"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Helen answers in her dialogue with Teucer. While trying to explain why I chose this title as the most important of all, I am given the opportunity to provide a comprehensible answer to the question examined by so many scholars: why did Euripides use the character of Teucer in this play? Teucer arrives as a victor at his homeland of Salamis island (Greece) and is banished from his country by his father Telamon, due to the fact that he did not support his brother's Ajax's claim for Achilles' armor, he did not prevent him from committing suicide and, even worse, he did not avenge his disgraceful death.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to the ancient Greeks, a killer was a defilement, meaning he polluted his family and his compatriots. His exile would help purifying the city. This penalty also helped rehabilitating the criminal, since, being in exile, he was deprived of his fortune and was not allowed to participate in any political activities.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Teucer, although he did not actually kill his brother, was considered by his father as an accomplish in the crime because he stood silent and did not try to prevent his brother from dying, nor didi he fight afterwards for his brother's honor. Teucer's actions gave Euripides the opportunity to sketch a character that would shed light on the weaknesses of some people.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Teucer, although he is one of the victors of the Trojan War, does not feel happy and proud of this result. He was forced to fight for the sake of an unobtainable woman. He was exiled. He wanders for seven years searching for a new homeland. All these events denote the tragic traits of this character, the greatest factor being the fact that, upon reaching Egypt, Teucer cannot discern the real Helen.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He believes that this woman only looks like her and is not the same person. So, this character has reached the stage of conjecture. This stage, according to the Pythagoreans and later Plato in the myth of the cave, is the first stage of Knowledge and represents the man who cannot tell the difference between shadows and reality. He thinks that Helen of Troy is the real one and not the woman he sees in front of him.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He answers to Helen when she asks him if he saw the woman who caused all these horrible events:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Teucer: - With my own eyes I saw magnificent Menelaus drag her by her hair all around the city.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> And Helen asks him again: - Did you really see this?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Teu.:- Just like I see you now.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hel.:- And what you've seen, you think it's true?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Teu.:- I saw her and so did my mind.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So, he expresses the universality of his character, who actually lives trapped in the deception caused by his own illusions. This man trusts only his senses, the word "only" containing dogmatism and the word "sense" containing the present. So this man, who surrendered to his senses, lives only in the present and does not let himself take off his blinders and look clearly at the truth: the future. Because the senses do not link us to the future but to the present. I believe this is the stage we have reached nowadays.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The political powers try to convince us that the path which leads to the deliverance of nations and people and, in consequence, to the rise of the economy is the path of stability, resulting in frugality and income cuts. However, the political powers will continue to follow the course they followed the previous years, which is the same course that led us to this point. Because they did not have the foresight to deal with their domestic affairs. They did not foresee finding ways of salvation for their people, giving them the opportunity to develop mentally, not by reducing their income but by creating opportunities for staff orientation. This means that we've been taught nothing from the pain of lifelong learning. We will continue borrowing money and when comes the time for paying back the loans, we will find ourselves in front of "Calvary", because we did not foresee increasing our income. In result, what we need is not stability but a mental change so that we are able to take off our blinders and look clearly at the truth.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On a smaller scale, we would say that this is also true regarding the common man. He should stop chasing "Helens" who are essentially vain and ephemeral and start fighting for Ideas (the noun comes from ἰ<span lang="EL">δε</span>ῖ<span lang="EL">ν</span>=seeing) which he will be able not only to look at but also to really see. We propose that people should know their past and learn from their mistakes, thus securing a future full of positive and not dramatic prospects.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Returning to our play, we are left with an unanswered question. Why did Euripides, among so many Homeric heroes, choose a victor of this war and especially Teucer? Teucer explains to Helen the purpose of his journey: "I came at this palace in order to meet with the prophetess Theonoe. In an oracle, I was commanded by Apollo to go to Cyprus, live there and found a city that I shall name Salamis." Salamis was the capital of Cyprus for a thousand years due to its geographical position. Evagoras, the son of Nicocles, descending from Teucer, was almost murdered, still being a teenager, by the tyrant of Salamis Abdemon, who feared that Evagoras would overturn him. His worst fear came true. In 411 BC, Evagoras killed the tyrant and became the ruler of Salamis. When he came in power, he tried to promote the spiritual and material welfare of his people, while staying on good terms with the neighboring states. Darius II did not react against Abdemon's murder, due to the fact that Evagoras continued paying taxes!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Eftychia Loizides, actress-director.</span><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5299872637272074206.post-29563626068725966112012-08-24T10:19:00.001-07:002012-08-24T10:19:19.535-07:00Euripides Changes the Myth of Helen<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Euripides changes the myth of Helen and tells us something different from what we know. Why does he do that though, and how can this work nowadays? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By hearing the name of Helen, the woman that left her husband, Menelaus, for the eyes of her younger beloved Paris comes in our mind. The one who sent a thousand Argitis boats for a war of revenge. He was the consul of all the sufferings that the Greeks and the Trojans had to pass through. Because of Helen, the Troy was ravaged. Euripides though tells us a different story.<br /><br />Let's take the story he says from the very beginning. The three goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite chose a mortal human, Paris, to judge their beauty. He gave the "award of beauty" to Aphrodite after she promised to him as a reward the most beautiful lady of all, Helen. We all know more or less how it all began. Fine up to here. Euripides now, says something completely new from what we know as the continuation of the story. He says that Hera wanted to revenge Paris, as she couldn't face the feeling of losing, since Paris didn't choose her.<br /><br />Are you wondering in what way? She made an effigy of Helen of the same appearance as the real one, using mist and air. That's the ghost Paris took to Troy, thinking it was the real woman. Hera ordered Hermes to take the actual Helen to Egypt, with the promise that her husband, Menelaus, would return to take her back.<br /><br />Now, he says, that several years have passed from when she was taken to Egypt, and she is still waiting with impatience for Menelaus to come, but he hasn't. But why with impatience? Because when she arrived to Egypt, the King Proteus was in charge. ( I specifically use -eus, instead of -eas seen in some translations of 'Helen of Euripides', because for me the etymology of the names used in the Homer's period and in the myths of some tragic poets is really important. I insist that in order to compose or build something, you first need to deconstruct it. Break it into pieces and create it all over again. Anyway, Proteus was the kind king who treated her with courtesy. When he was alive he did a fair allocation of work, and there was justice. He divided jobs to people according to their characteristics. Proteus died though, and he was replaced by his son Theoklimenos who was exactly the opposite of his father.<br /><br />Here's what happens: He desires Helen, so he kills every single Greek that comes to take his 'beloved' Helen. In this work it's said that Helen "has rotted for about twenty years in this brutal land where everyone is a slave except for the one that wears the crown of the tyrant," meaning Theoklimenos. Therefore, it's obvious that this man becomes a tyrant and he dominates the crowds himself without a sign of justice.<br /><br />Why does he hate Greeks that much to kill them? Because in that season for Greeks, everything was related to cooperation. For an effort to be accomplished, cooperation is required. The word itself does not relate to privacy but to 2 or more people, not a single one, and the Greeks hated those civilians, those who could quit from politics. For example when you did not vote it was bad for both the citizens and yourself. Civilian= the one who is enclosed into himself.<br /><br />When now is parallel to today. We should not stick to the fact that the Greek was him and the Egyptian the other, but go to a new international and universal level instead that can take up to the whole world, regardless someone's race, color or nation. We see that the Greek enemy of the King is the one who will try to change the establishment - the system which the tyrant introduced. In which way? By taking back Helen, the King's fierce desire. In this way, when Menelaus take his legal wife back, he informs people about that misfortune of the king. This is because the King was trying to marry her in an illegal way, hiding the truth from public.<br /><br />The truth is that Helen was innocent, and the two nations fought for a ghost, something fake, intangible and completely vain. It's understood that if Menelaus won and took Helen, the people would realize under which lie they used to live for so long. When we realize that we have been living with a lie, we can easily go insane and revolt for that crime. It is considered a crime, creating a ghost, an idea (specifically of the goddess Hera) and pushing thousands of millions of people fighting each other for that idea. Without revealing the truth, you left him fighting for ten whole years for that ghost and then several more (actually seven as teukros says in his work), being tortured and storm tossed, in order to return to his motherland. Just like nowadays.<br /><br />They created to us an idea by encouraging in us vanity . In other words, they cultivated us with fake dreams making us hope for things like money, houses and cars. We fight for an aspiration, for a better tomorrow. We suddenly reach a moment where not only they take what we managed to obtain so hard, with so much work, but also take us to a stage where we become sick from this situation, and even worse die for it.<br /><br />So, Menelaus was the one that would try to rebel as soon as he learn the truth. Rebel in greek means "επαναστατώ" in other words stand still once again. Attention. Helen informs him that it's impossible to fight with the authority, as it is obvious that we would have a dramatic result. Fighting alone against a whole system is totally insane and definitely requires a second thought, in which we should look for calmness. We say that we are about to try and built a plan which will help us not only to fulfill our aim but to manage to get out old and harmless as well. We therefore need teammates.<br /><br />In this case, this teammate is Theoklimenos' sister, Theonoe, who would never accept that someone would ever kill her brother. They should then convince her, using arguments, that it's a matter of life and death in order to help them not to "extinguish" her brother but to save their lives by returning to their home country. Further more, they would save their country from this delinquency. How can the country and the people be "rescued" from this tyrant though? Surely, not from its extermination but rather from its correction. Democracy should come back with its substantial meaning. So, Theonoe will have to choose between her brother's debt and Menelaus and Helen's fair demand.<br /><br />Ultimately, in terms of moral values she decides to defend the law. Our era is characterised by a crisis of values. People, mostly act based on their personal interest and profit. For this reason, Theonoe's choices deeply affect us while emphasise the concept of ideal behavior. Of what i believe , idols are those who struggled, those who fought for the positive evolution of humanity. Several people consciously denied goods and fought for world to be a better place. I believe we must view Theonoe not as a fancy person but rather as an essential one, at least that is what I did.<br /><br />Deliberately, I leave people's imagination to be considered by examining not only history but also those around them who fought against goods but conquered the essentials; as they fought for people's union and not their split with their Jesus . Love unites all contradictions but it seems that in nowadays, the meaning of Jesus and the meaning of justice has been lost. That is why we see Maria Magdalen crying over His death but being with his resurrection. Given the speech of Saint Paul, the meaning of Jesus is resurrected as well. This is the meaning, that we ourselves have buried for years but will resurrect us in the end. Well in essence, the survival equals with coexistence. Euripides, uses a woman to give the definition of life; that is the coexistence within others.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312602239576178570noreply@blogger.com0