theatre modern scholarship

faber (O)

the mother who has violated his primal trust

garvie (oedipus vs jocsta, oedipus vs Tiresias, audience)

‘his excitement contrasts her horror’, ‘tiresias is physically blind, whilst oedipus, the physically sighted, knows nothing’, ‘it is as if the audience are in the position of the gods themselves’

finglass (O)

‘oedipus is enraged…because of his passion to help people’

rutherford (O)

‘the divine power and the human agent are working together’

karamonou (B)

'the household is condemned to extinction’ (on pentheus)

norwood (B)

‘he is the enemy of the god Dionysus himself’

knox (B)

‘man is ignorant, that knowledge belongs to the gods’

morwood (B)

'Dionysus is the most terrifying and most gentle to mortals’

sophie mills (B)

‘Bacchae was considered so violent that it was seldom performed before the 1960s’

stuttard (B)

‘Bacchae is one of Euripides’ most disturbing plays’

foley (B)

‘Dionysus as a director who constructs his own play’

roisman (pentheus, agave)

‘neither completely good nor completely bad’, ‘agave’s recognition scene is one of the most painful and harrowing scenes…no parent can watch it and not sympathise

wyles (B)

‘their ecstatic joy is chilling’

Hall (F)

‘The purpose of comedy is to inspect people, especially politicians’

Betterndorf (F)

‘The primary function of the play is not literary criticism but political action’

Arcogs (F)

‘The greatest master of the genre’

kovacs (F)

‘Euripides appears a wayward modernist’

higgins (O)

the realisation that the power of fate cannot be overcome by will

goldhill (Oedipus, society)

‘oedipus is a paradox’, ‘as if the city itself was put on display’

Dodds (O)

Oedipus’ ruin is due to his ‘loyalty to Thebes and his loyalty to the truth’

Knox (O x2)

‘he is not a puppet but a free agent’, ‘Oedipus is given one freedom: his freedom to search for the truth’