Department of Ancient Studies

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Browsing Department of Ancient Studies by Subject "Aeschylus -- Choephori (The lebation bearers)"

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    Orestes, from a Moral Model to an Authentic Free Person. The Depiction of Orestes by Aeschylus and Sartre.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Zhu, Xiaoyi; Annemare, Kotze; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Ancient Studies.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: This thesis is a comparative study of the depiction of Orestes by Aeschylus and Sartre which seeks to examine how Sartre turns Orestes, a traditional tragic hero in Aeschylus, into an existentialist hero. The study first investigates the different motivations for Orestes’ matricide depicted in the Choephori and The Flies. The investigation reveals that Orestes in the Choephori is obligated to preserve his religious and moral responsibilities; he commits the matricide in order to obey the law of revenge which is sanctified by the gods and fate. Whereas Aeschylus is concerned the moral responsibilities which guide Orestes to commit matricide, Sartre retells the story of Orestes by focusing on his freedom in terms of his choices. The motivation for Orestes’ matricide in The Flies does not have anything to do with religious and moral responsibilities. It is governed by the norm of authenticity, which is the degree to which one is true to oneself despite external pressures. This thesis also provides a character analysis of Orestes as he is portrayed by the two authors. In order to embody his existentialist views in the story, Sartre makes careful and deliberate changes in the way of depicting Orestes. The “theatre of plot” as it occurs in Greek tragedy could not serve Sartre’s purpose of expressing human subjectivity. Sartre therefore invents a new drama form, the theatre of situations. In this new drama form, the motivation of Orestes’ matricide in the Choephori has been replaced. Unlike Orestes in the Choephori and the Eumenides who is portrayed as a conveyer of certain moral values, Orestes in The Flies makes the choice for committing matricide according to the rule of authenticity; he becomes an existentialist hero and the designer of his own destiny.