Introduction to the Ancient World: Greece

Euripides' Electra

I. Euripides (485-406 B.C.); prologue and setting of Electra 

II. The Electra (413 B.C.) 

A. link to the Sophists: rhetoric vs. communication (1010ff.) 
B. parody of Aeschylus: the Old Man and the Lock (523ff.) 
C. the characters and their motivation 

1. Electra ("the Unmarried One") - neurosis, not tragic flaw (304ff.)
2. Orestes - a tabloid killer (837ff., 1220ff.)
3. Clytemnestra - a caring mother; her feminist argument (1035ff.)
4. Aegisthus - a nice guy (778ff.)
5. the unaristocratic Farmer - the real nobleman (1ff., 253ff., 357ff.,   422ff., 940-44) 

D. the gods 

1. Apollo - a criminal (971, 1245-6, 1296-7)
2. the Dioscuri as deus ex machina 

E. justice in a realistic, un-Aeschylean world  

Please bring Euripides V texts to class next time. 

Next three meetings: 

April 6: Socrates and his trial; read Plato, Apology of Socrates, and bring texts to class

April 8: Review session

April 11: Test #3 

Then: Plato, Republic (reads books 5, 7, 10)