Falling in Love With Euripides (Andromeda)
1999; University of Illinois Press; Issue: 24 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2328-5265
Autores Tópico(s)Social and Cultural Studies
ResumoIn 412 BCE Euripides produced Andromeda along with three other plays, one of which was the extant Helen} Although Andromeda has not survived, we are well informed about the presuppositions of its plot, the opening scenes, and the final outcome. Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, or his wife Cassiepeia, offended Poseidon; the god sent a flood and a sea-monster to ravage the land. Cepheus learned that the troubles would end if he exposed his daughter Andromeda to the monster, and he accordingly bound her to a rock by the sea. The play opened with her anapaestic monody of lament; some use was made of the conceit that she had no companion but the echo of her own voice. Soon, however, other companions did appear: a chorus of sympathetic parthenoi, with whom the lyric exposition of the heroine's miserable plight continued. Now Perseus, fresh from his victory over the Gorgon Medusa, arrived. His flight by means of winged sandals was represented by a turn on the theatrical crane. At some point he asked the beautiful princess directly whether she would be grateful if he saved her, and she promised herself to him. Further incidents included a narration of Perseus' heroic struggle with the monster, a debate in which he pressed his suit for Andromeda's hand before her unwilling father (or parents), and probably an appearance of Athena ex machina to settle the dispute in favor of Perseus and Andromeda and to announce that all the principal characters would ultimately become constellations.2
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