The tragic wedding

Abstract

Wedding ritual in tragedy tends to be subverted. In explaining and arguing for this generalisation I hope also to shed new light on some of the passages deployed.My starting point is the actual wedding ceremony. How did the Athenians of the classical period imagine that it was celebrated? Our evidence derives largely from contemporary drama and vase-painting. The picture presented by this evidence coheres very well in certain respects with that derived from other periods and places: Sappho, Catullus' imitation of the Greek, the lexicographers, and so on. For example, one important element that is found in the Attic and the non-Attic evidence alike is the ambiguity, for the bride, of the transition. The abrupt passage to her new life contains both negative and positive elements. On the one hand it is like the yoking of an animal or the plucking of a flower. It means isolation, separation from her friends and parents. It is an occasion of resentment and anxiety, comparable to death.

Melizein Pathe or the Tonal Dimension in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon: Voice, Song, and Choreia as Leitmotifs and Metatragic Signals for Expressing Suffering

“…Like a bloodhound, she 85 See Jenkins (1983); Seaford (1987: 127-128 86 See Bohrer (2006: 178-181). 87 See Alexiou (2002Alexiou ( [1974: 120-122) and Seaford (1987). For Cassandra as a virgin facing marriage, see Debnar There is a chorus, a group of singers and dancers, that never leaves this house.…”

Sofrimentos de Amor

“…Vd. Loraux 1991: 161-162;Lyons 2003; Sutton 1997 Sutton -1998Oakley 2008;Rehm 1994;Seaford 1987;Redfield 1982;Pathmanathan 1965. Cf., a propósito do descontentamento do povo romano sobre sacrifícios humanos, Ndiaye 2000.…”

Egeo, Minos, Jacinto y Geresto: a propósito de un fragmento de la "Biblioteca" de [Pseudo]Apolodoro

“…Según la Tradición G las víctimas elegidas por los atenienses para lograr la catarsis fueron las cuatro hijas de Jacinto, un héroe, éste, que procedía de Lacedemonia. Las muchachas encajan a la perfección con las características comunes que Bremmer atribuye a los «scapegoats» (literalmente, chivos expiatorios) helenos: se trata de figuras marginales, tanto por su origen (son extranjeras), como por su sexo (son mujeres) y su edad (se entiende que son jóvenes) 33 . Subyace además la idea de que las hijas de Jacinto no estaban casadas, es decir, que eran vírgenes, puras.…”