Monday, September 22, 2014

Hecuba & The Duality of Language

The lady who played Hecuba in tonight’s play did a wonderful job at bringing out the tragic condition of her character with language. Although she was unsuccessful in persuading Odysseus from taking her daughter to be sacrificed, she also laid out a very logical and reasonable argument to try and stop her daughter from being killed. Overall Hecuba’s language in the play really put on a powerful display of both pathos and logos.

Mimesis

Starting with Hecuba’s sad state, it was amazing the way that her words really brought out the sadness in what she was going through. I will say with all honesty that I am not the one to go to plays, and certainly not get that into them. With that said, it was thoroughly surprising when I felt an aching in my heart for Hecuba and all the trials she was being forced to go through. Her physical and emotional status on stage are attributed to making me feel for her as well, but her language is what made my mind tell my heart to feel for this woman. She was able to make the hearer’s emotions engage with the story, and help the audience feel as she was feeling.

Art of Persuasion


Although she was unable to persuade Odysseus from taking her daughter the layout and invention of her argument was impressive. Even after being denied once by Odysseus she persisted, and tried to take another angle. It was interesting when she made reference to her daughter as her “city.” Comparing this to our discussion on Euripides’ The Bakkhai, perhaps she was arguing that her daughter (& her son for good measure) were her only rationale to keep living. If so, this is a really interesting use of rhetoric.

2 comments:

  1. I agree that the woman playing Hecuba did a great job of truly getting into character. That is also probably why the applause was twice as loud for her when she got back on stage for her bow. Additionally, the character herself of Hecuba did in fact succeed in approaching her situation with Odysseus in just about every way possible. Her logic was precise and her appeal to pathos was quite "powerful," as you put it.

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  2. There is definitely rhetoric mixed with mimesis in the play itself (as it often is). Do you remember Hecuba saying that the only art we should ever practice is rhetoric? I think that Euripides definitely shows both logos frequently through the play. However sometimes that logos is ineffective to create an emotional response in the audience. Did you ever cringe just a little when Hecuba was wailing? I know I did.

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