I hate Greek drama. It is dark, pessimistic, and focuses on the
worst pieces of humankind without offering hope that they can be resolved. That being said, attending the performance of
Electra helped me grasp and appreciate more fully Sophocles' great skill as a
writer. Like Kapri Beus, I realized that
Electra represented pathos and Clytemnestra, logos. They always disagreed because arguments that
they employed and responded to were fundamentally different from each other. Orestes represented ethos. Everything he did, he did simply because of
who he was, the son of Agamemnon. Because
of the appeals they represented, I disagreed with the delivery of both Electra
and Clytemnestra. Electra was ironically
portrayed as the more down-to-earth sister while Clytemnestra was a bit more
whimsical. When reading the play, I
pictured them more on an equal footing,
which sent a completely different message.
I also found it interesting that
each of the children of Agamemnon mirrored the branches of oratory: Electra was immersed in the past and made
judicial claims about her mother's injustice, Clytemnestra was focused on the needs
of the present and her epideictic blame of Electra for deliberately running
afoul of Aegisthus and Chrysothemes, and Orestes deliberated about the
advantageousness of his plans to fake his own death.
While the tragedy of a brother and
sister who murder their mother and stepfather and, through their act of
vengeance, become them, was too dark for my taste, I can't think of a better
representation of what we have learned so far in this class. Sophocles truly had remarkable talent. However, referring specifically to the arts, President
Packer once employed the following quote, "There are many who struggle and climb and finally reach the top of
the ladder, only to find that it is leaning against the wrong wall." In that spirit, I wish that Sophocles had
used his impressive talent to bring people closer to life, truth, and happiness instead of portraying the darkness and depravity of
some people's lives. May we learn from
his mistake that his tragedy may not become ours.
"Leptis Theater," no changes made, by David Stanley, "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode"
"Leptis Theater," no changes made, by David Stanley, "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode"
I wonder if Sophocles wasn't showing the darkness for the very purpose of bringing people "closer to life, truth and happiness". Just as we can learn a lot from the pride cycle in the Book of Mormon, seeing fatal flaws in others can make it easier for us to see them in ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated your comments on how the siblings mirrored the three different branches of oratory. Sophocles really did emphasize a particular branch in each of them, which is really quite interesting. And going off of Spencer's comments above, I think that he may be right with regards to Sophocles' intentions. Perhaps he was trying to illustrate the negative effects that come from hatred and grudges, in order to encourage viewers to NOT live that way.
ReplyDeleteI thought about that, but the difference is that the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to show people how to turn to Christ. Telling people that the world is dark doesn't help them unless they also have hope that they can conquer the darkness.
ReplyDeleteAlthough gruesome this greek drama also helps us remember the importance of life because you can see how much Electra cared for her father and her brother.
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