Seer King, Signed (1 results)

Reprint, stapled. Condition: Gut. pp. 1-19. From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - With dedication of the author. - Author's name underlined on cover, slightly bumped, otherwise very good and clean. - ABSTRACT: This paper examines the different treatments of Teiresias in Sophocles and Senecas Oedipus the King. Sophocles fashions his Teiresias as a grumpy curmudgeon, gallingly reluctant to share his knowledge, as is expected of a seer. His unseerlike behavior serves two key functions. On the dramatic plane, it creates and sustains the dramatic conflict in a plot in which nothing much happens until the very end. Thematically, it highlights the limitations of human knowledge, which cannot alleviate suffering in a world in which destiny is in the hands of the gods. Senecas Teiresias is a much reduced figure, without a character, in the sense of a consistent set of traits or behaviors. Rather he appears in three unconnected depictions, in each of which he is differently presented. In his main depiction, in the divination scene, he is a mild-mannered, unimposing seer, eager to do his job but lacking the full knowledge attributed to his Sophoclean precursor. His function is to serve as master of the rite, who directs the divination and makes it dramatically compelling. In both plays, Teiresias may be seen as a representative of the gods. Sophocles depiction highlights and protests the cruelty of the gods, Senecas projects a more resigned and accepting attitude. Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 550.