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Dissertation
Kinderen in de Griekse tragedie : Onderzoek naar het optreden en de rol van kinderen in de Griekse tragedie
Authors: --- ---
Year: 2013 Publisher: Leuven : KU Leuven. Faculteit Letteren

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Abstract

In this paper we examine the role of children in Greek Tragedy. How did children appear on stage and which importance had they for the tragedies? We also search for different parts that children could impersonate in these plays. In a first chapter we take a global view at the historical situation of children in Athens during the fifth century BC. To understand the position of children in tragedy, it is relevant to know how children were educated in real life and how they were adopted in the Greek society of their time. Especially the family ties and the place of the child in his family, seem to have been important. The second chapter studies the practical sides of children's appearances in the theater. Did children went to the theater as a public? How appeared they on stage? And did children themselves perform the children-roles? We make a distinction between the mute roles and the tragic children with speaking parts. For example, in Euripides' Alcestis there is a lamentation, brought by Alcestis' young son. And in Suppliant Women there is a second choir, formed by the young sons of the Argive heroes. Other tragedies bring children on the stage, with non-speaking parts, like Eurysaces, the son of Ajax, in Sophocles' Ajax. After that we take a look at what purpose the tragedians had with the children's performances. Most of the times, children are used to increase the pathos of a scene. As an example we see that the young Orestes, as a baby, is brought on stage in Euripides' Iphigeneia at Aulis. The sight of the little, crying, innocent boy is definitely used by Euripides to thrill the public. In a fourth chapter, concerning children's different parts, we make a distinction between passive and active roles. First we take a look at the children in Greek tragedy who are victims of the tragic action. As most important examples we elaborate the children's roles in Euripides' Medea and the role of the victim Iphigeneia in Iphigeneia at Aulis. For the active roles, we treat the topic of 'revenge' in Greek Tragedy. Children are obliged to take revenge for their parents. Striking in this topic, is the story of the children Orestes and Electra. Based on Aeschylus' Choephori, Sophocles' Electra and Euripides' Electra, we take a look at the position of Orestes and Electra, pertaining to this revenge and the matricide on Clytaemnestra. To conclude, we can decide that children have an important part in Greek tragedy and that they were consciously used by the tragedians. As in the Athenian context of the fifth century, their position is also in tragedy strictly linked with the family ties. As descendants of their parents, they represent the future of a family and in that position their importance is very large.

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