#trachiniae

[wesley-de-cornualles]

excerpts from the Introduction to Sophocles' Women of Trachis by translators C.K. Williams and Gregory W. Dickerson

[macrolit]

Rash indeed is he who reckons on the morrow, or haply on days beyond it; for tomorrow is not, until today is past.

Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright

[psychidion]

Transcript of the image above:

Binary, diploid, dual Dyadic, bipartisan, dichotomous, bisected, Two Two halves, two sides Split Rendered separate Opposites No reconciliation The heart lies motionless Innards pierced straight through Hair matted, tears, sweat, blood, Staining the white, the pure, the good- What is good? What is right? Is what is good what is right? Or are they two, opposites, split, binary. -psychidion

This poem is dedicated to the ancient Greek mythic figure, Deianeira, specifically her depiction in Sophocles’ Trachiniae (Women of Trachis). 

Do Not Repost.

[ciceroniantrash]

Heracles: hey son I’m gonna need you to kill me

Hyllus: absolutely not

Heracles: but first, some side quests.

Hyllus: oh fuck yeah side quests

[hikergraham]

κἀξ ἀγεννήτων ἄρα μῦθοι καλῶς πίπτουσιν. Even out of never-weres come good ideas.

Sophocles’ Trachiniae 61-2

[hikergraham]

Euripides’ Trachiniae 262-9

ὃς αὐτὸν ἐλθόντ᾽ ἐς δόμους ἐφέστιον, ξένον παλαιὸν ὄντα, πολλὰ μὲν λόγοις ἐπερρόθησε, πολλὰ δ᾽ ἀτηρᾷ φρενί, λέγων χεροῖν μὲν ὡς ἄφυκτ᾽ ἔχων βέλη τῶν ὧν τέκνων λείποιτο πρὸς τόξου κρίσιν, φωνεῖ δὲ δοῦλος ἀνδρὸς ὡς ἐλευθέρου ῥαίοιτο: δείπνοις δ᾽ ἡνίκ᾽ ἦν ᾠνωμένος, ἔρριψεν ἐκτὸς αὐτόν.

Eurytos, when Herakles arrived at his home, his hearth, spat at his old-time friend many long-planned insults and plenty more thoughtless outrage, saying that while Herakles had homing missiles in his hands, he’d be bested by the man’s sons in an archery contest, He said Herakles was a free man’s slave, broken. Then at dinner, due to his wining, Eurytos cast him from the house.

[chthonic-cassandra]

The moment when Deianeira asks Iole to identify herself is fraught with tension, built not only from the dramatic situation (Iole is, of course, Heracles' mistress who is being made a permanent fixture in Deianeira's household) but from the conventions of the dramatic medium itself. There are three speaking actors onstage at the moment: Deianeira, Lichas, and the Messenger who is silently watching the present exchange. With all of the available speaking actors engaged at this moment in the play, the captive women are played by mute extras. An attentive audience member, aware of the three-actor convention, must assume that the figure of Iole would remain mute, at least for the duration of this scene. Deianeira's asking Iole for a verbal reply pushes the conventions of Greek tragedy close to the breaking point. Lichas' response (322-28) rescues the dramaturgical/social crisis. By asking the mute actor to speak, Deianeira draws attention, however briefly, to the unreality of the situation, with its procession of silent women who simultaneously represent both her own past and present misfortunes. The agony that makes Iole a nonspeaking supernumerary will later overcome the protagonist who has been gently interrogating her. Deianeira will make her exit in silence to commit suicide within the house while the Chorus demands, "Why are you going in silence? Don't you know that/your silence seconds your accuser?" (813-4). It is a silence that will soon be replaced by the same actor's bellowing as the dying Heracles.

Mark Ringer, Electra and the Empty Urn

[ireadthatinabookonce]

Women of Trachis

Women of Trachis by Sophokles, a version by Ezra Pound

I’ve read a lot of Sophocles this summer, in bits and pieces.  Most of them were translations of Antigone, but while browsing the library bookshelves, I came across this version of The Trachiniae.  

It’s weird.  Not the weirdest version of a Greek tragedy that I’ve read (Anne Carson’s Antigonick is in the running for that), but strange nonetheless.  I’ve never, for example, heard a tragic character say “I dunno” before.  But by writing the main characters in colloquial English, and the Khoros in more formal/poetic language, Pound highlights the stilted feel of this genre for the modern audience.  It’s an interesting technique.  

The thing I find most interesting about Sophocles’ play (I studied a different version two years ago in university), is the unresolved question of whether Deineira knew the centaur’s potion would kill her husband, or whether she truly believed it would make Heracles fall in love with her again.  That is the crux of the play.  This version felt to me as though Pound was erring on the side of Deineira/Daysair being helplessly in love.  Perhaps another reading or seeing a staged version would change this perception (I’m sure the staging of this play makes an enormous difference in the understanding of Deineira’s character).  The character undergoes so many interesting changes through the short course of the play, that it was fun to read another version of the play and remind myself of all of her changes.  

Rereading the play brought back to me all of the questions raised in class on how to present what is essentially a corroding living corpse by the name of Heracles to an audience, and whether this is one of the only moments in Greek tragedy where a dead body may have been present on stage.  But those stagecraft questions are for another time...