Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Αγγλόφωνη Λογοτεχνία και ΠολιτισμόςLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Author:
Markousi Panagiota
Supervisors info:
Νίκος Παναγόπουλος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Άννα Δεσποτοπούλου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλοσοφίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Βασιλική Μαρκίδου, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Original Title:
Incest as Political Subversion in Sophocles’ Antigone and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
Translated title:
Incest as Political Subversion in Sophocles’ Antigone and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
Summary:
Relationships based on incest are intrinsically linked to the transgression of social and ethical mores. Because of its taboo nature, incest among siblings has the capacity to direct attention towards the politics of the family, as well as the politics of the society that surrounds it. This is the case with Sophocles’s Antigone and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Both texts prominently feature a set of siblings—or semi-siblings—whose intense devotion to each other ultimately results in the destruction of the community around them. Antigone and Catherine Earnshaw are prominent examples in Western literature of disobedient women, who transgress the boundaries of their feminine role and are in certain ways each punished for it. Although Heathcliff and Polynices might not share many common traits, their liminal position as both insiders and outsiders produces significant cultural anxiety. The almost obsessive relationship developed between the siblings is caused by and highlights the shortcomings of each community, while also reaffirming the status quo by pushing it to its limits. This study attempts to bring Bronte’s and Sophocles’s works together in an effort to explore the possibly subversive character of sibling incest and to uncover the forces that make such relations possible.
Main subject category:
Language – Literature
Keywords:
incest, Antigone, political subversion, Wuthering Heights, transgression, kinship, community
