Κατεύθυνση Λογοτεχνία, σκέψη και πολιτισμός στον ελληνορωμαϊκό κόσμο
Library of the School of Philosophy

2024-06-18

2024

Dimitriadi Angeliki

Κάρλα Γραμματική
Καρβούνη Αικατερίνη-Νίνα
Παπαϊωάννου Σοφία

Καλὸν κακόν: το Δίπολο της Έμφυλης Ανάγνωσης στις Ηρωίδες του Έπους και της Τραγωδίας

Greek

Καλὸν κακόν: The Gendered Dichotomy in Epic and Tragic Heroines

The subject of the present thesis is the examination of the binary καλὸν κακόν as a motif that often characterizes female figures in ancient Greek epic and tragic poetry, starting from Pandora (Theogony) and the first mortal woman (Works and Days) of Hesiod, as well as the way a series of female characters who manifest similar characteristics embody the binary καλὸν κακόν in diverse ways that enable to follow the evolution of this motif.
The specific dichotomy, characteristic of numerous female literary characters of ancient Greek literature, is indicative of the male understanding female nature, which in their mind is filled with oppositions and, therefore, incomprehensible and potentially dangerous. The main contrast lies in the presentation of women as beings of unparalleled external beauty on one hand (καλὸν), and deceitful mind on the other (κακόν). The work examines heroines of archaic epic and classical tragic poetry. Specifically, it explores Pandora and the anonymous first mortal woman in Works and Days and Theogony of Hesiod respectively; Aphrodite from the 5th and 6th Homeric hymns; Helen and Penelope from the Homeric epics; Helen of Troy from Euripides' Trojan Women;-and Helen, as well as Deianira from Sophocles' Trachiniae. This research endeavor seeks to fill a gap in the current research, as even studies that recognize Pandora or the first mortal woman and the binary καλὸν κακόν that has been introduced by these characters in ancient Greek literature as a common background of other female literary forms as well, they do not speak of the evolution also of this binary.
The main objective and, at the same time, the originality of this research lie in the fact that it attempts to demonstrate that the seven heroines presently under study are not individual characters who exhibit common elements directed by their gender, but rather embody different aspects of the same female archetype, which in the male mind that is preoccupied by certain prejudices for the female represent different manifestation so of the καλὸν κακόν binary.-

Language – Literature

Pandora, binary, female figures, epic poetry, tragic poetry

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File access is restricted until 2024-12-19.

https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/3401451