Hallie Rebecca Marshall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199678921
- eISBN:
- 9780191760259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199678921.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter discusses the depiction and narrative function of female characters in Tony Harrison's film/poem Prometheus, which uses the Aeschylean Prometheus Bound as its primary literary model. The ...
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This chapter discusses the depiction and narrative function of female characters in Tony Harrison's film/poem Prometheus, which uses the Aeschylean Prometheus Bound as its primary literary model. The socio-historical framework of the 1984 strike by the National Union of Mineworkers is outlined, alongside the pervasive issues of social decay experienced within mining communities impacted by industrial contraction. The chapter places the female characters within this context, exploring the ways in which their depiction is representative of the traditional role of women in working class communities, and how Harrison uses them, even as largely silent characters, to depict the destruction of community and familial structures. It is argued that while the miners' strike has been an almost exclusively discussed in the public realm in terms of its male participants, Harrison insists on also depicting the private female suffering caused by the mine closures.Less
This chapter discusses the depiction and narrative function of female characters in Tony Harrison's film/poem Prometheus, which uses the Aeschylean Prometheus Bound as its primary literary model. The socio-historical framework of the 1984 strike by the National Union of Mineworkers is outlined, alongside the pervasive issues of social decay experienced within mining communities impacted by industrial contraction. The chapter places the female characters within this context, exploring the ways in which their depiction is representative of the traditional role of women in working class communities, and how Harrison uses them, even as largely silent characters, to depict the destruction of community and familial structures. It is argued that while the miners' strike has been an almost exclusively discussed in the public realm in terms of its male participants, Harrison insists on also depicting the private female suffering caused by the mine closures.
Aara Suksi
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198744771
- eISBN:
- 9780191805936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198744771.003.0012
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
In Homeric epic, describing a map of the world, like epic song itself, is a privilege granted by the divine Muses and figured in Hephaestus’ shield-making. In two examples from Aeschylean tragedy, a ...
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In Homeric epic, describing a map of the world, like epic song itself, is a privilege granted by the divine Muses and figured in Hephaestus’ shield-making. In two examples from Aeschylean tragedy, a defiant hero appropriates the map-making prerogative of the gods established in Homeric epic. In each case, in a bid to restructure the existing order, the hero lays claim to the divine ability to map the space of the world without invoking the Muses. In Prometheus Bound, Prometheus’ gift of a map to mortal Io is not just an altruistic favour. It is also a part of his strategy for controlling and directing the future in a way that will ultimately lead to his own liberation. In Agamemnon, Clytemnestra uses Hephaestus’ fire to map space instantaneously. Her control of the god’s technology is aligned with her scandalous power over every other aspect of the action of the play.Less
In Homeric epic, describing a map of the world, like epic song itself, is a privilege granted by the divine Muses and figured in Hephaestus’ shield-making. In two examples from Aeschylean tragedy, a defiant hero appropriates the map-making prerogative of the gods established in Homeric epic. In each case, in a bid to restructure the existing order, the hero lays claim to the divine ability to map the space of the world without invoking the Muses. In Prometheus Bound, Prometheus’ gift of a map to mortal Io is not just an altruistic favour. It is also a part of his strategy for controlling and directing the future in a way that will ultimately lead to his own liberation. In Agamemnon, Clytemnestra uses Hephaestus’ fire to map space instantaneously. Her control of the god’s technology is aligned with her scandalous power over every other aspect of the action of the play.
