Guilt and extenuation in tragedy
Subtitle: variations on Racinian excuses
By: by Edward Forman
Series: Faux titre -- volume 445; Faux titre -- no. 445.
Publisher: Brill Rodopi
Published: 2021
Place of publication: Leiden; Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 229
ISBN-13: 9789004442771; 9789004442788
Subjects: French drama (Tragedy); History and criticism; French drama; Greek influences; Greek drama (Tragedy); Guilt in literature; Blame in literature
Description: "This comparative literary study re-evaluates the reciprocal relationship between tragic drama and current approaches to guilt and extenuation. Focussing on Racine but ranging widely, it sheds original light on tragic archetypes (Phaedra, Oedipus, Clytemnestra, Medea and others) through the lenses of performance theory and modern attitudes towards blame. Tragic drama and legal systems both aim to evaluate the merits of excuses provided on behalf of perpetrators of catastrophic acts. Edward Forman wittily and provocatively explores modern judicial concepts - diminished responsibility, provocation, trauma, ignorance, scapegoating - through the responses of characters in tragedy. Attention is paid to the way in which classical plays (ancient Greek and seventeenth-century French) have been re-interpreted in performance in the light of modern perceptions of human responsibility and helplessness"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.