Open AccessMonstros e monstruosidades em As traquínias de Sófocles
Author(s) -
Luiza Monteiro de Castro Silva Dutra
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
nuntius antiquus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2179-7064
pISSN - 1983-3636
DOI - 10.17851/1983-3636.3..96-105
Subject(s) - monster , hero , passion , power (physics) , art , literature , aesthetics , psychology , social psychology , physics , quantum mechanics
In this paper, I present some considerations about the monsters and monstrosities found in Sophocles’ Trachiniae. I try to understand them not as mere decorative elements, but as essential characters, as they evoke the borderline between man and beast, and compel us to rethink our conceptions of human nature. The monsters are described in the play as very rough hybrid beings, who inhabit faraway places. But the monstrosity may be also viewed as the outcome of passion, of the destructive power of Eros and Cypris. And is just through this power that the main event of the play happens: Heracles’ antithetic transformation from a hero to a monster.