Literatura Iii: O'Neill's

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LITERATURA III

Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms


(2)
MYTH
- Expresses collective,
social/religious facts of
behaviour
- Author unknown
- Tells persuasive stories
MYTHEME
- A minimal unit in a myth
- It might be reassembled in
different versions
HIPPOLYTUS
Tragedy by Euripides
First produced 5th cent. BCE
Based on the myth of Hippolytus
- King Theseus married to Phaedra, away
- Phaedra in love with his step-son
Hippolytus by divine intervention
. Hippolytus enraged at women
. Phaedra kills herself
. Hippolytus unfairly accused of rape and
sent into exile, later dies
HIPPOLYTUS DESIRE

Greece New England


King Theseus Cabot
Phaedra Abbie
Hippolytus Eben
Hippolytus’ rage against Phaedra Eben’s rage against Abbie
Phaedra’s desire for Hippolytus Abbie’s desire for Eben
Divine intervention Maw? God?
Phaedra’s suicide -
Hippolytus’ death -
MEDEA
Tragedy by Seneca
First produced around 50
Based on the myth of Jason and Medea
- Background story: for love, Medea helped Jason
obtain the Golden Fleece, killed her own brother,
deserted her motherland
- Medea is enraged at Jason (her former lover and
father of her two children) now deserting her to
marry a princess and gain more power.
- She promises revenge: using her magical
powers, kills the bride and her father, and her
own children.
MEDEA DESIRE

Greece New England


Jason Eben?
Medea Abbie
Two children A baby
Medea’s revenge against Jason Abbie’s trance?
Medea’s love for Jason Abbie’s love for Eben
Medea’s temper Abbie’s temper
Double filicide Single filicide
Medea’s magic Abbie’s exorcism?
RETURN OF
TOTEMISM IN
CHILDHOOD
TOTEM
Animal, plant or force of nature
Ancestor and protector of a clan

Killing/Eating the totem is prohibited/punished

Members of the same totem cannot marry each other


TOTEMISM
Forms of social organization > THE FAMILY

EXOGAMY as rule

INCEST as prohibition (social/cultural construction)


Children’s love objects > INCESTUOUS
Oedipus Complex
(PATRIARCHAL) PRIMAL HORDE
An adult male leads the horde
Periodical contests to head the community
Father as totemic symbol
Children’s fear of the father
Displaced in totemic animals
Brothers joined efforts, killed/devoured their father,
ended the patriarchal horde
Children identified with their father
BATAILLE
(Revisiting)
Eroticism >
PSYCHOLOGICAL
Sexual activity >
PHYSICAL
Eroticism > PSYCHOLOGICAL

Sexual activity > PHYSICAL, PLEASURE-BOUND

Reproduction > BIOLOGICAL, DESIRE-BOUND


HOWEVER

Reproduction implies the existence of discontinuous

beings
‘Between one being and other, there

is a gulf, a discontinuity’
‘Discontinuous beings that we are,
death means
continuity of being’
EROTICISM
PHYSICAL DISCONTINUITY
EMOTIONAL INTO
CONTINUITY OF
RELIGIOUS BEING
Physical Eroticism
Practitioners’ being violated
Nakedness seeks continuity
Obscenity challenges self-control
Emotional Eroticism
Derives from material sensuality
Reciprocal affection of the lovers
Religious Eroticism
Religious sacrifice and erotic activity
Sacredness
Mystical experience
Possession of the object does not
imply death but the idea of death is
linked with the urge to possess.

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