The general aim of the Dissertation is to analyse from a political perspective the language of Sophocles’ plays, using the history of concepts methodology. The research approach is interdisciplinary, since it provides an accurate philological and historical analysis of the sources. In particular, the research focuses on the discourses pronounced by the most relevant female characters in Sophocles’ dramas. I took into account the tragic language as political, referring on how the different characters’ speeches produce relationships and connections, and cause some specific acts within the institutionalised and codified structure of a political community. I focused on several speeches of the female characters of three plays: Women of Trachis, Antigone and Electra.
In my research work I studied and problematized such concepts as “publicness”, “performativity”, “agency”, frequently used by many contemporary American philosophers and political theorists in order to analyse the language of the Ancient Greek tragedy. Since public spaces in 5th century Athens – such as the theater, the assembly, and the courthouse – were restricted to the men’s speeches, I focused on how the female speech was produced, with the aim to destabilize and criticize the very idea of “public speech” in classical Greece as gendered. In particular, I focused on three institutionalised forms of discourse, such as: the legal and judiciary discourse, the agon, and the lamentation.
The structure of the Dissertation is the following:
– A general Introduction presenting the aim of the Dissertation.
– Chapter I, describing the sources and the research methodology, reviewing the bibliography and narrating the historical context.
– Chapter II, on Deianeira, the female protagonist of Women of Trachis. It focuses on the institution of marriage and on the legal discourse.
– Chapter III, on Antigone’s and Electra’s sororal agonism. The analysis focuses on the agons between the female protagonists and their respective sisters.
– Chapter IV, on Antigone’s and Electra’s lamentations and interactions with the Chorus.
– The Conclusions and final comments.