Title: Anger metaphors in Seneca's Medea
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2020, vol. 25, iss. 2, pp. 5-15
Extent
5-15
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2020-2-1
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/143311
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
Seneca's tragedies are characterized by widespread use of metaphors, emotions and personality traits of heroes and heroines often appear in imagery representations. In my study, I intend to examine the central anger metaphors and pictorial representations of Seneca's Medea, that is, the metaphors of various manifestations of the sea storm, the fire and the snake which are represented and in many cases intertwined with each other in the character of the heroine. Medea is a drama of the anger, the destructive forces in the soul, the revenge, which Seneca often expresses with the use of these pictorial representations and compares them to the destructive forces of nature. These metaphors inspired by nature highlight an important point in Seneca's philosophy: the linkage of the cosmic and the individual. My aim is to highlight Seneca's Stoic interpretation of virtuous life through these metaphors: if we do not live according to Stoic philosophy and in harmony with nature, the balance of the soul might be shaken, and emotions might take control over our rational decision-making ability. In the tragedy Seneca creates subversely a counterworld to the world of Stoic virtue, and metaphors are applied not only to the different manifestations of human nature as direct comparisons, but also to express Stoic ideals. Their various aspects are complex and versatile in Seneca's prose and poetry, thus it is also worth examining his prose works to completely understand their role.
References
[1] Cooper, J. M., & Procopé, J. F. (Eds.). (1995). Seneca: Moral and Political Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[2] Corcoran, T. H. (Transl.). (1989). Seneca: Naturales Quaestiones, Books 1–3. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[3] Fitch, J. G. (Ed.). (2018). Seneca. Tragedies, Vol. I: Hercules. Trojan Women. Phoenician Women. Medea. Phaedra. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[4] Reynolds, L. D. (Ed.). (1965). Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, Books 14–20. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[5] Stevenson, D., & Stewart, A. (Transl.). (2015). Dialogues by Seneca. Los Angeles: Enhanced Media Publishing.
[6] Bartsch, S. (2009). Senecan metaphor and Stoic self-instruction. In Idem, & D. Wray (Eds.), Seneca and the Self (Vol. 101; pp.188–221). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[7] Boyle, A. J. (2014). Medea, edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[8] Braicovich, R. S. (2017). Seneca's Medea and De ira: Justice and Revenge. Journal of Ancient Philosophy, 11, 106–119. | DOI 10.11606/issn.1981-9471.v11i2p106-119
[9] Inwood, B. (2008). Reading Seneca: Stoic philosophy at Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[10] Knox, B. M. W. (1950). The Serpent and the Flame: The Imagery of the Second Book of the Aeneid. The American Journal of Philology, 71, 379–400.
[11] Letica, A. (2016). Storm Imagery in Senecan Poetry and Prose. Discentes, 2, 50–60.
[12] Németh, A. (2017). Metadráma Seneca Medeájában. Ókor, 2, 65–70.
[13] Nussbaum, M. C. (2009). Serpents in the Soul: A Reading of Seneca's Medea. In Idem, The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics (pp. 439–483). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[14] Pratt, N. T. (1963). Major Systems of Figurative Language in Senecan Melodrama. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 94, 199–234. | DOI 10.2307/283648
[15] Rosenmeyer, T. G. (1989). Senecan Drama and Stoic Cosmology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[16] Segal, C. (2008). Boundary Violation and Landscape of the Self in Senecan Tragedy. In J. G. Fitch (Ed.), Seneca (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies; pp. 136–156). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[17] Setaioli, A. (2007). Seneca and the divine: Stoic tradition and personal developments. International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 13, 333–368. | DOI 10.1007/BF02856418
[18] Tietze, V. (2007). The Psychology of Uncertainty in Senecan Tragedy. Illinois Classical Studies, 12, 135–141.
[19] Vígh, É. (2019). Állatszimbólumtár. Budapest: Balassi kiadó.
[20] Williams, G. (2005). Seneca on Winds: The Art of Anemology in Natural Questions 5. American Journal of Philology, 126, 417–450. | DOI 10.1353/ajp.2005.0046
[2] Corcoran, T. H. (Transl.). (1989). Seneca: Naturales Quaestiones, Books 1–3. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[3] Fitch, J. G. (Ed.). (2018). Seneca. Tragedies, Vol. I: Hercules. Trojan Women. Phoenician Women. Medea. Phaedra. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[4] Reynolds, L. D. (Ed.). (1965). Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, Books 14–20. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[5] Stevenson, D., & Stewart, A. (Transl.). (2015). Dialogues by Seneca. Los Angeles: Enhanced Media Publishing.
[6] Bartsch, S. (2009). Senecan metaphor and Stoic self-instruction. In Idem, & D. Wray (Eds.), Seneca and the Self (Vol. 101; pp.188–221). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[7] Boyle, A. J. (2014). Medea, edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[8] Braicovich, R. S. (2017). Seneca's Medea and De ira: Justice and Revenge. Journal of Ancient Philosophy, 11, 106–119. | DOI 10.11606/issn.1981-9471.v11i2p106-119
[9] Inwood, B. (2008). Reading Seneca: Stoic philosophy at Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[10] Knox, B. M. W. (1950). The Serpent and the Flame: The Imagery of the Second Book of the Aeneid. The American Journal of Philology, 71, 379–400.
[11] Letica, A. (2016). Storm Imagery in Senecan Poetry and Prose. Discentes, 2, 50–60.
[12] Németh, A. (2017). Metadráma Seneca Medeájában. Ókor, 2, 65–70.
[13] Nussbaum, M. C. (2009). Serpents in the Soul: A Reading of Seneca's Medea. In Idem, The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics (pp. 439–483). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[14] Pratt, N. T. (1963). Major Systems of Figurative Language in Senecan Melodrama. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 94, 199–234. | DOI 10.2307/283648
[15] Rosenmeyer, T. G. (1989). Senecan Drama and Stoic Cosmology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[16] Segal, C. (2008). Boundary Violation and Landscape of the Self in Senecan Tragedy. In J. G. Fitch (Ed.), Seneca (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies; pp. 136–156). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[17] Setaioli, A. (2007). Seneca and the divine: Stoic tradition and personal developments. International Journal of the Classical Tradition, 13, 333–368. | DOI 10.1007/BF02856418
[18] Tietze, V. (2007). The Psychology of Uncertainty in Senecan Tragedy. Illinois Classical Studies, 12, 135–141.
[19] Vígh, É. (2019). Állatszimbólumtár. Budapest: Balassi kiadó.
[20] Williams, G. (2005). Seneca on Winds: The Art of Anemology in Natural Questions 5. American Journal of Philology, 126, 417–450. | DOI 10.1353/ajp.2005.0046