Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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This thesis explores the way women in selected Euripidean tragedies engage with verbal communication and proposes that this female verbal repertoire can serve as a foundation for a feminist...Show moreThis thesis explores the way women in selected Euripidean tragedies engage with verbal communication and proposes that this female verbal repertoire can serve as a foundation for a feminist interpretation of the respective plays. Female interaction with verbal communication can be separated into three distinct categories: a) silence, b) song, and c) speech. Following this categorization, this thesis firstly delves into specific verses from Medea (259-268) and Hippolytus (710-723, 800-805) to indicate that female tragic silence entails a skillful manipulation of speech. Secondly, verses from Medea (410-430) and two fragments from Hypsipyle (752h 3-9, 759a 80-89) are examined to demonstrate how female tragic song can function as a lyrical form of feminine language. Thirdly, Pasiphae’s apologia (472e 4-12, 34-41) in the Cretans is analyzed to pinpoint how female tragic speech can be rhetorically constructed, serving as a springboard for self-exculpation and female empowerment. Drawing from French feminism and American post-structuralist feminism, this study orchestrates a dialogue between the Euripidean corpus and (post) modern feminist theory and indicates how a reader-oriented approach to the ancient texts can both honor a historically grounded reception of tragedy and suggest how modern audiences can imbue classical tragic texts with fresh meaning.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Griekse en Latijnse taal en cultuur (BA)
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In deze scriptie wordt onderzocht hoe er met de typische herkenningsplot gespeeld wordt in de Ion van Euripides. Het herkenningsthema is niet slechts een dramaturgisch middel, maar wordt ook een...Show moreIn deze scriptie wordt onderzocht hoe er met de typische herkenningsplot gespeeld wordt in de Ion van Euripides. Het herkenningsthema is niet slechts een dramaturgisch middel, maar wordt ook een thema op zich. De uitwerking van de herkenningsscènes in de vorm van een incomplete en een valse herkenning zorgt ervoor dat herkenning op zich een thema wordt waar het publiek op let. Hierdoor worden vragen opgeroepen over de mogelijkheid en validiteit van identiteit en herkenning en wat het betekent om iemand te herkennen. Het publiek vormt met attribution theory (theory of mind) een referentiekader, waarmee zij de herkenningsscènes analyseren. In de derde en laatste herkenningsscène wordt voor de personages alles inhoudelijk netjes afgerond, maar doordat herkenning op zich een thema is geworden, blijft het publiek zitten met fundamentele vragen over epistemologie en de betrouwbaarheid van menselijk redeneren. De thema’s van identiteit, epistemologie en herkenning blijven voortleven na afloop van het stuk.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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Migration is timeless: people leave their native country with different motives to settle themselves elsewhere. Scenes that unfold from such events have occasionally been taken to the stage in the...Show moreMigration is timeless: people leave their native country with different motives to settle themselves elsewhere. Scenes that unfold from such events have occasionally been taken to the stage in the genre of Greek tragedy, in the so-called ‘suppliant tragedies’. In such tragedies, the acceptance of newcomers is discussed in terms of ἱκετεία and ξενία, two social institutions of ritual acts through which ancient Greeks could accept newcomers in their social community. Yet, both social institutions evoke different associations in regard to the people involved in the acceptance of a newcomer. In order to understand this combination of both social institutions in Greek tragedy, I would like to analyse it as a means of framing. This thesis, then, investigates the ways in which the arrival and acceptance of newcomers is framed in the following Greek suppliant tragedies: Aeschylus’ Supplices, Sophocles’ Oedipus Coloneus and Euripides’ Heraclidae and Supplices.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
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When the god Dionysus arrives in Thebes with a band of Asian worshippers, he throws the city into complete disorder. By expelling all female citizens of Thebes to Mount Cithaeron, he puts in motion...Show moreWhen the god Dionysus arrives in Thebes with a band of Asian worshippers, he throws the city into complete disorder. By expelling all female citizens of Thebes to Mount Cithaeron, he puts in motion several developments that this thesis examines from the perspective of group dynamics. What happens when a new group arrives somewhere and attracts other members? What are the mechanisms at work in and dangers arising from certain groups? And what happens to the behaviour of people who are emphatically not part of the group? This thesis centres around these questions. By looking at different aspects related to the group of Theban women, who go through a radical transformation after Dionysus’ arrival, and by applying insights from modern social psychological theory, I argue that Euripides has intended to convey more universal truths about the workings of social groups and to invite the spectator to reflect on certain mechanisms in his own reality.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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Analyse van literaire verwijzingen in Aristoteles' Ethica Nicomachea geeft inzicht in de manier waarop Aristoteles literatuur gebruikt in zijn filosofische uiteenzetting en de manier waarop...Show moreAnalyse van literaire verwijzingen in Aristoteles' Ethica Nicomachea geeft inzicht in de manier waarop Aristoteles literatuur gebruikt in zijn filosofische uiteenzetting en de manier waarop Aristoteles zich verhoudt tot de traditionele rol van dichters in vierde-eeuws Athene.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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In deze scriptie heb ik de kijk op leven en dood van de verschillende personages in Euripides' Alcestis onderzocht. Aan de hand van die analyse heb ik vervolgens bekeken welke waarde er door hen...Show moreIn deze scriptie heb ik de kijk op leven en dood van de verschillende personages in Euripides' Alcestis onderzocht. Aan de hand van die analyse heb ik vervolgens bekeken welke waarde er door hen aan het leven wordt toegedicht, in het bijzonder door Pheres en Admetus (hoofdstuk 1) en Heracles (hoofdstuk 2). Leidende vragen zijn daarbij: hoe maak je onderscheid tussen verschillende levens? En valt hier überhaupt wel een zinnige discussie over te voeren?Show less
Bachelor thesis | Griekse en Latijnse taal en cultuur (BA)
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Medea wordt in de receptie vaak afgebeeld als de moordenaar van haar kinderen. De Duitse auteur Christa Wolf kan echter niet geloven dat Medea haar eigen kinderen heeft gedood. Wolf meent dat...Show moreMedea wordt in de receptie vaak afgebeeld als de moordenaar van haar kinderen. De Duitse auteur Christa Wolf kan echter niet geloven dat Medea haar eigen kinderen heeft gedood. Wolf meent dat Euripides de veroorzaker is van deze negatieve overlevering van Medea en verzet zich tegen zijn versie. Zij beweert de ware mythe, de ‘oervorm’ te reconstrueren. Met behulp van pre-Euripides versies construeert zij een nieuwe Medea-mythe, waarin Medea tot zondebok wordt gemaakt. In deze scriptie wordt bestudeerd op welke manier Christa Wolf mythe gebruikt om haar versie als de enige ware te deponeren.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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During and shortly after WOII three modern adaptations of Euripides' Alcestis appeared: Le Mystère d'Alceste by Marguerite Yourcenar (1942), Alcesti di Samuele by Alberto Savinio (1949), and The...Show moreDuring and shortly after WOII three modern adaptations of Euripides' Alcestis appeared: Le Mystère d'Alceste by Marguerite Yourcenar (1942), Alcesti di Samuele by Alberto Savinio (1949), and The Cocktail Party by T.S. Eliot. Alcestis' motivation to sacrifice herself and her reaction on returning to her husband turned out to be blank spots in Euripides' tragedy. The three modern writers gave their main characters three drastically different reasons and reactions. This could partly be explained by their relation to the Second World War.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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Current Word Order Analysis in Ancient Greek is not entirely satisfactory as it focuses on describing word order variation only in clauses, whereas in other parts of a sentence consisting of...Show moreCurrent Word Order Analysis in Ancient Greek is not entirely satisfactory as it focuses on describing word order variation only in clauses, whereas in other parts of a sentence consisting of multiple constituents there also appears variation in word order. Because of for example the occurrence of hyperbaton in these parts of the sentence, this variation seems meaningful and can possibly be described in the same terms as the variation in clauses. Therefore, in this thesis, it is proposed to apply the model not only to clauses but also to smaller segments of the text. Just like any other spoken language, the language of the messenger stories in Euripides can be segmented into Intonation Units (IU's). IU's are separated from one another by a pause or other prosodic feature such as pitch. Because of the lack of recorded data, IU-segmentation of ancient texts is in this thesis done by making use of the meter and of the syntactical segmentation criteria suggested by Scheppers (2011).Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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Several Greek tragedies revolve around the exposure of corpses and the conflict this creates between characters who support or oppose this lack of burial. Such a conflict is often between a ruler...Show moreSeveral Greek tragedies revolve around the exposure of corpses and the conflict this creates between characters who support or oppose this lack of burial. Such a conflict is often between a ruler who outlaws the burial to punish an enemy and an individual or citizen who tries to protect the body of a loved one from mutilation and dishonour. The opposition of the individual can be construed as a direct challenge of the authority of the ruler. In this thesis, burial conflicts in Sophocles’ Antigone, Sophocles’ Ajax and Euripides’ The Suppliant Women are therefore analysed as power struggles to answer the question why the conflicts arise in the first place and what role power plays in their resolution or escalation. This is done by systematically looking at the motives and justifications of the characters throughout the plays to see how they influence the outcome of the narrative.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Griekse en Latijnse taal en cultuur (BA)
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Medea kent veel gezichten in de tragedie van Euripides. Vooral met man/vrouw-verhoudingen wordt veel gespeeld. Medea's rol in haar philia met Jason is dan ook anders dan de positie die vrouwen...Show moreMedea kent veel gezichten in de tragedie van Euripides. Vooral met man/vrouw-verhoudingen wordt veel gespeeld. Medea's rol in haar philia met Jason is dan ook anders dan de positie die vrouwen normaal gesproken hadden ten opzichte van hun philoi. Dit onderzoek gaat over het spel met deze man/vrouw-verhoudingen.Show less
