Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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Seneca's tragedies contain quite a few horrifying scenes. Seeing such a spectacle, for instance a bloody ritual or a man chasing his offspring with an axe, would cause the spectator to experience...Show moreSeneca's tragedies contain quite a few horrifying scenes. Seeing such a spectacle, for instance a bloody ritual or a man chasing his offspring with an axe, would cause the spectator to experience horror and dread, logically speaking. However, the on-stage recipients of the horror have quite varying reactions to the scenes. This thesis aims to examine these scenes and the reactions to said scenes within a theoretical framework of 'delightful horror', which explains how horror can and should be enjoyed.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
closed access
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
Nowadays a lot of people have existential crises. They ask themselves: Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? Why must I suffer this existence? Their question reflects an age old question:...Show moreNowadays a lot of people have existential crises. They ask themselves: Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? Why must I suffer this existence? Their question reflects an age old question: suffering for what? They fall prey to nihilistic tendencies, a loss of all meaning. A pain, a depression, a pessimism that they do not seem to be able to shake. They lack the strength of Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders. The burdens of the earth too heavy for them to bear. Taking life serious is a massive mountain weighing upon one’s shoulders. I want to release these darkened souls of humanity from the anchor that keeps them from lifting up to the lightness of the clouds and teach them of the laughter of the child. By reading Nietzsche's 'Genealogy of Morality' through the 'metamorphosis of Zarathustra' I want to show how the metaphor of 'the Child' is able to combat and overcome the nihilism, that Nietzsche speaks of in the Genealogy, through the act of not-taking-serious, or even more so, making-fun-of any form of nihilism. When we understand the steps of the metamorphosis, the reading of the Genealogy of Morality will become clearer. Not only will this provide us with a deeper insight into the Genealogy, but it will also offer us the necessary tools to extend beyond the conclusion of the Genealogy of Morality. This conclusion being: “to conclude by saying what I said at the beginning: man still prefers to will nothingness, than not will at all. . .” It is in this conclusion that we find the importance of this thesis. The genealogy of morality ends up finding ‘the will to nothingness’, or ‘nihilism’, the conclusion that there is no meaning to be found in the universe. Yet, the genealogy offers no real salvation to overcoming this will to nothingness. It is through the metamorphosis that we can find this overcoming of the great danger to mankind, its most sublime temptation and seduction. It is through the metamorphosis that we can combat standstill, mankind looking back wearily, turning its will against life, and the onset of the final sickness becoming gently, sadly manifest. By reading the genealogy of morality through the metamorphosis of Zarathustra I will be able to go beyond Nietzsche’s teachings and show that the not-taking-serious, which I view as the most important aspect of the child, combats nihilism. To do this we first have to understand the three metamorphoses. In the second part, I will explain the genealogy of morality through the metamorphosis. In the last part, I will argue how the child is able to overcome the nihilism in the genealogy of morality.Show less
