{"title":"Discontinuity and Debate in Seneca’s Troas","authors":"D. Freas","doi":"10.1353/CLW.2021.0006","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT:This article argues that dramatic disjuncture in Act 2 of Seneca’s Troas can be understood to serve a philosophical purpose: the removal of Achilles’ shade–the external, supernatural causation for Polyxena’s sacrifice–opens up the space for Agamemnon and Pyrrhus to engage in an ethical debate. A comparison with Euripides’ Hecuba, an important source for Troas Act 2, lays bare how Seneca uses discontinuity, both dramatic and intertextual, to imbue debate–dialectic–with the power not just to interrogate the mytho-graphic tradition but to cultivate critical thinking: the contemplation of actions in the absence of their explicit justification.","PeriodicalId":46369,"journal":{"name":"CLASSICAL WORLD","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2021-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1353/CLW.2021.0006","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"CLASSICAL WORLD","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/CLW.2021.0006","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"CLASSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
ABSTRACT:This article argues that dramatic disjuncture in Act 2 of Seneca’s Troas can be understood to serve a philosophical purpose: the removal of Achilles’ shade–the external, supernatural causation for Polyxena’s sacrifice–opens up the space for Agamemnon and Pyrrhus to engage in an ethical debate. A comparison with Euripides’ Hecuba, an important source for Troas Act 2, lays bare how Seneca uses discontinuity, both dramatic and intertextual, to imbue debate–dialectic–with the power not just to interrogate the mytho-graphic tradition but to cultivate critical thinking: the contemplation of actions in the absence of their explicit justification.
期刊介绍:
Classical World (ISSN 0009-8418) is the quarterly journal of The Classical Association of the Atlantic States, published on a seasonal schedule with Fall (September-November), Winter (December-February), Spring (March-May), and Summer (June-August) issues. Begun in 1907 as The Classical Weekly, this peer-reviewed journal publishes contributions on all aspects of Greek and Roman literature, history, and society.