Dwie lub trzy Kasandry i co o nich wiem. Kilka uwag

• Authors: Elżbieta Wesołowska

Title variants

EN

Two or three Cassandras and what I know about them. Some observations

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Cassandra is a peculiar female character in ancient mythology and literature. She appears as early as Homer’s epic, and then incidentally in Aeneid. A would-be lover of Apollo, seer, doomed to disbelief, concubine of Agamemnon, and killed with him on their arrival to Mycenae, she is tragic and it is the tragedy, where she is presented most fully, i.e. in plays by Aeschylus, Euripidesand Seneca. However, her personality traits are so poorly determined that it leaves room for the authors’ actions organising her profile anew. Andso, in Aeschyluss he is a prophetess of her impending death, but she does not try to defend herself. In Seneca, she relates what is covered from spectators’ eyes. She happens to be the symbol of reconciliation, but in Euripides’ Helen she personifies the element of revenge. She is Apollo’s medium, and at the same time she apparently discredits his prophetic power since she was able to cheat him on some occasions. Her attitude towards Agamemnon is vague, because she bemoans his death the same way Helen, whom she hates, mourns Hector’s death. Only the Greek Troades provides an opinion on the beauty of the prophetess. Afterall, Helenand Cassandra’s fatesare mysteriously intertwined. We have the right to suppose that Clytaemestra’s calling Cassandraa female swan is not accidental, although it formally seems to refer to her stage “muteness”.

Keywords

PL

Homer; Ajschylos; Eurypides; Seneka; wieszczenie; wykluczenie; niedowierzanie; motyw zemsty

EN

Homer; Aeschylos; Euripides; Seneca; foretelling; isolation; disbelief; motif of revenge

• Publisher: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Prace Filologiczne. Literaturoznawstwo
• Year: 2014
• Issue: 4(7)
• Pages: 35-46

Dates

published

2014-06-02

Contributors

author

Elżbieta Wesołowska

• Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu