Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs
Publication Date
Spring 4-2-2018
Abstract
This thesis explores tragic drama as a corresponding ritual to the incubation ritual in the cult of Asclepius and theorizes that this ritual is psychologically cathartic and healing. I argue that in Ajax and Philoctetes, Sophocles marks this cathartic ritual through nosological language, setting, and social context. In my first chapter, I explore Sophocles’ use of the language of madness (mania) and illness (nosos) in Ajax to show the exacerbation of the audience’s psychological state. Next, I show that catharsis is achieved through the negotiation and subsequent burial of Ajax. In my second chapter, I argue that Sophocles uses both nosological and eremetic language in Philoctetes, together with the isolated and suggestive setting of Lemnos, to achieve catharsis. The drama accomplishes catharsis with the promise of Philoctetes’ healing by Machaon, son of Asclepius, and his reintegration into the Greek forces at Troy.
Keywords
Sophocles, Ajax, Philoctetes, Catharsis, Asclepius, Healing
Document Type
Thesis
Language
English
Degree Name
Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
Level of Degree
Masters
Department Name
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
First Committee Member (Chair)
Monica S. Cyrino
Second Committee Member
Lorenzo F. Garcia, Jr.
Third Committee Member
Osman Umurhan
Recommended Citation
Mata, Molly C.. "Drama as Dream: Sophoclean Tragedy and the Cult of Asclepius." (2018). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/fll_etds/126
Included in
Classical Literature and Philology Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons, German Language and Literature Commons
