5. Classical Humanism and Judeo-Christianity in Tragedy (Obj. 3)

Donna Shotwell

Prophecy of Tragedy

            Like many Judeo-Christians today the Greeks believed in the art of prophecy. Almost all tragedies include a prophecy of some kind to aid in outlining the plot and themes of the story. Prophecy relates to objective 3a where cultures are “confident enough to face failure,” facing failure means reflecting back on mistakes and looking for foreshadowing that may have warned a person about the future. Everyone during some point in their life will say, “if only I listened to the warning signs then I wouldn’t have gotten to this mess or had to go through that.” Tragedy needs to include a prophecy to prepare the audience for the horror and spectacle as well as to confirm what the cause of the problem is, and to remind the audience why things are happening as prophesied.

            Prophecy during the classical Greek period was focused on known prophets who got their power from the gods. In Oedipus the King, Teiresias is an old blind prophet who in historical myth gained his blindness from involvement with Athena or Zeus and Hera. Zeus gave Teiresias his ability to prophesy similar to Judeo-Christianity where god gives the apostles the gift of prophecy. Cassandra in Agamemnon also receives her prophesying gift from one of the gods Apollo.

In both of the tragedies no one in the plays wants to believe the prophets because the listener is not listening to reason; therefore, letting fate gain the power over free will. Teiresias serves to reinforce the plot of the Oedipus tragedy by revealing that Oedipus will fall and figure out who his parents are in lines 490-530. He sets up the anticipation of figuring out what is going to happen and moves the story into the detective phase by getting Oedipus to look for answers about his life. In Agamemnon, Cassandra is used to prepare the audience for the spectacle of revealing the death of both her and Agamemnon. She also reminds the audience that Clytemnestra is full of rage and vengeance. She says, “…she’s the net, the one who sleeps with him, that woman, murder’s willing agent. Let those Furies insatiably at work” (1316-1318). As a result, in Greek tragedies the prophets’ tragic flaws include being an outsider from another town or city, making them seen as less powerful or as a joke not to be taken too seriously by the chorus or king. On the other hand the prophets give the audience foreshadowing and remind them that fate prevails over free will.

            As objective 2a states, “How does Tragedy adapt to changing social and historical circumstances?” Tragedy modernizes the plays from the Greek classical by making the prophets more important figures and introducing them at the beginning of a play instead of at the end. For instance, at the beginning to Hippolyus Aphrodite prophesizes what she is planning to do to Hippolyus. Aphrodite outlines the themes and plot of the play and doesn’t rely on an outsider to deliver her message. A person’s relationship with the gods is very intimate, so Aphrodite has inside connections that are believable to everyone as well as power to determine the fate of the people.

The art of prophecy as in Aphrodite’s case foreshadows the end of the tragedy genre by explaining the “resolution of the problem and the restoration of justice, often accompanied by the death, banishment, of quieting of the tragic hero” (Genre handout). Aphrodite says that Hippolyus will suffer and justice will be restored to her. She explains what is going to happen and why. The same happens in Samson Agonistes where Samson prophesizes his own fate at the beginning in lines 220-235. He reflects on his mistakes and blames himself for not listening to his parents about marrying a woman from another tribe. Samson used his free will to do what he wanted and it has cost him his life. A more modern text O’Neill’s Desire under the Elms, uses the brother’s Peter and Simeon to foreshadow what is going to happen. On page ten Simeon says Eden is “Like his Paw.” And Peter says, “Dead spit an’ image!” Not only does Eden look like is father, but he does everything his father does in terms of loving the same women.

            Prophecy has changed with the modernization of the plays and has become more of a foreshadowing effect on the audience then an explanation of events to follow. Tragedy has to include some form of prophecy to help guide the audience toward the tragic events and resolutions. We didn’t spend very much time exploring the effect prophecy has on tragedy in class, but prophecy is apparent in most tragedies, so it must be a key element in the shaping of the text and story.