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“And They Lived Happily Ever After”? A Tentative Taxonomy of (More or Less) Happy Endings in Euripides

  • Heinz-Günther Nesselrath
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Playing in the Sun: Ancient Theatre Between Disciplines
This chapter is in the book Playing in the Sun: Ancient Theatre Between Disciplines

Abstract

The paper looks at twelve tragedies of Euripides in which a ‘happy’ or ‘happier’ ending plays a prominent role and tries to establish a classification of ‘types’ of these endings. For Telephus, Alcestis, Dictys, Andromache, Iphigenia among the Taurians, Helen, and Ion, the outcome may be described as a true ‘happy ending’, with good people being rewarded and bad people being punished; in Heracles and Oedipus, the respective heroes have to suffer great catastrophes, but in the end their lot is lightened by a sympathetic human being — this may be called a ‘happier ending’. Regarding Electra and Orestes, one might speak of ‘faux’ happy endings, because the main characters are perpetrators of serious crimes (or at least attempt to commit them), and yet are ‘rewarded’ with a continued existence; and, finally, in Danaë a happy ending seems tantalizingly near, but is cruelly aborted.

Abstract

The paper looks at twelve tragedies of Euripides in which a ‘happy’ or ‘happier’ ending plays a prominent role and tries to establish a classification of ‘types’ of these endings. For Telephus, Alcestis, Dictys, Andromache, Iphigenia among the Taurians, Helen, and Ion, the outcome may be described as a true ‘happy ending’, with good people being rewarded and bad people being punished; in Heracles and Oedipus, the respective heroes have to suffer great catastrophes, but in the end their lot is lightened by a sympathetic human being — this may be called a ‘happier ending’. Regarding Electra and Orestes, one might speak of ‘faux’ happy endings, because the main characters are perpetrators of serious crimes (or at least attempt to commit them), and yet are ‘rewarded’ with a continued existence; and, finally, in Danaë a happy ending seems tantalizingly near, but is cruelly aborted.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. List of Illustrations XI
  5. Introduction XII
  6. Part I: Dramatic Texts: Form, Music, Narrative
  7. Bacchylides’ Ode 5 and Sophocles’ Trachiniae: Lyric Poetry and Tragedy 3
  8. On Misunderstanding Apollo: The Oracle and Its Consequences in Soph. O.R. 13
  9. “And They Lived Happily Ever After”? A Tentative Taxonomy of (More or Less) Happy Endings in Euripides 21
  10. Fantastic Beasts and How to Use Them: Animal Characters and Choruses in Old Comedy 45
  11. Juxtaposing and Contrasting Modes of Speech Presentation in Aristophanes’ Knights 624–690: Narrative Techniques, Performance, and Plot 81
  12. A ‘Metic’ Prometheus in Aristophanes’ Birds 101
  13. Ein neues Fragment des Komödiendichters Aristomenes 121
  14. “Is Your Roof Leaking Anywhere?” Euripides’ Danae Transformed Into Menander’s Samia 137
  15. Osservazioni sull’uso delle soluzioni anapestiche nei trimetri giambici di Filemone 147
  16. Part II: Theatre, Society, Perception
  17. The Audience in the Time of the Athenian Theatrocracy 171
  18. Tür, Bühnenkran, Ekkyklema: Zu Aristophanes’ Technik der Evokation des Imaginativen 199
  19. Remarks on the Ancient Theatre in Aegina 219
  20. Dikaiopolis’ Spatiotemporal Coordinates in Aristophanes’ Acharnians 235
  21. Spielen und Tanzen für die Demokratie. Zur politischen Funktion des Theaters in den „Fröschen“ des Aristophanes 257
  22. On Comedy, Football and (Once Again) the Impact of Theatre on Spectators’ Reactions 287
  23. Clio Smiles: Greek Comedy As and For Historiography 307
  24. Meditation und Panegyrik in Brixen: Joseph Reschs Pastor bonus (1748) 321
  25. “I Had a Little Nut-Tree” 338
  26. Part III: Dramatic Texts and Theatre Through the Eyes of Ancient Scholars
  27. Un teatro per l’impero. Le citazioni drammatiche in Plinio il Vecchio e Svetonio 347
  28. Julius Pollux on the Theatre (4.99–154) 371
  29. Taking it on Trust?: Euripides and the Epistemological Tradition 389
  30. Scholars on Comedians on Lyric Poets: Ar. Nub. 967 from Stesichorus to Didymus 407
  31. Citazioni di Eschilo negli scholia all’Iliade 431
  32. Where Narrative Meets Drama: argumentum as a Term for (Realistic) Fiction 439
  33. Poetae comici satyrographi. Euanthius’ griechische Komödiengeschichte in bikulturellem Kontext 455
  34. List of Contributors 473
  35. General Index
  36. Index of Passages
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111594804-003

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. List of Illustrations XI
  5. Introduction XII
  6. Part I: Dramatic Texts: Form, Music, Narrative
  7. Bacchylides’ Ode 5 and Sophocles’ Trachiniae: Lyric Poetry and Tragedy 3
  8. On Misunderstanding Apollo: The Oracle and Its Consequences in Soph. O.R. 13
  9. “And They Lived Happily Ever After”? A Tentative Taxonomy of (More or Less) Happy Endings in Euripides 21
  10. Fantastic Beasts and How to Use Them: Animal Characters and Choruses in Old Comedy 45
  11. Juxtaposing and Contrasting Modes of Speech Presentation in Aristophanes’ Knights 624–690: Narrative Techniques, Performance, and Plot 81
  12. A ‘Metic’ Prometheus in Aristophanes’ Birds 101
  13. Ein neues Fragment des Komödiendichters Aristomenes 121
  14. “Is Your Roof Leaking Anywhere?” Euripides’ Danae Transformed Into Menander’s Samia 137
  15. Osservazioni sull’uso delle soluzioni anapestiche nei trimetri giambici di Filemone 147
  16. Part II: Theatre, Society, Perception
  17. The Audience in the Time of the Athenian Theatrocracy 171
  18. Tür, Bühnenkran, Ekkyklema: Zu Aristophanes’ Technik der Evokation des Imaginativen 199
  19. Remarks on the Ancient Theatre in Aegina 219
  20. Dikaiopolis’ Spatiotemporal Coordinates in Aristophanes’ Acharnians 235
  21. Spielen und Tanzen für die Demokratie. Zur politischen Funktion des Theaters in den „Fröschen“ des Aristophanes 257
  22. On Comedy, Football and (Once Again) the Impact of Theatre on Spectators’ Reactions 287
  23. Clio Smiles: Greek Comedy As and For Historiography 307
  24. Meditation und Panegyrik in Brixen: Joseph Reschs Pastor bonus (1748) 321
  25. “I Had a Little Nut-Tree” 338
  26. Part III: Dramatic Texts and Theatre Through the Eyes of Ancient Scholars
  27. Un teatro per l’impero. Le citazioni drammatiche in Plinio il Vecchio e Svetonio 347
  28. Julius Pollux on the Theatre (4.99–154) 371
  29. Taking it on Trust?: Euripides and the Epistemological Tradition 389
  30. Scholars on Comedians on Lyric Poets: Ar. Nub. 967 from Stesichorus to Didymus 407
  31. Citazioni di Eschilo negli scholia all’Iliade 431
  32. Where Narrative Meets Drama: argumentum as a Term for (Realistic) Fiction 439
  33. Poetae comici satyrographi. Euanthius’ griechische Komödiengeschichte in bikulturellem Kontext 455
  34. List of Contributors 473
  35. General Index
  36. Index of Passages
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