by Thomas; Kohn
24. Goffman (1986) 131.
25. As the modern theater tends to be. Of course, a certain amount of freedom is allowed. But for the most part, a modern audience expects the illusion that the characters are realistic people, behaving in a natural manner, whose actions are somehow visible as if through an invisible fourth wall. Indeed, Schechner (1988) and Goffman (1986) 432–35 discuss the uncomfortable and sometimes violent reaction to attempts to alter the relationships between audience and performers. For discussions of the different expectations of ancient and modern audiences, see Taplin (1977) 28–39 and 273–75, as well as Goldhill (2007).
26. Of course, such audience address can also be detected in Greek drama, for example any of Aristophanes' parabases.
27. Goffman (1986) 238.
28. Schechner (1988) 9.
29. Boyle (1997) 83, discusses Seneca's limited and varied use of the messenger speech; but cf. Kohn (2007) for an expanded definition of this type of speech and subsequent analysis.
30. Cf. Sutton (1986) 24 and 55, who suggests some kind of stage effects. The obvious parallel, both in terms of stated effects and the uncertainty of scholars concerning whether and how they would have been produced, is the earthquake and subsequent destruction of Pentheus' palace in Euripides' Bacchae. On stage effects in Greek tragedy, see Dingel (1971) 354.
31. See the discussion in the Oedipus chapter of the way this was handled in a recent performance.
32. See Kohn (2004–5) 163–65.
33. Zwierlein (1966) 45–51. Zwierlein uses these supposed violations as further ammunition for his attack on theatrical performance of the tragedies. On the rule in Greek tragedy, see Marshall (1994) 53–61, as well as Flickinger (1936) 162–95.
34. Sutton (1986) 28–32.
35. Marshall (1998) 86–95.
36. See Fitch (1981).
37. This does not include the Chorus, characters who do not speak, or mute guards and attendants.
38. Marshall (2006) 83–87.
39. On the latter idea, see DeForest (1989) 71–73.
40. In a modern context, consider the 1987 musical Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. In the original Broadway production, there were two quite significant occurrences of role doubling. Robert Westenberg played both the Wolf and Cinderella's Prince. Both characters are notorious womanizers who seem kind at first but prove untrustworthy. Further, Tom Aldredge played both the Narrator and the Mysterious Man. The former begins the play with the words “Once Upon a Time…” and continues to tell the story until his death in act 2. The latter character turns out to be the father of the Baker who had abandoned his family. The Baker first attempts to distance himself from his father, and then thinks that he is following in his footsteps when he runs away from his wife and child. But in the end, the Baker takes up his responsibilities. This is shown symbolically as he holds his infant son and begins to tell him the story, starting with the words “Once Upon a Time…” Thus, the Baker is seen acting not like his actual father, but like the other character his father's actor portrays.
41. Marshall (2003) 270–71.
42. Sutton (1988) 105–8.
43. Gould (1985) 275.
44. Remember also that from the mid-fifth century on, Greek tragedy awarded a prize for best actor as well as best playwright, implying a lack of difficulty in recognizing who was playing which role.
45. Consider the modern example of Hugo Weaving in the 2005 film V for Vendetta, in which he wears a blank, white mask throughout. Although the mask never changes, Weaving successfully conveys a wide range of emotions.
46. See Goffman (1986) 230–33 on soliloquy and direct address.
47. On stichomythia in both Greek and Senecan tragedy, see Seidensticker (1969).
48. The only exception, unsurprisingly, is the unfinished Phoenissae; but even there it is possible to conjecture where Seneca might have taken advantage of silent servants.
49. Goffman (1986) 207.
50. See Taplin (1977) 79–80.
51. Sutton (1986) 45–46 suggests that Megara is portrayed by a mute actor in act 3, but see the discussion below of the Hercules Furens.
52. The Messenger will give one of them the name Plisthenes, while the other remains unnamed.
53. Polyxena and Astyanax will lose their lives momentarily, while Cassandra has only until she gets to Mycenae to live.
54. For an extensive study of the Chorus, see Davis (1993), especially chapter 1 on when it is onstage and chapter 2 on its identity in the various plays.
55. Calder (1975) 33.
56. Poetica 56a25–32.
57. Ars Poetica 193–201.
58. Rutenberg (1998) 14–16.
59. Goffman (1986) 227.
60. The content is discussed by many scholars, including Bishop (1968) and Davis (1993).
61. Sutton (1986) 35–36.
62. See further Davis (1993) 39–63.
63. See also Sutton (1986) 36. Hine (2000) 122 agrees.
64. Keulen (2001) 165–66 suggests that the second choral song is performed by a second Chorus of Greek soldiers, because of the content of the song. But this seems unnecessarily complicated.
65. Ironic, because Oedipus himself does not know who he really is.
66. This conjecture is complicated by the fact that one manuscript family gives the play's title as Thebais; see Frank (1995) 1. The lack of a Chorus could suggest Seneca's technique for composing, implying that he wrote the episodes first, and then filled in the choral songs. This would depend, however, on Seneca having a regular practice. It also would have more credence if, in fact, the episodes as we have them were finished, simply needing polish and lyrics for a complete tragedy. This is not the case, as we have at best incomplete fragments of three (or possibly four) episodes.
67. Or, rather, the Chorus exits at a certain point, and returns with another identity.
68. The parallel of Aeschylus' Agamemnon would suggest Mycenaean elders.
69. See the discussion of Brink (1971) 248–51.
70. On the issue of scene division in Roman comedy, see Hammond, Mack, and Moskalew (1970) 21–22 and Flickinger (1936) 194–95.
71. Cf. Sutton (1986), Fitch (2004), and Töchterle (1994), who all consider this final song to be part of the fifth act, whereas Boyle (1997) 83, agrees that this play has a sixth act.
72. As it is, for example, by Tarrant (1976) 295.
73. Keulen (2001) 124 refers to the passage as a carmen amoebaeum or a kommos, while Fantham (1982) 220 ff. calls it “the First Choral Ode and Lyric Dialogue.”
74. See the brief discussion of Boyle (1997) chapter 4, note 45.
75. Cf. Bishop (1968) 197, who, although providing an analysis of Senecan metrical practice, laments that “Seneca employed a limited number of meters and combinations of them in the choral odes of his tragedies. This is in sharp contrast with the seemingly endless variety found in Greek tragedies.”
76. On the issue of breaking the lines into trimeters or a combination of dimeters and monometers, see Fitch (1987a).
77. This is in addition to the passage of anapests sung by Hippolytus at the very beginning.
78. In fact, both the first and third passages in the Agamemnon include anapests, meaning that both the Chorus of Mycenaean elders and the Chorus of Theban women use that meter in their entrance songs.
79. Rosenmeyer, Ostwald, and Halporn (1963) 20.
80. Vitruvius, de Arch. 5.6.2 and 5.7.2.
81. On the withdrawal of the Chorus during the play in earlier Roman tragedy, see Capps (1895) 298.
82. Sutton (1986) 37–41.
83. Davis (1993) 19.
84. On the scholarly discussion concerning the choral reentry, and especially the question of whether there is a secondary Chorus, see further in chapter 6.
85. Davis (1993) 17–18.
86. Goffman (1986) 233.
87. Here the Chorus also comments upon hearing noises within the palace.
88. There may be a thematic reason
for this change of practice in the Oedipus. The entrance of Creon at 202–5 occurs before Oedipus has learned the truth about his parentage and the death of Laius, whereas those of the Messenger and Oedipus take place after. Seneca may have altered the meter to reflect the change in Oedipus' status.
89. See Menander, Dyskolos 230–32, Aspis 246–49, Epitrepontes 169–71, and Perikeiromene 261–66. On the influence of Greek New Comedy on Senecan tragedy, see Tarrant (1978) 227–28.
90. With the obvious exception of the Phoenissae. Capps (1895) 297–98 discusses the interaction of the Chorus with other characters in earlier Roman tragedy.
Chapter 2
1. Weil (1897) 315–22.
2. Indeed, Ahl (2008) 197, in his list of dramatis personae, assigns Phorbas to the fourth actor. Granted, the Oedipus, along with the Agamemnon, is unusual in requiring a fourth actor; but this resource is only to be employed when absolutely necessary. And as was discussed above, chapter 1, the fourth actor is used exclusively to portray young girls.
3. Most notably Rutenberg (1998) 17 and Ahl (2008) 200 and 203.
4. See Kohn (2004–5), 170–74 for an interpretation of why the playwright would have wanted all four characters onstage at the same time and able to speak.
5. See also Davis (1993) 54–55.
6. The name “Oedipus” will not be spoken until line 216 (Oedipodae); after that, it will recur only three times more: line 916 (Oedipus), line 943 (Oedipoda), and line 1003 (Oedipodam). It is interesting to note that each appearance in this play is in a different case: dative, nominative, ablative, and accusative respectively. Seneca uses the genitive (Oedipodae) at Hercules Furens 496, and the vocative (Oedipu) at Phoenissae 178. The name occurs only three more times in all of Senecan tragedy: Phoenissae 89, 313, and 553.
7. Sutton (1986) 53.
8. Boyle (2011) 128–29 points out that this action shows Oedipus as the infant, or creature who walks on four legs in the morning, from the riddle of the Sphinx. When he rises, he becomes the creature who walks on two legs in the afternoon. And at the end of the play, when he supports himself with a staff, he is the creature who walks on three legs in the evening.
9. Fantham (1996b) identifies this as an example of prolongation or “rhetorical enjambment by first speaker.”
10. In its only appearance in all of Senecan tragedy, the name Iocasta does not occur until line 1005, after she has, in fact, been recognized as Oedipus' mother.
11. Sutton (1986) 53.
12. Zwierlein (1986), Töchterle (1994), Fitch (2004), and Boyle (2011) side with E, while Häuptli (1983) adopts the reading of A.
13. Fitch (2004) 27, “to himself.”
14. Rutenberg (1998) 17, disagrees and so increases Jocasta's role in his adaptation.
15. Sutton (1986) 53, but he is not adamant about this, saying about a possible entrance at the start of the next act, “if he does not stay onstage for the parodos.”
16. Sutton (1986) 53.
17. The extispicium can also be divided into parts: (1) The sacrificial animals are led to the altar. (2) Incense is burned and the flames observed. (3) The victims are slaughtered. (4) Manto examines the entrails. (5) Tiresias states his intention to summon the ghost of Laius.
18. Davis (1993) 22, 31 similarly argues that the Chorus will remain onstage for the rest of the play.
19. The beginning of a new action unit may suggest a pause.
20. I.e., Phaedra 1201–12 and Medea 740–51.
21. Zwierlein (1966) 24–25 and 31–32.
22. Fitch (2000) 9–11.
23. Sutton (1986) 23.
24. Rosenmeyer (1993) 242–43. Part of his thesis is also that Oedipus has exited, since the smoke from the sacrificial pyre is said to loop around the king's head. Hollingsworth (2001) 142–43 offers evidence from the language of the scene to support Rosenmeyer, while Porter (1996) 80, is unconvinced by Rosenmeyer's explanation.
25. Ahl (2008) 212–13.
26. Kohn (2000) 272.
27. Suetonius, Nero 12.2.
28. Fitch (2000) 9–11.
29. Walker (1969). Kragelund (1999) makes much the same point.
30. Sutton (1986) 23.
31. The deaths of the cow and bull clearly foreshadow the ultimate fates of Jocasta and Oedipus. The former will kill herself once she discovers the truth, while the latter will do everything he can to deny it.
32. The best ancient discussion the ritual is Cicero's de Divinatione; see also Pease (1920) ad 1.16, 1.119, and 2.32. Useful information can also be obtained from Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals. For more recent discussions, see RE 7 (1912) s.v. “haruspices,” cols. 2451 ff.; Halliday (1913) 184–204; and Van Der Meer (1987).
33. For a discussion of the liver in ritual, and which side is “disfavorable,” see Van Der Meer (1987) 147–52. This is clearly a reference to the events of the Septem Contra Thebas, which will follow Oedipus' exile.
34. It would be incapable of breathing anyway, since the cow is dead and Manto is holding the lungs in her hands.
35. This last detail provides an argument for why actual drugged animals are not likely, why the dancers are more probable, and why imaginary bovines are most likely.
36. An uncertain Sutton (1986) 53 raises the possibility that Oedipus exits here, saying that he might enter at 509, “if he does not stay onstage for the following choral ode.”
37. Scholars, for example, Sluiter (1941) ad 404, and Curley (1986) 112 and 129, note 13, have objected to this and other statements in this song as not being suitable for a body of Theban citizens. This has led to various alternate readings. Zwierlein (1986), Töchterle (1994), Fitch (2004), and Boyle (2011) all accept armatus from the R and E branches, meaning that Bacchus is armed with a thyrsus. Häuptli (1983), on the other hand, prints armatae, and takes it that the Chorus describes a band of bacchants. I prefer armati, the reading of the A family of manuscripts, for I have no objections to these Theban elders emulating the behavior of Cadmus and Tiresias in Euripides' Bacchae (170–94).
38. An example of techniques employed to enhance vividness is the use direct quotation, first of Tiresias (571–73), and then of Laius (626–58); see Kohn (2007).
39. Possibly the same mythological cave in which Creon imprisons Antigone, and which serves as the site of both her death and that of Haemon, in Sophocles' Antigone.
40. Cf. Sutton (1986) 53, who thinks that Jocasta enters at 773, and not at 764.
41. Weil (1897) 315–22.
42. Zwierlein (1986), Töchterle (1994), Fitch (2004), and Boyle (2011) for four.
43. Häuptli (1983) sticks with the manuscript readings. See also Sutton (1986) 31, 53, who thinks Jocasta exits at line 783, thus implicitly agreeing with the manuscripts, unless the queen is thought to deliver her lines from offstage.
44. It is this kind of reasoning that led Rutenberg (1998) to import whole scenes from the Oedipus Tyrannus into his “free adaptation” of Seneca's play.
45. Sutton (1986) 31, 53 agrees that Jocasta exits here.
46. Zwierlein (1986). Fitch (2004), Häuptli (1983), and Töchterle (1994) also adopt the reading of Gronovius.
47. As does Boyle (2011).
48. Sutton (1986) 53 agrees, and has the two servants remain until 880.
49. Adding to the vividness is the direct quotation of Oedipus at lines 926–34, 936–57, and 975–77; see Kohn (2007).
50. I.e., did he come on for the purpose of telling the Chorus what had happened, or did he have some actual errand to perform, which he would now carry out?
51. This includes Sutton (1986), Fitch (2004), and Töchterle (1994), but not Boyle (1997), Boyle (2011), and Davis (1993).
52. Cf. 931–33, where the Servant reports Oedipus also making a reference to Agave.
53. Much like the sacrificial heifer at the extispicium (347–48).
54. On the issue of humor in Senecan tragedy, see Meltzer (1988).
55. For a fuller discussion of other versions, both dramatic and not, and both Greek and Rom
an, see Kohn (2001) 62–64.
56. Suetonius, Iulius 65. Nero is also said to have sung the part of Oedipus onstage (Suetonius, Nero 46.3, and Dio Cassius 63.9.4 and 63.28.5); but no other details are given.
57. Compare with Agamemnon, who is the catalyst for so much in his eponymous play, but is onstage for only thirty lines. Instead, Clytemnestra is clearly the central dramatic figure; see Kohn (2004–5).
58. For a fuller discussion of this, as well as the importance of having Creon onstage during the extispicium, see Kohn (2004–5).
59. Sutton (1986) 53.
Chapter 3
1. Kohn (2004–5) 167–68. See also the discussions of Tarrant (1976) 317–18 and Sutton (1986) 24–25.
2. Sutton (1986) 31 gives Eurybates to the same actor who plays the Nurse and Cassandra.
3. According to Pausanias; see Gantz (1993) 223. Strophius, then, would be brother-in-law to Agamemnon, cousin-in-law to Aegisthus, and nephew-in-law to Thyestes.
4. See Kohn (2004–5) 168–70 for a discussion of the dramatic reasons for having all four speaking characters present.
5. See also Davis (1993) 39.
6. Tarrant (1976) 231; Davis (1993) 55–57 echoes this idea.
7. Cf. the descriptions of choral actions in the Troades (63–116) and the Oedipus (403–4).
8. Tarrant (1976) 232.
9. Compare to HF 908–18, where Hercules tells Theseus about rites that should soon be performed.
10. See also Davis (1993) 57.
11. Davis (1993) 23 agrees.
12. Tarrant (1976) 324 and Davis (1993) 57.
13. Sutton (1986) 54 and Davis (1993) 23.
14. Tarrant (1976) 324.
15. Davis (1993) 57.
16. Calder (1975) 33.
17. Sutton (1986) 20, states that “[i]n the Roman theater the normal way to stage such apparitions was by use of a trap door.” The Ghost of Tantalus in the Thyestes, similarly, uses the trap door, while the Fury comes in and out via the center doors.
18. Compare this to the Thyestes, where the Ghost of Tantalus opens the play accompanied by an anonymous Fury, who impels the unwilling spirit to stir up trouble for the House.
19. Sutton (1986) 54 agrees that an onstage Aegisthus at this point is unnecessary.
20. Sutton (1986) 20. Compare with the Hercules Furens: Juno, another supernatural entity, specifically states that she has been ejected from the heavens (3–5), leading to the conclusion that she stands on the stage, not in a machina or on the balcony.