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Date Posted: 19:10:29 02/23/09 Mon
Author: JessieR
Subject: Hi Carol—Salaam back! Two of the “tragic figures” are from Greek literature: Jocasta, mother/wife of Oedipus, and Phaedre, wife of Theseus, who fell in love with her stepson, Hippolytus. As you might expect, the lives of these women end badly, both through suicide. (There are several versions of the play, Phaedre, so there may be one where she lives—I don’t know for sure). >>>inside for the guys>>>
In reply to: Carol P 's message, "Salaam, Jessie and Cathy, I'm doing Willoughby cartwheels in glee. For the uneducated among us, me and Claire *g*, explain the tragic dramas the names come from. The only one I know is Ulysses. I think Ulysses meets Jamie's definition of a man. He draws his lines and enforces them on those in his sphere of influence. He even drew a line with Jamie; remember he told Jamie about Jocasta's plans when he delivered the plaid and brooch. What confuses me about the lines is that they move, not according to the sin, but depending on who the sinner is. Jamie was all set to kill the *!$* that got Roger hanged, until he found out it was his cousin, then oops, the line moved. I don't like the idea of moving lines, but mine moved on reading questions 2 & 4." on 15:08:19 02/23/09 Mon

Duncan is the Scottish king Macbeth kills (aided and abetted by Lady Macbeth). Calling Duncan a “tragic figure” in Macbeth is stretching things a bit, since Duncan is more of a victim. I know of one obscure literary connection between Macbeth and Phaedre: Macbeth gets the title “Thane of Cawdor” early in the play (Castle Cawdor belongs to Macbeth and is the site of the slaying), and Robinson Jeffers, the great 20thC American poet, wrote a narrative poem called “Cawdor” that is an adaptation of the story of Phaedre, with a little bit of Oedipus thrown in (some self-blinding goes on). The poem takes place in California, so I don’t want to push this connection too far, and I doubt DG had this in mind when she named her characters Duncan and Phaedre. It’s just one of those “six degrees of separation” things that happens every now and again in literature.

How does any of this relates to our quartet in ABOSAA? Women with names like “Jocasta” and “Phaedre” tend to have “man” problems, men named Duncan need to beware power-seeking women, and anyone named Ulysses will end up separated from the woman he loves for a long, long time.

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Replies:

[> [> [> Thanks, Jessie. After I finish smacking my forehead repeatedly on the floor in embarrassment, I'm going to marvel at the things I forgot. I plead 50 years passage since I read about Jocasta, but it's downright humiliating not to have placed Duncan; I was taken with bloody hands and ghosts instead of names. Phaedre is new to me, now I have something else to read. I raise a glass of Scotch to you while I giggle over your last sentence. -- Carol P, 20:19:19 02/23/09 Mon


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