Classical Literature Interpretation & Mythology (Yaşar University)

1119 Classical Literature Interpretation and Definition of Classical Mythology Week 1 / Session 2 Ayşegül Avcı Yaşar University Definition(s) No comprehensive and satisfactory ONE definition Several theories used together to interpret and analyse “No single theory of my...

1119 Classical Literature Interpretation and Definition of Classical Mythology Week 1 / Session 2 Ayşegül Avcı Yaşar University Definition(s) No comprehensive and satisfactory ONE definition Several theories used together to interpret and analyse “No single theory of myth can cover all kinds of myths. … Definitions of myth will tend to be either too limiting or so broad as to be virtually useless (BUT) Definitions are enlightening because they succeed in identifying particular characteristics of different types of stories and thus provide criteria for classification.” p. 3 in Morford and Lenardon Definitions: What is Myth? Myth → word, speech, tale, story Narrated orally or in written form Represented in painting, sculpture, music, dance, mime Represented in various media (drama, song, opera, movies, series) Myth (true myth, myth proper) vs. legend/saga, folktale, fairytale, etc.  Definitions: Myth proper and the rest Myth → a comprehensive (but not exclusive) term for stories primarily concerned with the gods and humankind’s relations with them Saga & Legend → (used interchangeably) relation to history. Fanciful and imaginative but roots in historical fact, ex. Icelandic sea voyages Folktale → tales of adventure, includes fantastic beings, enlivened by ingenious strategies on the part of the hero. Objective is to entertain, ex. Keloglan Fairytale → (may be classified as particular kinds of folktales) short, imaginative, traditional tales with a high moral and magical content, ex. Cindrella Is Myth Real? “Myth is a many-faceted personal and cultural phenomenon created to provide a reality and a unity to what is transitory and fragmented in the world we experience-the philosophical vision of the afterlife in Plato and any religious conception of a god a mythic, not scientific, concepts.” p. 4 FACT and FACTUAL? → Transitory, temporary, periodic MYTH → eternal SO → myth and factual truth need not be mutually exclusive! Myth and Religion Myth → concerned with gods, religion, supernatural, and deals with creation, the nature of god and humankind, afterlife, other spiritual concerns Myth and religion → belief (to be true), provide basis for devout religious belief in contemporary life, ceremony and cult, temples, ritualist interpretation. Explains the origin of creation, individual and society. SO → What is the difference between myth and religion? Myth and Etiology Etiology → aitia or cause Mythmaker → primitive scientist, to explain facts that could not be explained with then-obtained information Myths EXPLAIN → physical world (earth, heavens, sun, moon, stars), source of beauty and goodness/evil and sin, nature and meaning of love… BUT Does not specify and distinguish myth from any other form of expression that explains (science, religion, art) Rationalism vs. Metaphorical/Symbolic Euhemereus (ca. 300 BC) → gods were men deified for their great deeds, such as kings. Vs. Antirationalists → traditional tales hide profound meanings, details of the story are symbols for universal truths. Max Müller → 19th cent. Myths are nature myths (refer to meteorological and cosmological phenomena, ex. Zeus in control of sky and weather)  Myth and Psychology Emphasis on sexuality (infantile sexuality), theory of unconscious, interpretation of dreams, identification of Oedipus complex Dreams → fulfillment of repressed and disguised wishes. Mind goes into “dream-work” to relieve anxiety. Dreams are to be analyzed through symbols Freudian interpretation of myths → symbols are varied and many and often sexual (ex. Phallic → stick, swords). To systematize the incoherent visions and impulses of the (sleep) world, finding patterns revealed in motifs and symbols of myth. Sigmund Freud  Oedipus Complex “His fate moves us only because it might have been our own, because the oracle laid upon us before our birth the very curse which rested upon him. It may be that we are all destined to direct our first sexual impulses toward our mothers, and our first impulses of hatred and resistance toward our fathers; our dreams convince us that we were. King Oedipus, who slew his father Laius and wedded his mother Jocasta, is nothing more or less than a wish-fulfillment – the fulfillment of the wish of our childhood. But we, more fortunate than he, in so far as we have not become psychoneurotics, have since our childhood succeeded in withdrawing our sexual impulses from our mothers, and in forgetting the jealousy of our fathers… As the poet brings the guilt of Oedipus to light by his investigation, he forces us to become aware of our own inner selves, in which the same impulses are still extant, even though they are suppressed.” Sigmund Freud “Interpretation of Dreams” *The Murder of Laius, by Joseph Blanc, Paris  Myth and Psychology cont. Myths project collective unconscious (a revelation of the continuing psychic tendencies of the society) Difference between personal and collective unconscious Personal → concerns matters of an individual’s own life Carl Jung Collective → embraces political and social questions involving the group Myths contain images / “archetypes” → traditional expressions of collective dreams, developed over thousands of years, of symbols upon which the society as a whole has come to depend; patterns involved in a whole story or situation; a behavior pattern; an inherited scheme of functioning Ex. Oedipus complex because it is a pattern in how a humanbeing behaves collectively. Not specific to Oedipus BUT represent collective unconscious.  Myth and The Structuralists Myth is a mode of communication, like language or music (not the sound but the structure, or the relationship of sounds to other sounds matter). Not ONE version of myth is right, it is a living organism, all versions are valid, all parts contribute to the existence of the whole. Different versions and parts compose the whole in structure Requires analytical approach, breaking down each myth into its components Assumes → 1. permanency of patterns in human behavior, structure is same all ages and all societies, 2. society has a consistent structure and functional unity. Myths are derived from the structure of the mind and is binary: Oppositional. Via myth society finds a resolution in this opposition and thus avoid Claude Lévi-Strauss unpleasant contradictions. Myth is mediative  Structure is linear, having an unchanging temporal sequence → one element in the myth always follows another and never occurs out of order (vs. Strauss → elements may be grouped without regard to time or sequence) Analysis of a myth into constituent parts: 1. A perceptible pattern or structure will emerge 2. It will be possible to find the same structure in other myths, thus making it easier to organize the study of myths 3. It will be possible to compare the myths of one culture Vladimir Propp with those of another 4. As a result of this comparison, it will be easier to appreciate the development of a myth prior to its literary presentation. Myth and The Structuralists  Myth and The Structuralists Offers a synthesis of structural theories with the more traditional approaches Classical myths have a historical dimension with successive layers of development, during which the original tale has been modified to fit the cultural or other circumstances of the time of its retelling Structure of a tale is shaped by its human creators and by the needs of the culture within which it is developed → ineradicably anthropomorphic (fits the needs and expectations of both the teller and the audience, whether it is a city, family, state or culture group) Walter Burkert Feminist Critical Theory Approaches mythology from the perspective of women Interprets the myths by focusing on the psychological and social situation of the female characters Focuses on the binary nature of human society and human mind → male vs. female  Women in Greek Society City States → meager, conflicting, impossible to generalize. position of women differs based on region and time Citizens if both parents had citizenship (Aristotle) No voting rights Important role in religious ceremonies, outspoken, artistic expression *A woman places her robe in a chest in a fifth century B.C. Greek relief, National Geographic Theme of Rape Themes → passion, lust, love, pursuit, hunter/hunted Conflict → The right of king/god vs. seduction Love story vs. victimization Glorification of male supremacy vs. beautiful idyll Female chastity, virginity (Artemis) vs. passion, love (Aphrodite) Ex. Troy of Helen vs. Rape of Helen * The Rape of Helen, by Jacopo Tintoretto, National Art Museum, Madrid  Homosexuality Accepted and accommodated as part of life in the ancient world Not a sin BUT subject to “unwritten” rules Social code / primary motive → education of a higher order, the molding of character and responsible citizenship in young/old relations vs. promiscuity, effeminacy despised in two mature men Ex. Zeus & Ganymede *Olympia Archeological Museum, Greece