Thésée

Summary

Dominique Pagani approaches Theseus mainly through Racine's Phèdre. He first sees in him the hero who, like Heracles, purges the earth of its monsters, and he gives the killing of the Minotaur a political meaning: the end of the tribute Athens paid to Crete12. But he also insists on an aged Theseus, an unfaithful seducer struck by a "repeated amnesia": he abandons Ariadne on Naxos, forgets the white sail and thereby causes his father's death34. In the tragedy, Theseus is the focal point of the city's circle. Absent, roaming at the edge of the realm of the dead and believed dead, he opens the question of succession and lets confessions and transgressions break loose5. Hippolytus, in his view, keeps the slayer of monsters from his father and rejects the womaniser. He also recalls Theseus's dictatorial side, since he exterminated Aricia's brothers, and the welcome he gives Oedipus in Athens67. Finally, he likens Siegfried to Theseus.

1. 1#2.6 Between crisis and war: philosophising?1 Aug 2017 · 1:17:28
2. 2#7 The Greeks, myth and music17 Dec 2020 · 21:31
3. 3#2.7 Between crisis and war: philosophising?1 Aug 2017 · 6:22
4. 4#4.4 Angélique (by Nerval)15 Jan 2018 · 1:02:58
5. 5#2.6 Between crisis and war: philosophising?1 Aug 2017 · 1:34:27
6. 6#10 Benefits and harms of amnesia…24 Dec 2020 · 41:30
7. 7#10 Benefits and harms of amnesia…24 Dec 2020 · 1:04:51

Summary produced automatically from 41 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.