IMPIA MEDEA. PER UNO STUDIO ‘CONTRASTIVO’ DELLE EMOZIONI ALLA LUCE DELLA TEORESI ARISTOTELICA SULL’ΟΡΓΗ ENUCLEATA NELLA RETORICA*

Abstract

One of the most striking literary female portrayals which we have inherited
from the classical world is the character of Medea, whose dramatic story has been a source of
inspiration for many literary authors, ancient and modern. Perhaps the most celebrated version
of the myth of Medea is the version which Euripides presented at the City Dionysia festival
of 431 BC in Athens. However, the myth was exploited already in archaic Greek literature. In
my paper I offer a new argument to explain and clarify the emotional contrast which existed
between the θυμός and the βουλεύματα in the soul of the Euripidean heroine. I do this by using
the contrasting paradigm of the Homeric Achilles and by focussing on the doctrine on anger as
articulated in Aristotle’s Rhetoric.