A Feminist Research on Tragedy - Women personages in Corneille's "Oedipus" :
Since Freud proposed his theory of Oedipus complex, the modern philosophers and sociologists has considered this theory as an interpretation tool of human civilization ...
A Feminist Research on Tragedy - Women personages in Corneille's "Oedipus" :
Since Freud proposed his theory of Oedipus complex, the modern philosophers and sociologists has considered this theory as an interpretation tool of human civilization. Having a critical view on this theory which refuse to admet woman (mother/ Jocasta)as Subjet, the feminists are seeking another symbolic model which replaces this kind of tool and shows that woman can be Subjet in human history. In seventeenth century, we can see French dramatists, imitating ancient Greek writers, have created their own "Oedipus"s. Among them we find the famous Corneille's "Oedipus" in which the author introduced a new female personage, Dirce. This is a daughter of Laius and Jocasta, in other words, a sister of Oedipus. Freud, even though he mentioned a desire of female child and that of woman, wasn't really sure of what he was saying. So he called the woman desire,'a dark continent'. And neither in Sophocles's work nor in original Greek legend we find any daughter of Laius and Jocasta. We just have daughters -Antigone, Ismene- born of the incestuous couple, Oedipus and his mother. With this new personage created by Corneille, it becomes possible to examine the desire of female child and her relation with her mother. As this mother-dauther relation has been omitted to examine in man psychologist's theory, the feminists, like as Irigaray and Chodorow try to restaure its importance.
On the other hand, many feminists have noticed the fact that Jocasta suicided without saying anything about her destiny which was as tragic as that of Oedipus, in Sophocles's drama. The silence of Jocasta has been considered as a representation of women's silence in human history. So in our anaysis of Corneille's "Oedipus" in which we can find rich elements of woman personage, we are interested in Jocasta's words. In addtion if we consider the creation of new types of Jocasta in twentieth century French dramatic works, like as Cocteau's "La machine infernale" and Cixous's "Le Nom d'OEdipe", telling Jocasta's desire, it seems more interesting to examine a Jocasta of Classic Age.
Jocasta speaks in Corneille's work. She loves Oedipus and protects Dirce blamed by Oedipus. But she dies without saying anything about her destiny managed by Gods.
Dirce, newly created by Corneille, reflets a good deal of author's idea in the play. She, political rival of Oedipus, represents female child's desire who envy father's power. She respects the patriarchal value and the patriarchal order. Her relation with her mother has been negated, as says the Freud's theory. But after she has found her mother's tragic destiny, she feels a symphathy for her. On the contrary Jocasta always keeps symphathies for this daughter despite her negative attitude. The relation between mother and daughter needs to be studied more in the literary works with women caracters. Because the study on this kind of relation may help to define what Freud called 'a dark continent'.
We can say Corneille, giving an active and important role to Dirce in the dramatic order make his Jocasta still remain 'silent'.