Little boys who play with fire get their fingers burnt

Lisboa, Maria Manuel

doi:https://doi.org/10.3828/jrs.2019.27

Antiquity’s women in Hélia Correia1

Lisboa, Maria Manuel

Journal of Romance Studies (2019), 19, (3), 415–442.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/jrs.2019.27
Language: English
Pages: 28

Abstract

This text draws upon Hélia Correia’s classical trilogy of plays, Perdição: exercício sobre Antígona [‘Perdition: An Exercise on Antigone’], O rancor: exercício sobre Helena [‘Rancour: An Exercise on Helen’], and Desmesura: exercício com Medeia [‘Excess: An Exercise with Medea’], and to a lesser extent upon Montedemo, ‘Fascinação’ [‘Fascination’] and Insânia [‘Madness’], to explore the theme of gender conflict in tales in which power distribution in the canonic plots of Greek antiquity and in narratives of apocalypse is reversed, resulting in the de-heroicizing of male protagonists and the empowerment of female figures, with implications for Portugal’s traditional self-depiction as a nation.

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