Mind-reading, rhetoric, and "Antigone"

• Autores: Ruth Scodel
• Localización: Connecting rhetoric and Attic drama / Milagros Quijada Sagredo (ed. lit.), María del Carmen Encinas Reguero (ed. lit.), 2017, ISBN 978-88-7949-684-1, págs. 23-41
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Tragedy often depicts speech aiming at persuading an interlocutor, and often the speakers know each other well. In ancient rhetorical theory the audience is conceived generically, as young or old, rich or poor, for example, but tragic speakers, addressing particular individuals, could often attempt a richer Theory of Mind, tailor their attempts at persuasion to what they believe would be likely to convince this person. Sometimes it seems that they do not try; they argue for the sake of the argument, and for the benefit of the audience (Jason and Medea in "Medea"). Sometimes they are successful in judging how best to convince this interlocutor (Clytemnestra in "Agamemnon"). The most interesting cases, however, are those where characters try, but fail, and the interactions between Creon and Haemon in Sophocles "Antigone" are striking failures