Marina Carr and Greek Tragedy Feminist Myths of Monstrosity

Marina Carr and Greek Tragedy examines the feminist transposition of Greek tragedy in the theatre of the contemporary Irish dramatist Marina Carr. Through a comparison of the plays based on classical drama with their ancient models, it investigates Carr's transformation not only of the narrative but also of the form of Greek tragedy. As a religious and political institution of the 5th-century Athenian democracy, tragedy endorsed the sexist oppression of women. Indeed, the construction of female characters in Greek tragedy was entirely disconnected from the experience of womanhood lived by real women in order to embody the patriarchal values of Athenian democracy. Whether praised for their passivity or demonized for showing unnatural agency and subjectivity, women in Greek tragedy were conceived to (re)assert the supremacy of men. Carr's theatre stands in stark opposition to such a purpose. Focusing on women's struggle to achieve agency and subjectivity in a male-dominated world, her plays show the diversity of experiencing womanhood and sexist oppression in the Republic of Ireland, and the Western societies more generally. Yet, Carr's enduring conversation with the classics in her theatre demonstrates the feminist willingness to alter the founding myths of Western civilisation to advocate for gender equality.

Product details

• Authors: Salomé Paul, Salome Paul
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 30.07.2025
• Subject: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet
• EAN: 9781032288888
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3228888-8
• Pages: 204
• Series: Routledge Studies in Irish Literature
• Subjects: English, DRAMA / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Drama, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Feminism & Feminist Theory, PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / General, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Feminist, Ireland, Theatre Studies, Feminism & feminist theory, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Feminism and feminist theory, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Plays, Playscripts, Ancient (Classical) Greek, Literary studies: plays and playwrights, Tragic plays, Marina Carr, Women in Literature, myth reinterpretation, Gender and Performance, feminist theatre analysis, classical adaptation, Irish drama studies, feminist transformation of Greek tragedy