Feminine Archetypes of Ancient Drama in the Allegories of the Modern World

From Ancient Tragedy to the Dramaturgy of Myths - A Brief Explanation
The spectacular mechanisms of myth intersect with theater, which is, by definition, a spectacle. The notions of myth and archetype have been theorized by illustrious researchers, including Mircea Eliade<ref name"Eliade1959" />, Claude Lévi-Strauss<ref name"LeviStrauss1963" />, Aristotle<ref name="Aristotle1965" />, and Roger Caillois.
The tragic in contemporary mythical drama (with mythological influences) revives a series of female archetypal characters from Greek mythology. French contemporary theater of the 20th century, particularly in the sixth and seventh decades, through its famous existentialist writers, recovers ancient myths in the theatricalized form of humanity's parables or tragic farces (a hybrid theatrical formula that combines tragedy and comedy)<ref name="Giraudoux1964" />.
Contemporary myths, through resignification, have become allegories of the modern world, featuring characters that exhibit strong, existential characteristics, just like in ancient Greek tragedy<ref name"Girard1977" />. Jean Giraudoux<ref name"Giraudoux1964" /> and Jean Anouilh exemplify how classical archetypes were reshaped to fit modern theatrical structures.
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Mythology and Literature
Homeric man coexisted with the gods, who intervened in human affairs quite humanly. The mythology of Homeric epics, later carried into Greek tragedies, is characterized by the passion for divine genealogies and anthropomorphism<ref name"Euripides1906" /><ref name"Euripides1967" />. **Aristotle**, in his work *Poetics*, emphasized the structural importance of myth in drama, highlighting the necessity of a coherent plot and well-defined characters<ref name"Aristotle1965" />. The entire body of ancient classical literature, from Greeks to Romans, is nourished by the Homeric substance—Aeschylus<ref name"Aeschylus1979" /><ref name"Aeschylus2024" />, Euripides<ref name"Euripides1906" /><ref name="Euripides1967" />.
Fate acts implacably, leaving the hero with scarce choices. Moira (fate) operates as a faceless deity. The obsession with the sacred in contemporary theater resurfaces as a determinant of dramatic text and performance<ref name="Eliade1959" />.
Eternal Myths and Contemporary Drama
Eternal myths of antiquity—characters like Antigone, Iphigenia, Electra—are embraced by contemporary dramaturgy, preserving the mythology of eternal return or updating the sacred arhé. The palingenesis of myths in contemporary dramaturgy is marked by parody and allegory<ref name="Steiner1965" />.
Through the existential hypostases of archetypal characters, the parody and grotesque treatment of mythological tragedy become evident—especially among French existentialist writers during the sixth decade of the 20th century<ref name="Giraudoux1964" />.
Tragic farce assumes the structure of allegory and parable, blending comedic and tragic within the same context<ref name"Esslin1961" />. Eugène Ionesco explored this fusion by stripping language of meaning, transforming it into an automatic mechanism devoid of emotion or understanding<ref name"Ionesco1992" />.
The Absurd and the Feminine Symbol
The experience of existential absurdity is projected into the stereotypical, trivial mechanisms of everyday life. In contrast to classical, traditional tragedy, the theater of the 20th and 21st centuries proposes tragic farce as a dramatic genre<ref name="Esslin1961" />.
In La Cantatrice Chauve, language is stripped of meaning and transformed into an automatic mechanism of communication without authentic content<ref name="Ionesco1992" />. This perfectly reflects Eugène Ionesco’s critique of how social conventions turn human dialogue into a purely mechanical act, devoid of emotion or real understanding. In this context, the woman—through the 'bald singer'—becomes a symbol of invisibility and emptiness.
As the structures of mythical drama distance themselves from the model of ancient tragedy, adhering to a contemporary weltanschauung, the tragic situation authenticates itself within a current tragic reality<ref name"Esslin1961" />. Eugène Ionesco declares his play La Cantatrice Chauve as abstract theater—anti-thematic, anti-ideological, anti-social-realist, anti-philosophical, anti-boulevardier<ref name"Ionesco1992" />.
In this libertarian context, femininity has exhibited tenacious existential traits. Through its archetypal feminine characters, from mythology and literature—of which I have enumerated only a few—the feminist movement has acquired accents of a torrent, an unrestrained, unleashed force that sweeps away and purifies social conventions with an intensity impossible to ignore.

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