The language of tragedy in the works of S. Goldhill and R. Seaford

Abstract

The aim of this study is to establish the role of the language of ancient tragedy in the context of the socio-political transformations of ancient Greek society, based on the concepts of S. Goldhill and R. Seaford. The work investigates how the linguistic strategies of tragedy (Sophocles' irony, Euripides' rhetoric) and ritual-mythological semantics (R. Seaford's "inverted ritual") shaped the political communication of society. The scientific novelty lies in the comparative analysis of the approaches of Goldhill (linguistic instability as the basis of democratic criticism) and Seaford (transformation of ritual into a narrative of civic responsibility), which reveal the connection between the language of tragedy and the formation of polis identity. It is established that tragedy served as a discursive mechanism for the transition from archaic myth to political conflict, where language became a tool for reflecting on crises of power. As a result of the research, it was found that tragedy is a product of the dialectic between myth and the polis: it processes archaic plots into narratives of civic responsibility (tragedy is an "inverted ritual"); there is a change in format: from Homeric epic "reciprocity" to the conflict of the individual and the collective; the language of tragedy (Sophocles' irony, Euripides' rhetoric) became a prototype of political communication.

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About this article

Publication history

• Received: May 14, 2025.
• Published: June 22, 2025.

Keywords

• ирония Софокла
• извращенный ритуал
• язык трагедии
• С. Голдхилл
• Р. Сейфорд
• Sophocles' irony
• inverted ritual
• language of tragedy
• S. Goldhill
• R. Seaford

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