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Shame and Necessity (Sather Classical Lectures) (Paperback)

by B Williams (Author) "We are now used to thinking of the ancient Greeks as an exotic people ..." (more)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 254 pages
  • Publisher: University of California Press; New edition edition (30 Sep 1994)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0520088301
  • ISBN-13: 978-0520088306
  • Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 14.7 x 1.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 266,406 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

Although humanity has changed since the times of the ancient Greeks, this study claims that the differences are not to be traced to a shift in basic conceptions of ethical life. We are more like the ancients than we are prepared to acknowledge, and only when this is understood can we properly grasp our most important differences from them, such as our rejection of slavery. This treatise is directed towards writers such as Homer and the tragedians. At the centre of the study is the question of how we can understand Greek tragedy at all, when its world is so far from ours.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Choice or no choice?, 2 Oct 2009
By M.I. "migoe" (Newcastle, UK) - See all my reviews
  
This review is from: Shame and Necessity (Sather Classical Lectures) (Paperback)
Strictly speaking, this is a work on early drama. In tragedy, the hero is caught in a vice. 'Shame' is not a perfect translation of the original term. It comes closer to 'self-respect'. A hideous choice faces the protagonist: he is driven by that standard to commit what would otherwise be an unspeakable action - and this is his necessity. He has no choice but to do what is wrong, bt to what is wrong is forbidden. Yet he must do what is forbidden, It is forbidden by necessity not to do what is not permitted by any ordinary standard.

This dilemma is not confined to ancient drama. What should Hamlet, say, do: avenge his father by committing matricide, or shame himself by sparing his mother regardless? Any of us can face it any time. We vow at marriage to stay as a couple - yet we may be left with no choice but to part. Shame, self-respect demands remaining married, but necessity demands parting. Neiher is the right thing, and neither is the wrong. Or, in politics, to prevent killing, a government may order troops into battle - where some, or more, are certain to be killed. Death for life's sake? That is the choice; there is no other.

Drama, long ago, was described as 'an imitation of reality' And drama is not confined to the stage. All our daily life is a continuing drama: difficult, impossible, choices that we are forced to make. Should a vegetarian eat only greens, to spare life? This is self-respect/shame, for plants are living things too. Eat them and he kills them, so ending their lives. Fail to eat at all, and his own life ends. Does a pacifist defend his family by violence? We may detest a manufacturer, but need his products. Do we buy them or not?
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