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you meet every need; beware of pollution. (368375) |
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The deference of Pelasgos to his citizenry need not be regarded as a gross anachronism, "totally irrelevant in any mythological situation" (Forrest 1960: 240). As Lloyd-Jones says, popular assemblies, as well as respect for the wishes of the people, are found in the Iliad and "Aeschylus' allusions to the power of the assembly are perfectly consonant with this state of affairs."14 |
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The Danaids evidently regard the rule of Pelasgos over his kingdom as similar to the rule of Zeus over the world.15 In their eyes he is as omnipotent in his own sphere as Zeus in his. There is no authority higher than Pelasgos (371); likewise, there is no one above Zeus (595597). For both, absolute rule is exercised from the throne itself (374, 103). In the fantasy of the Danaids, Pelasgos, like Zeus, enjoys the omnipotence of the oedipal father. In this context, his inability to act without the consent of his people demonstrates the opposition of reality to fantasy. As Méautis remarks, the Danaids "have lost their sense of, and contact with, reality" (1936: 61). In the language of psychoanalysis, the Danaids transfer to both rulers the omnipotence of the oedipal father, an omnipotence which remains "the overvaluation of mental processes as compared with reality."16 |
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The connection of Pelasgos with Danaos perhaps indicates the meaning of Danaos' silence during the confrontation between king and chorus; in the presence of a father-substitute, Danaos is again superfluous. For the same reason, the Danaids' most impressive praises of Zeus occur when Danaos is absent (86103,17 524427, 590599, 811824). After his long silence (234489), Danaos' first words to Pelasgos represent the opposition of reality to the identification of himself with the king which has been made in the eyes of the Danaids: "the nature of my shape is not similar to yours" (496). Thereupon he leaves, and the Danaids immediately look to Pelasgos as they had previously looked to their father: "How should I act?" (505). Pelasgos gives them directions which they follow explicitly. Then, like Danaos, he too leaves, saying, "Your father will not for a long time desert you" (516). Again, reality interrupts the identification of king and father,18 but who is the father who will soon return? With the king and Danaos gone, the |
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14 Lloyd-Jones (1964) 359. Rose (1957) 4041 attributes the Danaids' beliefs to the fact that they "know only of absolute kings, and suppose this is one of them; if it were so, naturally the sole responsibility would rest on him." On the other hand, Smyth (1924) 43 sees the Danaids as representative of an Hellenic culture and opposed to barbarian beliefs and customs. |
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15 Rose (1957) 41 sees a possibility of this in  |
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16 Freud (1913) 87. The equation father = king = god is a basic constituent of Freud's analysis of myth, dreams, cultural phenomena, and even neurotic symptoms. See, for especially relevant instances, Freud (1909) 241, (1919) 262, (1928a) 171, (1928b) 187, also Rank (1952) 78, n.78 and Rank and Sachs (1964) 84. |
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17 Danaos may have accompanied the choros in the parados, or he may have come with them but has not yet spoken. |
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18 The  of 517 effectively removes any ambiguity possible in  (516). |
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