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surely that aspect of the oedipal and pre-oedipal mother which forbids and punishes infantile desires. |
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The Psychology of the Suppliants |
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The main points of this psychoanalytic interpretation of the Suppliants and the answers that are provided by it to the play's traditional problems may be summarized as follows, before going on to see how it affects our understanding of the entire Danaid trilogy: |
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1. The Suppliants is a complex elaboration in dramatic form of two common mythical situations: the father who denies prospective suitors access to his desirable daughter, and the maiden who flees in fear from any sexual encounter. |
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2. Because of this incestuous attachment to their father, the Danaids are unable to love other men and view potential usurpers of Danaos' position as violent rapists. |
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3. The incestuous fantasy is concealed (and managed) by the Danaids through a series of substitutions in which Danaos is replaced by Pelasgos and Zeus, the play's two figures of paternal power and dominance (just as myths and cultures regularly project the father's authority onto kings and gods). |
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4. Just as their father is replaced, ultimately, by Zeus in the Danaids' fantasy, their unnamed mothers are replaced by their ancestress Io, whom Zeus loved, whom the Danaids refer to as "mother," and with whom they identify. |
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5. The Danaids' aversion to marriage is not caused by the violence and repulsiveness of the sons of Aigyptos, but itself causes the mixture of fear and hatred with which they regard their cousins. The aversion itself is doubly determined: on one hand they are saving themselves for the father they love; on the other hand their hysterical fear of sex is a common attribute of the ravished maidens of myth and has its modern counterpart in the typical anxieties which prospective sexual activity produces in an adolescent girl. |
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6. Critics have uniformly complained of the "wooden" characterization of Danaos, especially his long awkward silences, his inept advice, and his abrupt departure when the Egyptians appear. While the play was thought to be primitive, these "faults" could be explained by reference to Aeschylus' inexperience in handling a second actor, but such explanations will no longer do. Danaos is a father who has been replaced by Pelasgos and Zeus in his daughters' fantasy; his silence or absence while the Danaids argue with Pelasgos or pray to Zeus is a sign that he has been replaced, whereas his presence, required to reveal the core of the fantasy, is nevertheless an embarrassment. His fatuous speeches are a reminder of the infantile nature |
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