Abstract

VORSATZ, Ingrid. Tragic irony, language's equivocationess and ethical dimension: note upon man's Ode in Sophocles' Antigone. Tempo psicanal. [online]. 2013, vol.45, n.1, pp. 135-145. ISSN 0101-4838.

The so called Tragic irony is well known as a distinctive feature of Sophocles' text. This remarkable feature could be related to the elaborated use of the Ancient Greek language as well as to its polysemic character. Nevertheless, this use of irony, beyond a stylistic literary resource, involves an ethical dimension. Therefore, when the Sophoclean text could lead to misunderstanding, precisely there the Tragic hero, choosing one sense instead of another, chooses, in fact, his own destiny. It is precisely due to this paradox, which is inherent to his ethos, that the Tragic hero shall (soll) engage himself in action. Act comes out from one's fundamental helplessness (Hilflosigkeit), and not from what one knows. Perhaps this is the lesson that the Tragic hero could teach the Modern subject - who is also psychoanalysis' subject -, foreclosed by the scientific approach. The wish may only be accomplished by an act, breaking through knowledge - passant (pas sans) le savoir - in an ethical dimension.

Keywords : psychoanalysis; ancient tragedy; ethics; language; subject.

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