The Problem of “Unseemly Death”, “Mourning” and “Witnessing” in der Classical Tragedies

Abstract

The most important issue of our era in terms of justice is “displacement of death”, in other words the deprivation of mortal beings’ right to die. What is meant here by “displacement of death” is not euthanasia; this phrase was chosen to emphasize the unseemliness of the termination of life either by force or accidentally, but in any case due to external reasons (such as war, genocide and accidents). In our time melancholy is the projection over the society of the increase of such unseemly deaths and of them not being properly situated in the hierarchy of mourning. Nonetheless, it is possible to handle melancholy, which is a result of unlikely deaths, as the requirement of the political actor. Presently, the relationship that can be actively associated with the remains of history is possible via an improper type of mourning and an improper testimony. In this study, the issues of “unseemly death”, “mourning” and “testimony” in classical tragedies will be analysed in relation to the theories of contemporary thinkers (Freud, Butler, Benjamin, Agamben, Derrida e.g.)

Keywords

• Yas
• Tanıklık
• Ölüm
• Melankoli
• Antigone
• Eumenidler
• Yakarıcılar
• Troyalı Kadınlar