Anne Carson: Translations Irony

Anne Carson: Translations Irony

The daughter is not dead

In the story "Electra", Clytemnestra decides to kill her own husband for what he had allegedly done to their daughter, namely sacrifice her so he could gain more power. This murder sets in motion a large number of tragic events which eventually end in with the death of Clytemnestra herself. What is ironic here however is to find out is that the King was not responsible for his daughter's death and that in fact, the daughter was not even dead.

Claiming to love her daughter

In the story "Elektra", Clytemnestra is the main character, and she has a young and beautiful daughter. Clytemnestra claims that she loves her daughter more than anything else and that she is ready to protect her from harm. What is ironic however is to see that shortly after claiming that, Clytemnestra agrees to give her daughter in marriage to a man she knows will only abuse and never love her child.

Killing the one she loves

In the second story of the collection, the narrator mentioned Phaidra, a queen who falls in love with her stepson. In an effort to gain his attention, Phaidra claims that her step-son raped her. Ironically, instead of making her step-son notice her more, Phaidra caused his death and caused her own demise.

Not a hero

The main character in "Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides" is the famous Hercules, praised for being one of the biggest heroes in ancient mythology. Because of this, it is ironic to find out that Hercules was the one who killed his wife and children, thus making him a villain, not a hero as the story claims.

Almost killed the person he went to save

In the story "Iphigenia Among the Taurians" the narrator describes how Orestes went on a distant island to save his beloved sister. Ironically, however, Orestes almost kills his sister because he is unable to recognize her when he firsts meets her.

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