Medeia em seus espelhos: figurações do phármakon em Eurípides, Nelson Rodrigues e José Triana

Abstract

This thesis aims at analyzing unique drama characters Medea, Virginia and María respectively from Medea, by Euripides; Black Angel, by Nelson Rodrigues and Medea in the mirror, by José Triana. The choice for such plays is because they share a common theme: their protagonists, although created by authors as distant in space and time, end up murdering their children, a crime considered heinous. The main idea is to examine the myth adaptation held by Euripides, the rereadings performed by the Brazilian and Cuban playwrights, and also the characters performance, based on the double meaning of the word pharmakon (drug or poison), as it is defined in Platos pharmacy, by Jacques Derrida. This study analyzes the crimes of the following characters: the sorceress Medea, in Euripidess play; the physician Ismael and the white woman Virginia, in Nelson Rodriguess and María, in José Trianas. Medea, Ismael, Virginia and María share the knowledge about pharmakon and the skill to use it to perform their crimes in terms of both praxis and discourse. In this sense, crime and violence do not derive from physical strength, but from knowledge able to promote mutilation or death.