The Death of Empedocles (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Friedrich Hölderlin
- First Published: 1826
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: The fifth century
- Setting: Agrigentum and Mount Etna
- Genres: Drama, Tragedy
- Subjects: Philosophy or philosophers, Death or dying, Gods or goddesses, Drama or dramatists, Life, philosophy of, Life and death, Greek or Roman times, Romanticism, Greece or Greek people
- Locales: Mount Etna, Agrigentum
Characters Discussed
Empedocles (ehm-PEHD-eh- kleez), the legendary philosopher and savant, portrayed as a healer and magician intent on committing suicide for different reasons, depending on which of the three versions of the text is under discussion. Two versions focus on his tragic flaw of hubris. In the first, Empedocles has the powers of the magician to heal and to move the elements, but his desire to be reunited with the gods causes him to disregard his people’s pleas that he return to them from exile, and ultimately to commit suicide. In the second version, before the...
[The entire page is 1116 words long]
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