Orpheus (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Jean Cocteau
- First Published: 1927
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Tragicomedy
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century
- Setting: Thrace, Greece
- Genres: Drama, Mythological literature, Tragicomedy
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Poetry or poets, God, Death or dying, Creative process, Ethics, Visions, epiphanies, or revelations, Greece or Greek people, Underworld or Hades
- Locales: Greece, ancient, Thrace, ancient
Characters Discussed
Orpheus (OHR-fee-uhs), a poet. An impulsive and self-centered writer, he is abused by the need to understand truth and to convey his insights in verse. Easily irritated by his wife’s demands on his attention, he gives in to his passions, reflected to petty vindictiveness, jealousies, and anger. In listening intensely to the soundings of the prophetic Horse, he disregards the presence of his wife and induces within her the pain of rejection. This marital conflict begs for resolution, but through her attempts to vindicate these slights, Eurydice destroys...
[The entire page is 979 words long]
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- Orpheus (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
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- Orpheus (Masterplots II: Drama)
See Also:
Jean Cocteau (Cyclopedia of World Authors)Jean Cocteau (Drama)Jean Cocteau (Poetry)Jean Cocteau (Dictionary of World Biography)Jean Cocteau (Long Fiction)
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