AWAKEN ERYNIES

Abstract

Introduction of the characters of Greek mythology in contemporary literature is not unfamiliar. Yet, sometimes these characters are encountered in different images, through indirect references in literature and their recognition is getting more and more complicated. Three Erinyes, who would punish those who were accused in violation of the domestic tranquility (whether it was an incest or a murder), are such characters of the Greek mythology that are difficult to recognize. Erinyes do not appear in their real form in the novel by Max Frisch “Homo Faber” and Gabriel Garcia Marquez “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”. In the work by Frisch, “sleeping Erinys” is a statue, which is exhibited in the museum. The characters of the novel – Walter Faber and Sabeth - find out that the sleeping Erinys not only wakes up but becomes infuriated, when you look at her standing by the “Birth of Venus”. These two examples of art – “sleeping Erinys” and the “Birth of Venus” – should reflect the main essence of the novel: the birth of Venus is connected with the birth of love. Venus is the Goddess of love and any love is permitted for her and she protects lovers of any kind. Nevertheless, the characters who support Venus forget about Erinys who is sleeping next to Venus and that it is easy to wake her up and infuriate, when you commit a crime. Snake-haired Erinys’s punishment is that one of the characters of the novel, Sabeth, dies because of a snake’s bite. In the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the reader remembers Erinys when he understands that the brothers-murderers, Vicarios cannot get rid of blood, smell, and insomnia, similar to three Erinyes in Greek mythology and literature. The dog-headed Erinyes follow the wrong-doers barking; even killed Santiago Nasar cannot get rid of the barking dogs in the story. This passage reveals pseudo-Erinyes; the dogs should not be employed to present true Erinyes. The real Erinyes follow other wrong-doers – twins Vicarios. Accordingly, murdered Santiago Nasar should not be considered a wrong-doer. In order to make hints easy for the reader, Marques begins his story with one comparison. The murdered is compared to a pig, which should remind the reader of the “Odyssey”, in particular, one extract when Agamemnon tells Odysseus the story of his death. Agamemnon is a character, whose death led Orestes to take revenge and who cannot find peace and is followed by Erinyes. Freeing Orestes from Erinyes became possible only after Athena convinced them that they should protect the justice instead of revenge. Frisch and Marques introduced new interesting features to the popular characters of the Greek mythology – three Erinyes – and by introducing Erinyes in their stories, they provide the reader with the possibility of new interpretation.