New Insights into Literary Topoi: A Study of 'Madness for Guilt and Remorse

Abstract

[eng] The purpose of the present paper is to offer a new perspective towards the literary topoi, both in theory and practice, by elaborating on the definition of topos, as well as its similarities and differences from other literary concepts, such as motif, leitmotiv, ortheme. By focusing on the topos of 'madness for guilt and remorse', we intend to apply our theoretical proposal to a close reading of literary texts. The evolution of this topos from classical tradition to modern American drama will also be traced. The following texts will be examined: Euripides's Orestes (408 BC), Vergil's Aeneid (29-19 BC), Shakespeare's Macbeth (1606), Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Roger Malvin's Burial" (1832) and Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (1931). It is argued that the presence of this topos in the aforementioned works follows in the footsteps of Euripides's retelling of the myth of Orestes. The results of the study testify to the creative recurrence of this topic in Western literature.