The Kübler-Ross model describes, in five stages, the process by which people deal with grief and tragedy. The model was introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book On Death and Dying. The stages have become known as the "Five Stages of Grief." At the time, psychoanalysts believed that their responsibility was to usher the bereaved patient through the stages in order to expediate their arrival at acceptance. Currently the stages are regarded as too simplistic and in arbitrary order (most people move back and forth between the stages, or skip certain stages altogether).
1. Denial
"This can't be happening to me. He can't really be gone." Denial is a conscious or unconscious refusal to accept facts, information, reality, etc., relating to the situation concerned. Some people can become locked in this stage when dealing with a traumatic change that can be ignored.
2. Anger
"How could I let this happen? How could they do this? How could you leave me?" Anger can be directed towards oneself, culpable people, God, and/0r the deceased person.
3. Bargaining
Bargaining is typical with people dealing with trauma such as a break-up ("Can we start over? Can we still be friends?") or a terminal illness ("Just let me live to next year.") In cases of grief over the death of a loved one, bargaining can take more desperate and irrational forms, such as negotiating with God for the return of the deceased person.
4. Depression
Symptoms of depression include intense feelings of sadness and regret, preoccupation with dying, suicidal thoughts, slow movement and speech, lack of energy or motivation, inability to function in social situations or to complete normal day-to-day tasks, hallucinations of the deceased person.
5. Acceptance
Acceptance is the beginning of the healing process, in which the bereaved person acknowledges the finality of the loss and is able to start to move on emotionally from the depression stage.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Different versions of Electra story
Here's a comparative list of how Aeschylus (525 BC), Sophocles (495 BC), and Euripides (480 BC) interpreted elements of the Electra story.
Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Euripides (Iphigenia at Aulis): Agamemnon has second thoughts about whether he can go through with the sacrifice of his daughter. His brother Menelaus is enraged and convinces Agamemnon that hesitation would lead the army to mutiny and bring about the downfall of Greece. Iphiginia is thrilled at the prospect of marrying Achilles but she and Clytemnestra eventually discover the truth. Achilles is furious at having been used as a prop to lure the women to Aulis, and he vows to protect Iphigenia. They try in vain to change Agamemnon’s mind, but he believes he has no choice. Iphigenia has a change of heart and decides that the heroic thing to do is to die a noble death for her country. A messenger arrives after the sacrifice to inform Clytemnestra that at the last minute, the goddess Artemis switched Iphigenia’s body with a deer and the gods swept Iphigenia off to Tauris. This does not pacify Clytemnestra, who still considers her daughter to be in the hands of the gods and lost to her forever.
Murder of Agamemnon
Aeschylus (Agamemnon): Agamemnon returns victorious from the ten-year war, after plundering and ravaging Troy, with Trojan prophetess Cassandra as his concubine. The chorus notes that justice came at a great price. Clytemnestra greets Agamemnon by falsely maintaining her fidelity and persuading him to walk into the palace on crimson tapestries fit for the gods. Cassandra cries out insanely to Apollo and utters prophecies about infanticide, fatal baths, and a murderess in the house. She also predicts that a son will turn to murder the mother who had murdered his father. Cassandra enters the house, and Clytemnestra murders her and Agamemnon, and assumes the throne with her brother-in-law and lover Aegisthus. She justifies her actions to the Chorus and professes herself to be an instrument of divine justice.
Murder of Clytemnestra
Aeschylus (The Libation Bearers): Clytemnestra has a nightmare in which she gives birth to and breastfeeds a serpent. She orders Electra to mourn and pour libations on Agamemnon’s tomb to make amends. There Electra meets and recognizes Orestes, returned from exile with his friend Pylades. They appeal to Apollo, who encourages them to murder the usurpers, and they invoke the spirit of Agamemnon to work themselves into a frenzy so that Orestes may go through with matricide They enter the palace pretending to bear news of Orestes’s death, and when Clytemnestra calls in Aegisthus to share the news, Orestes comes out and murders them both. Orestes is immediately beset by Furies, visible only to him. He runs out of the palace in a fierce fit of madness, and the Chorus wonders whether the curse on the house of Atrius will ever be lifted.
Sophocles (Electra): Electra hears about Orestes’s return from her sister Chrysothemis, but refuses to believe it and tries unsuccessfully to implicate her sister in a murder conspiracy. Orestes in disguise arrives with an urn supposedly containing his ashes, then reveals himself to Electra upon recognizing her. They murder Clytemnestra first, then show her body to Aegisthus before carrying him away to be slaughtered in the same place as Agamemnon.
Euripides (Electra): Orestes and Pylades conceal their identities when visiting Electra and her husband, but an aged servant recognizes Orestes by a scar. The siblings conspire. The servant lures Clytemnestra to Electra’s house by telling her that Electra has had a child. Orestes goes off to kill Aegisthus and returns with his body. His resolve wavers at the prospect of patricide but Electra coaxes him into going through with it. The two of them kill Clytemnestra by pushing a sword down her throat, and both feel oppressive guilt. Clytemnestra’s deified brothers appear to tell the siblings that their mother received just punishment, but the matricide was still a shameful act and the siblings must atone and purge their souls of the crime. They also decree that Electra marry Pylades and that Orestes be persecuted by the Furies.
Orestes’s Guilt
Aeschylus (The Eumenides): The Furies continue to torment Orestes and follow him into the wilderness. Orestes begs Apollo to drive the Furies away, but he is powerless to do so. He directs him to the temple of Athena, who declares that there must be a trial. The jury is split, and Athena casts the deciding vote acquitting Orestes. She renames the Furies the Eumenides, the kindly ones, and announces that mercy should take precedence over vindictiveness. Orestes returns to Greece to assume his place as king, and his punishment is complete.
End of the Curse
Euripides (Iphigenia at Tauris): Iphigenia is the high priestess of Artemis, and her role is to sacrifice Greek strangers who come to Tauris. She interprets a dream she had as meaning that Orestes is dead and she is the last remaining member of her family. Orestes and Pylades appear, and Orestes recounts that after praying to Apollo to drive away the Furies that have followed him all over Greece and driven him to madness, Apollo sent him to Tauris to steal a statue of Artemis, which will purify Orestes and end his suffering. The two are captured but Iphigenia recognizes them. The three of them steal the statue and escape.
Sacrifice of Iphigenia
Euripides (Iphigenia at Aulis): Agamemnon has second thoughts about whether he can go through with the sacrifice of his daughter. His brother Menelaus is enraged and convinces Agamemnon that hesitation would lead the army to mutiny and bring about the downfall of Greece. Iphiginia is thrilled at the prospect of marrying Achilles but she and Clytemnestra eventually discover the truth. Achilles is furious at having been used as a prop to lure the women to Aulis, and he vows to protect Iphigenia. They try in vain to change Agamemnon’s mind, but he believes he has no choice. Iphigenia has a change of heart and decides that the heroic thing to do is to die a noble death for her country. A messenger arrives after the sacrifice to inform Clytemnestra that at the last minute, the goddess Artemis switched Iphigenia’s body with a deer and the gods swept Iphigenia off to Tauris. This does not pacify Clytemnestra, who still considers her daughter to be in the hands of the gods and lost to her forever.
Murder of Agamemnon
Aeschylus (Agamemnon): Agamemnon returns victorious from the ten-year war, after plundering and ravaging Troy, with Trojan prophetess Cassandra as his concubine. The chorus notes that justice came at a great price. Clytemnestra greets Agamemnon by falsely maintaining her fidelity and persuading him to walk into the palace on crimson tapestries fit for the gods. Cassandra cries out insanely to Apollo and utters prophecies about infanticide, fatal baths, and a murderess in the house. She also predicts that a son will turn to murder the mother who had murdered his father. Cassandra enters the house, and Clytemnestra murders her and Agamemnon, and assumes the throne with her brother-in-law and lover Aegisthus. She justifies her actions to the Chorus and professes herself to be an instrument of divine justice.
Murder of Clytemnestra
Aeschylus (The Libation Bearers): Clytemnestra has a nightmare in which she gives birth to and breastfeeds a serpent. She orders Electra to mourn and pour libations on Agamemnon’s tomb to make amends. There Electra meets and recognizes Orestes, returned from exile with his friend Pylades. They appeal to Apollo, who encourages them to murder the usurpers, and they invoke the spirit of Agamemnon to work themselves into a frenzy so that Orestes may go through with matricide They enter the palace pretending to bear news of Orestes’s death, and when Clytemnestra calls in Aegisthus to share the news, Orestes comes out and murders them both. Orestes is immediately beset by Furies, visible only to him. He runs out of the palace in a fierce fit of madness, and the Chorus wonders whether the curse on the house of Atrius will ever be lifted.
Sophocles (Electra): Electra hears about Orestes’s return from her sister Chrysothemis, but refuses to believe it and tries unsuccessfully to implicate her sister in a murder conspiracy. Orestes in disguise arrives with an urn supposedly containing his ashes, then reveals himself to Electra upon recognizing her. They murder Clytemnestra first, then show her body to Aegisthus before carrying him away to be slaughtered in the same place as Agamemnon.
Euripides (Electra): Orestes and Pylades conceal their identities when visiting Electra and her husband, but an aged servant recognizes Orestes by a scar. The siblings conspire. The servant lures Clytemnestra to Electra’s house by telling her that Electra has had a child. Orestes goes off to kill Aegisthus and returns with his body. His resolve wavers at the prospect of patricide but Electra coaxes him into going through with it. The two of them kill Clytemnestra by pushing a sword down her throat, and both feel oppressive guilt. Clytemnestra’s deified brothers appear to tell the siblings that their mother received just punishment, but the matricide was still a shameful act and the siblings must atone and purge their souls of the crime. They also decree that Electra marry Pylades and that Orestes be persecuted by the Furies.
Orestes’s Guilt
Aeschylus (The Eumenides): The Furies continue to torment Orestes and follow him into the wilderness. Orestes begs Apollo to drive the Furies away, but he is powerless to do so. He directs him to the temple of Athena, who declares that there must be a trial. The jury is split, and Athena casts the deciding vote acquitting Orestes. She renames the Furies the Eumenides, the kindly ones, and announces that mercy should take precedence over vindictiveness. Orestes returns to Greece to assume his place as king, and his punishment is complete.
End of the Curse
Euripides (Iphigenia at Tauris): Iphigenia is the high priestess of Artemis, and her role is to sacrifice Greek strangers who come to Tauris. She interprets a dream she had as meaning that Orestes is dead and she is the last remaining member of her family. Orestes and Pylades appear, and Orestes recounts that after praying to Apollo to drive away the Furies that have followed him all over Greece and driven him to madness, Apollo sent him to Tauris to steal a statue of Artemis, which will purify Orestes and end his suffering. The two are captured but Iphigenia recognizes them. The three of them steal the statue and escape.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Audio/Video Recordings of Mourning Rituals
Death wail of a Torres Strait Islander
Death wail, male vocal solo
Death crying, male vocal solo
The death wail is a keening, mourning lament, generally performed in ritual fashion after the death of a member of a family or tribe. The practice is most commonly associated with Indigenous Australian peoples. These British Library recordings were made on wax cylinders by the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait, Australia in 1898.
South Indian Funereal Wails
Background, recordings and analysis of traditional weeping songs and wails performed by professional South Indian mourners.
Waiwai mourning chant
The Waiwai people are indigenous to Guyana and the north central area of the Brazilian Amazon close to the border with Venezuela. Traditional dances imitate movements of local animals and birds.
Funeral ceremony of the Tiwi
Youtube clip. The Tiwi are indigenous of the Tiwi islands in Australia. Mourning rituals include body painting and not feeding oneself (being fed by others). Narrative dances ritually depict everyday life and historical events.
Funeral ceremony of the Aboriginal
Youtube clip. Contemporary Aboriginal Australians of the Arnhem Land. Warning: images of the deceased.
Aguaruna Mourning 1977
From Anthropology Professor Michael F. Brown: "This is about 5 minutes of an intensive mourning event in the Upper Amazon of Peru. A young man had died, apparently of complications from dysentary, but . . . who knows what actually killed him? Anyway, the audio quality is pretty bad because I had the tape machine in my backpack. It sounds chaotic and it was. Toward the very end of the tape, though, you can get a sense of the unusual way women keen at such events. It's a musical form of extreme weeping that is hard to sort out from the noise of others screaming, men crying and shouting out threats to the unnamed sorcerers who took the man's life. It was even more intense in person than it sounds on the sample." Read an excerpt of Prof. Brown's fieldnotes here.
Death wail, male vocal solo
Death crying, male vocal solo
The death wail is a keening, mourning lament, generally performed in ritual fashion after the death of a member of a family or tribe. The practice is most commonly associated with Indigenous Australian peoples. These British Library recordings were made on wax cylinders by the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait, Australia in 1898.
South Indian Funereal Wails
Background, recordings and analysis of traditional weeping songs and wails performed by professional South Indian mourners.
Waiwai mourning chant
The Waiwai people are indigenous to Guyana and the north central area of the Brazilian Amazon close to the border with Venezuela. Traditional dances imitate movements of local animals and birds.
Funeral ceremony of the Tiwi
Youtube clip. The Tiwi are indigenous of the Tiwi islands in Australia. Mourning rituals include body painting and not feeding oneself (being fed by others). Narrative dances ritually depict everyday life and historical events.
Funeral ceremony of the Aboriginal
Youtube clip. Contemporary Aboriginal Australians of the Arnhem Land. Warning: images of the deceased.
Aguaruna Mourning 1977
From Anthropology Professor Michael F. Brown: "This is about 5 minutes of an intensive mourning event in the Upper Amazon of Peru. A young man had died, apparently of complications from dysentary, but . . . who knows what actually killed him? Anyway, the audio quality is pretty bad because I had the tape machine in my backpack. It sounds chaotic and it was. Toward the very end of the tape, though, you can get a sense of the unusual way women keen at such events. It's a musical form of extreme weeping that is hard to sort out from the noise of others screaming, men crying and shouting out threats to the unnamed sorcerers who took the man's life. It was even more intense in person than it sounds on the sample." Read an excerpt of Prof. Brown's fieldnotes here.
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