Away from Achilles’s footsteps
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34624/fb.v0i19.34708Keywords:
LaBute, Achilles, tragedy, heroism, selfishnessAbstract
In the Iliad, Achilles refuses to take part in the battle, because Agamemnon takes Briseis, as spoils of war from the king of the Myrmidons, for himself. Is this well-known fact the literary precedent that Ben, the protagonist of The Mercy Seat, updates? Written by Neil LaBute in the aftermath of the attack on the Twin Towers, this 2002 play explores the limits of human selfishness: Ben and Abby take advantage of the dust to which thousands of their compatriots have been reduced to to spout cheap philosophy in the extramarital bedroom. Like Achilles, who abandons the Greeks out of spite, Ben ignores national and family tragedy out of selfishness. However, Achilles remains a hero, Ben, for many, a pusillanimous scoundrel. In this article, I will try to determine the underlying reasons for this discrepancy.
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