Female Acts in Greek Tragedy.

Foley (Columbia Univ.), a scholar who has long been an influential contributor to this area of study, discusses female acts concerned mostly with death ritual, marriage and inheritance, and ethical choice and argument. In her first section, Foley shows that Greek tragedy provides evidence for the attempt made by the Greek social system to control the public behavior of women in relation to death ritual. In part 2, Foley turns to what she calls "the contradictions of tragic marriage" that gave "the Attic wife a different and potentially divisive economic and social influence in her marriage." The longest of all the chapters is divided into six parts and deals with the making of difficult moral choices by a variety of female characters in Greek tragedy. In this chapter Foley deals with the great moral and ethical issues involving Electra, Antigone, and Clytemnestra. The study ends with a chapter devoted to what Foley calls anodos drama, plays involving an escape from death--e.g., Alcestis, Helen, and Iphigeneia among the Taurians. Another well-documented study of Greek tragedy from a feminist perspective, this book is recommended for upper-division undergraduates through faculty. L. Golden Florida State University