Marriage to Death: The Conflation of Wedding and Funeral Rituals in Greek Tragedy

The link between weddings and death--as found in dramas ranging from Romeo and Juliet to Lorca's Blood Wedding--plays a central role in the action of many Greek tragedies. Female characters such as Kassandra, Antigone, and Helen enact and refer to significant parts of wedding and funeral rites, but often in a twisted fashion. Over time the pressure of dramatic events causes the distinctions between weddings and funerals to disappear. In this book, Rush Rehm considers how and why the conflat...