John Dryden (or perhaps Nathaniel Lee, since Oedipus was a collaboration and it isn't clear who wrote which part) wrote:
> 3. Till Alecto free the dead > From their eternal Bands; > Till the Snakes drop from her Head, > And whip from out her Hands. On Dec 13, 2011, at 2:23 PM, David Tayler wrote: > > Alecto is one of the Furies--the Furies had snakes for hair, like the > Gorgons (think Medusa)--and here the meaning is difficult to determine. > In addition to the obvious context of the play Oedipus, in which the > song appears, the Furies appear in many classical works. Reading the > various references in Greek plays, Virgil, and so on, the best fit I > can find is from Dante's Inferno, where Dante and Virgil try to pass > the gates of Dis--which is guarded by the Furies and the fallen > angels--wherein are held the heretics as well as the more serious > criminals. > > I think the sense of Alecto freeing the dead is ironic. The Furies were > first and foremost known for being relentless avengers, therefore the > sense may be that "Music will always beguile our cares till beyond the > end of time," as it would be impossible for the Furies to change their > stripes and let their prisoners free, just as we use the expression > "till Hell Freezes over." Freeing the dead, literally if temporarily, is the business at hand in Act III. Tiresias is trying to raise the ghost of Laius, who will tell everyone that Oedipus--who killed him and married his queen-- is his son. Tiresias' efforts at first get nothing more than some subterranean groans, and he says: Tir. Am I but half obeyed? infernal gods, Must you have musick too? then tune your voices, And let them have such sounds as hell ne'er heard, Since Orpheus bribed the shades. So he cues the musical numbers, meant to pacify (disarm, with snakes and whips dropping) Alecto, the spirit guarding the dead, just as Orpheus pacified Charon (or other underworld spirits, if you're a Gluck fan). -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
