Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek Novel

This article discusses three trial scenes from three different ancient Greek novels (by Chariton, Achilles Tatius, and Longus), in which naïve justice seems to be deliberately subverted. The titular concept of “naïve justice” is defined here in terms borrowed from Aristotle’s Poetics, where the ter...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Bruce D. MacQueen
Format:	Article
Language:	deu
Published:	Adam Mickiewicz University 2016-12-01
Series:	Ethics in Progress
Subjects:	justice moral ambiguity ancient Greek novel fictional jurisprudence popular fiction
Online Access:	http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/eip/article/view/8293

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spelling	doaj-fee36e2f0ff6409eb27a7eb57383097b2020-11-25T03:56:16ZdeuAdam Mickiewicz UniversityEthics in Progress2084-92572016-12-017210.14746/eip.2016.2.38043Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek NovelBruce D. MacQueen0University of Tulsa This article discusses three trial scenes from three different ancient Greek novels (by Chariton, Achilles Tatius, and Longus), in which naïve justice seems to be deliberately subverted. The titular concept of “naïve justice” is defined here in terms borrowed from Aristotle’s Poetics, where the term “double resolution” is used, disparagingly, of plots in which the good characters are all rewarded and the bad characters all punished. The argument is made that the trial scenes under discussion should raise doubts in the reader’s mind as to which of the parties is truly guilty, and which is truly innocent. This can be seen as a reflection of unexpectedly mature ethical sensibilities on the part of these often-underestimated writers, who seem to have grasped that the “double resolution” may make the reader feel good, but has little to do with the real world. http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/eip/article/view/8293justicemoral ambiguityancient Greek novelfictional jurisprudencepopular fiction
collection	DOAJ
language	deu
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Bruce D. MacQueen
spellingShingle	Bruce D. MacQueen Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek Novel Ethics in Progress justice moral ambiguity ancient Greek novel fictional jurisprudence popular fiction
author_facet	Bruce D. MacQueen
author_sort	Bruce D. MacQueen
title	Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek Novel
title_short	Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek Novel
title_full	Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek Novel
title_fullStr	Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek Novel
title_full_unstemmed	Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek Novel
title_sort	naïve justice in the ancient greek novel
publisher	Adam Mickiewicz University
series	Ethics in Progress
issn	2084-9257
publishDate	2016-12-01
description	This article discusses three trial scenes from three different ancient Greek novels (by Chariton, Achilles Tatius, and Longus), in which naïve justice seems to be deliberately subverted. The titular concept of “naïve justice” is defined here in terms borrowed from Aristotle’s Poetics, where the term “double resolution” is used, disparagingly, of plots in which the good characters are all rewarded and the bad characters all punished. The argument is made that the trial scenes under discussion should raise doubts in the reader’s mind as to which of the parties is truly guilty, and which is truly innocent. This can be seen as a reflection of unexpectedly mature ethical sensibilities on the part of these often-underestimated writers, who seem to have grasped that the “double resolution” may make the reader feel good, but has little to do with the real world.
topic	justice moral ambiguity ancient Greek novel fictional jurisprudence popular fiction
url	http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/eip/article/view/8293
work_keys_str_mv	AT brucedmacqueen naivejusticeintheancientgreeknovel
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Naïve Justice in the Ancient Greek Novel

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