Some notes on animal imagery in Euripides' Hecuba: the characterization of the hero and the transversal symbols of the bitch and the wolf

Abstract

Being it for excellence on war, puzzle solving, cities’ building or even cleaning stables, the hero was associated with the extraordinary, with a social or special aetiological condition, with the ability to overcome hardships that only the imagination could conceive. The narrative memory of the ancient hero survives the passage of time and the disappearance of its original culture through tradition or crystallization of artistic expression. With this short essay, we intend to identify some of the mechanisms in conception process of the image of the hero and its repercussions in the collective imagination, specifically those involving animal imagery and symbolic meaning. We aim to discuss how animal imagery potentiated the design of the hero and at the same time, explore the means for its universalization.