Deianira senza dolo. Pierre Frayssinet e Michèle Fabien riscrivono le Trachinie
Deianira Without Deceit. Pierre Frayssinet and Michèle Fabien Rewrite the Trachiniae

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the theatrical rewritings of Sophocles’ Trachiniae made by the French Pierre Frayssinet (1926) and the Belgian Michèle Fabien (1995). Both entitled Déjanire, these texts reinterpret the myth of Deianira’s killing of Heracles by means of a poisoned chiton, decentralizing the point of view on the female main character. The examination of the modern rewritings is made through the analysis of the figure of Deianira and the roles she plays during the drama: the wife, the rival, the sorceress, and the killer. The comparison between nineteenth century works and their hypotext shows that modern authors reinterpretate Sophocles through psychoanalysis. They put on the stage the struggle, inside Deianira, between reason and instinct, between the indulgence towards Heracles and his concubine and the desire of revenge after his betrayal. In this way, Sophocles’ naive and resigned Deianira becomes a woman who commits a crime without deceit, therefore without a conscient and fraudulent will to kill her husband, but she is prompted, in her unconscious mind, by a strong aggressive drive when she uses magic to regain Heracles, which she knows, deep in her heart, will come back to her dead.

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