Erotokritos (17^th Century)

About the author: Vicenzo Cornaro

Vicenzo Cornaro was born in 1553 in Crete, a large island in south Greece, to an Italian family from Venice. Some of his most famous books are "Abraham's sacrifice”, “Erotokritos”. He died in 1616 in Xandakas, Crete. His work was the most important literary and linguistic monument of the Cretan school of literature and his work "Erotokritos" has been characterized as a masterpiece. It led to the renaissance of Cretan presence in the fields of Greek literature, art and generally Greek civilization.

The plot

In ancient Athens, king Hercules lives with his wife and his beautiful only daughter, Aretousa, whom Erotokritos, a young man, loved. Aretousa falls in love with Erotokritos because of the songs that he sings to her every night by her window.

Meanwhile, the king tries to find out, in vain, who the singer is. The lovers’ affair becomes stronger and their undercover night meetings continue. Subsequently, after the pressure by the lovers, Erotokritos’ father, whose name is Pezostratos, dares to give a gift to the king for the marriage of their kids. The king gets furious with his audacity.

King Hercules exiles Erotokritos while he imprisons Aretousa, because he rejects the option of this marriage. Instead, he suggests that Aretousa should be married to the young prince of Byzantium but she refuses. After years, when the king of a tribe attacks Hercules’ country and sieges Athens, Erotokritos, disguised and unrecognizable, rescues the town.

King Hercules, out of gratitude, offers his reign and the riches of his kingdom to the unknown savior. Erotokritos reveals his true identity, gets married to Aretousa and ascends the throne.

The main themes

• The love story between Erotokritos and Aretousa and the obstacles they faced
• The relationship between family members
• The differences between social classes
• The role of the father in the life of his daughter
• The institution of arranged marriage (προξενιό)

Main Characters

• Erotokritos
• Aretousa
• Hercules
• Pezostratos

Setting

The story takes place in Greece, at a non specific time with many references to ancient Greece.

Literary Device

• It is a novel of poetic form which reminds of traditional folk poems and songs
• Its metre is iambic with fifteen syllables
• Its language is the vernacular, with a lot of idiomatic phrases and extensive use of the Cretan dialect
• Vivid, literary and rich expression
• Metaphor
• Simile
• Opposites
• Personification

Themes/ Ideology

• In that era, we notice that women used to hold an inferior position to men. Aretousa’s father thinks that his daughter must marry a rich and highly-respected gentleman like himself whom he will choose.
• Also, we noticed the contrast between medieval apprehensions (Hercules) and Renaissance apprehensions (Pezostratos)
• Medieval mindset: what really matters is the social position, property, monarchy and ancestry
• Renaissance mindset: what really is important is knowledge, nobility and bravery.

Our Response

• We really enjoyed reading “Erotokritos”.
• We liked its love story and enjoyed its suspense.
• We were perplexed with the contrasted apprehensions between two different worlds; Medieval vs Renaissance.
• We admired Erotokritos’ bravery and Aretousa’s determination.

PRESENTATION