Abstract/Summary

In this paper I explore Greek tragedy's self-conscious engagement with a characteristically Athenian culture of argument and debate. In tragedies set away from Athens it is frequently the case that a weaker figure has to negotiate a contract that allows him or her to speak frankly (with parrhesia) before a more powerful figure. At Athens, by contrast, parrhesia is exercised by people with the status and confidence to speak. Only in the former case can we consider parrhesia to be a right, in the limited sense that a contract imposes duty on someone else to listen. In the latter case, there is no right to speak: parrhesia is an attribute of the citizen. In both cases the ability to speak with parrhesia is contingent on the relative social standing of the speaker.