The murder of a child, under any circumstance, is an overwhelming and catastrophic incident for any parent. However, when the parent becomes the murderer, it is only normal to question the underlying motives. Simply labeling a parent "crazy" creates no defense against future iniquity and must therefore be examined. Analyzing literary characters provides one approach to understanding their possible motives and state of mind.
[...] Although she claims she wants to protect her children from a fate worse than death, Sethe's murder is in reality beyond her conscious power. Even Denver asserts that the cause of Sethe's crime “comes outside this house” (Morrison 242). As Sethe remembers, there were “little hummingbirds [which] stuck their needle beaks right through her She just flew” (Morrison 192). Sethe does not so much fly as she is propelled by the imagined hummingbirds, symbols of freedom that lift her up and guide her to murder. [...]
[...] Since he epitomizes the threat to Dionysus' control, Agave's murder follows Pentheus' arrival, as “[Agave is] possessed by Bacchus,” (Euripides ll. 1123-1124). Similarly, the arrival of Schoolteacher instigates Sethe's murder as he represents her loss of free will. Preventing his own destruction, Dionysus causes Agave to murder her son, just like the notion of freedom prevents its own loss by causing Sethe to murder her daughter. In the end, that which captivates the two women causes them to slaughter their own children. Both Euripides' Bacchae and Toni Morrison's Beloved essentially revolve around the incident of filicide that can never be [...]
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