Abstract

The possibility of hospitality is based on an unequal relationship between the host and the guest. The former is the master of a house, either of his or her own house or of what they consider to be “his/her own country,” while the latter arrives in this house simply as a visitor. Hence, there is a danger lurking behind every act of hospitality, namely the danger of being limited or perverted by the power of the host. This essay focuses on two pieces of ancient Greek drama, Sophocles’ “Oedipus at Colonus” and Euripides’ “Alcestis,” to illustrate those instances where the provision of hospitality tends to subvert the hierarchical binary opposition between host and guest.