Cassandra, a prophet of Apollo, was cursed to always speak the truth but never be believed. In Greek mythology, she prophesied the fall of Troy and was ignored. In Euripides’ Agamemnon, she is killed by Clytemnestra. The myth has influenced literature and cinema, and “Cassandra syndrome” refers to the mistaken belief of predicting the future in psychosis.
Cassandra is often considered the unfortunate of the Trojan people, according to Greek mythology. She was a chosen prophet of Apollo, who failed to obey her instructions or return her love for her, depending on the version of the myth. So Apollo gave her her prophecy, but at the same time made sure that no one ever believed what she said.
As such, Cassandra’s prophecies are always true, but the people around her treat her like crazy. As the daughter of King Priam of Troy, she prophesies the destruction and fall of Troy to the Athenians. Cassandra is, of course, ignored.
Cassandra becomes one of the “spoils” of war in Homer’s Iliad, belonging first to Ajax, and then to Agamemnon. Her further mythology of her can be traced to two classical Greek sources. She is mentioned in Oedipus Rex. However, her appearance “in the foreground” occurs in Euripides’ Agamemnon
Agamemnon includes Cassandra very briefly in the play, as he prophesies that she will soon die, and so will Agamemnon, one of the great leaders of the Athenian army. She is accurate enough as usual and she is killed by Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra.
In the play Cassandra has wonderful interplay and interaction with the chorus, and her scenes are both dramatic and tragic. It’s pretty awesome to step back and look at Cassandra’s curse. Never to be believed while speaking the truth is a rather ferocious punishment, as it quite consistently subjects one to ridicule from others. The curse captured the imagination of the Greeks, as most could at some point be about having been doubted.
The Cassandra myth has continued to be influential literary. Chaucer uses it in his great work Troilus and Criseyde. Beyond that there are references to Cassandra in numerous fictional pieces.
In cinema, the concept of Cassandra and the love of Greek theater masks are revisited in the horror film, Scream II. For a while, the main character, Sidney, is treated like a Cassandra and no one will believe that a masked killer is after her again.
In the film, Sidney also plays Cassandra in a traditional production of Agamemnon. She becomes very frightened by a scene where she has to predict her own death to the masked chorus. She is certain to see her masked assailant in the chorus scene, and she is not believed. The scene is quite effective and many believe it to be one of the scariest scenes in the film.
You may also hear someone called Cassandra predicting bad things, such as the stock market crash. This can be considered an insult or a compliment, depending on the usage. In proper usage, it means that the person is probably right but is ruining the good mood of others with a less than cheerful picture of the future.
In psychology, Cassandra syndrome makes inaccurate use of the mythic origins of the prophetess. Here, it refers to people with the mistaken belief that they can predict the future, as part of psychosis. It is usually part of schizophrenia or extreme mania and is related to delusions of grandeur.
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