Nevertheless, the play also establishes him as an ethically compromised, fifth-century tragedic version of Achilles, much as its Odysseus is a late fifth-century tragedic version of his epic namesake.

The arts have traditionally employed devices that seem designed to assist the spectator in lifting the occasion out of any practical context and placing it in a special, autonomous space of its own. The pedestal and the stage raise sculpture and theatre above the plane of ordinary life, the frame and the proscenium arch separate art and performances from their surroundings, special halls for the visual arts and for music provide what the cathedral does for religious worship, a sanctified space removed from the concerns of daily life.

At times he even seems to accept the Arab racial myth: seldom if ever is any member of a sharifian lineage whose eponymous ancestor originated in the Hadramawt, however long ago, called anything but a Hadrami sharif.

When you're feeling in the dumps Don't be silly chumps Just purse your lips and whistle – that's the thing.