Abstract

This chapter explores how the emotion of hope works in the ancient Greek novel, beginning from the fact that in this genre alone, it seems to be a positive emotion, rather than foreshadowing doom or indicating a lack of preparation. It treats three basic ways the novels use hope before focusing on the hope of the novel’s male and female protagonists. Through a detailed survey of the Greek novels by Chariton, Xenophon, Achilles Tatius, Longus, and Heliodorus, the chapter shows that for characters other than the protagonists, elpis is the same seductive and elusive thing it generally is elsewhere, whereas for the hero and heroine it is virtually a marker of their identities that their hopes and desires are bound to be satisfied and their love realized. The fulfillment of their hopes is in line with Aristotle’s understanding of how hope works.