The Secret History

In The Secret History, Greek literature and language is represented as a kind of special, insular code known only to the students of Julian’s classics program. As Richard explains, there are many words in Greek that speak to a world of definitions, ideas, and aesthetic ideals that simply cannot be translated into English. Because the classics students are the only six people in Hampden who can speak this language (aside from Julian), they feel a kind of dark, otherworldly kinship with one another. Richard even characterizes the Greek language as a “beautiful and harrowing landscape, centuries dead […]” and describes “looking up from [our] books with fifth-century eyes and finding the world disconcertingly sluggish and alien, as if it were not [our] home” (200). Thus, it is clear that the exclusive group of classics students uses Julian’s rarified teachings to create their own cult-like society, which functions according to elevated yet peculiar social and aesthetic standards. In the eyes of the students, upholding Julian’s aesthetic standards thus comes to transcend even the limitations of conventional morality; to maintain the stability of their world, even murder seems justifiable.

In a number of scenes, the students even utilize their Greek to communicate in situations where they do not want to be understood by those around them.