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5.0 out of 5 stars
One classic Euripides tragedy and three more of interest, October 13, 2005
This review is from: Euripides: Children of Heracles. Hippolytus. Andromache. Hecuba (Loeb Classical Library No. 484) (Hardcover)
This volume in the Loeb Classical Library brings together four of the ninteen tragedies by the tragic playwright Euripides that have survived from the 92 plays he was known to have written: "Children of Hercales" (produced 430 B.C.), "Hippolytus" (428 B.C.), "Andromache" (circa 426 B.C.), and "Hecuba" (circa 425 B.C.). Only the second tragedy could be considered a classic, but the other three have their points of interest.
"Children of Heracles" ("Heracledidae") has usually been considered a minor political play by Euripides. It tells how the children of Hecules were exiled by from their home by the murderous King Eurystheus of Argos (the one who imposed the famous Twelve Labors on the demi-god) after their father's death. The children and their mother fled from country to country in search of sanctuary until, of course, they came to Athens. At first, the Athenians are reluctant to grant asylum, since Eurystheus might bring political and military strife on the city. But Demophon, King of Athens, agrees to admit them. Indeed, the army of Eurystheus surrounds the city and the oracles declares that the safety of Athens depends on the sacrifice of a virgin. Macaria, one of the daughters of Hercules, offers herself as the sacrificial victim. The play has usually been considered to be nothing more than a glorification of Athens, but, of course, in more contemporary terms it is worth reconsidering this Greek tragedy as a look at the problem of political refugees.
"Hippolytus" opens with Aphrodite declaring her power over all mankind and her intention to ruin Hippolytus, the son of Theseus because he alone has had the audacity to scorn love. Instead, the young prince has devoted himself to hunting and Artemis, the chaste goddess of the hunt. As the instrument of Hippolytus' downfall, Aphrodite selects his stepmother Phaedra, by making her fall in love with him. What becomes interesting in Euripides' telling of the tale is how Phaedra resists the will of Aphrodite, having resolved to starve herself to death rather than ever reveal her infatuation. However, Phaedra's secret is revealed and Hippolytus is horrified that his stepmother wants him as her lover. Mortified that her secret is now known, Phaedra hangs herself, but trying to spare the reputation of her children she leaves a note accusing Hippolytus of having tried to rape her. When Theseus returns to find his wife dead at her own hand and his son implicated in her suicide, the king pronounces a deadly curse upon Hippolytus. Ironically, despite the tragic fate that awaits him, Hippolytus is not a sympathetic figure since his devotion to Artemis does not require him to spurn the ways of love and an Athenian audience would not look kindly upon him as a martyr to the idea of chastity. Phaedra becomes the truly tragic character in the tale, who has her dignity taken away from her by a vengeful goddess and a friend with the best of intentions, surely as potent a combination of dangerous characters as you can find in literature.
"Andromache," set in the aftermath of the Trojan War and focusing on the widow of Hector, is one of the weakest of the extant plays of Euripides, a work better considered as anti-Spartan propaganda. The scenes are more episodic than we usually find in Euripides with the first part essentially a supplicant play. The play has one of Euripides' strongest beginnings, with its attacks on Sparta, represented by Menelaus. But even as propaganda Euripides elevates his subject for what he sees is not merely a war between two cities, but rather a clash between two completely different ways of life. Andromache, the widow of Hector, is the slave of Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who is married to Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus and Helen. Andromache has born Neoptolemus a son, and the barren Hermione accuses the Trojan woman of having used witchcraft and seeks her death. Andromache has taken refuge as this temple where Hermione and Menelaus try to get her to come out by threatening to kill her son. However, the title character disappears from the play and everybody from Peleus, the father of Achilles, to Orestes, the cousin of Hermione, shows up, mainly to talk about Neoptolemus, who is at Delphi. Thetis shows up as the deus-ex-machina and the play ends rather abruptly. As a tragedy there is little her beyond a progression of characters who all talk about doing something they end up not doing and if there is supposed to be a series of object lessons offered by each of these characters, then that idea is pretty much lost on contemporary audiences.
In "Hecuba" the queen of fallend Troy has become the slave of Odysseus, who takes away her daughter Polyxena to be slain on the grave of Achilles. However, in this drama it is the earlier death of another child, Polydorus that provides the motivation for what comes to pass. This was a child who had been sent (according to Homer, there are various versions of this tale) for safety to the Thracian Chersonese. But now, after Hecuba hears of the death of Polyxena, the body of Polydorus washes up on shore. Apparently Hecuba's son-in-law Polymnester murdered the boy for the gold, which King Priam had sent to pay for his education. Agamemnon hears Hecuba's pleas, and Polymnester is allowed to visit the queen before she is taken away into captivity. The most fascinating aspect of "Hecuba" is that it gives us an opportunity to contrast the character of the queen of fallen Troy here with that in his more famous work, "The Trojan Women." This play was performed ten years earlier and its events take place right before the other play as well, although there is some overlap when Talthybius informs Hecuba of the death of Polyxena. In both dramas Hecuba is a woman driven by a brutal and remorseless desire for vengeance; however she proves much more successful in this drama than she does in "The Trojan Women."
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