"We long to have again the vanished past, in spite of all its pain."
Oedipus at Colonus begins with Oedipus and Antigone's arrival at Colonus, a sac3.5
"We long to have again the vanished past, in spite of all its pain."
Oedipus at Colonus begins with Oedipus and Antigone's arrival at Colonus, a sacred area outside of Athens. Oedipus has lived for years as a poor wandering blind beggar, his self-inflicted punishment for unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother. He wishes for admission to Cololus, which leads to the tragedy's central philosophical debates on morality and fate. Since the Gods decreed Oedipus's actions and he did not know the identity of his biological parents, were his actions immoral? Furthermore, if he did not know that the man who attacked him on the road was his father and thought he was acting in self-defense, does that make him a monster?
These arguments are embedded cleverly in a multilayered plot which I appreciate more as I struggle to capture my feelings about the play. It is slower and more philosophical than the other Theban plays, Antigone and Oedipus Rex, and while I loved those plays, this did not resonate with me in quite the same way. I don't know why. Perhaps it was the pacing or that I don't believe in fate. However, I admire Sophocles's skill as a playwright and innovator in the emerging genre of tragedy....more
Fortune is the prey of whims and, like a maniac, turns somersaults. No man for long escapes her jolts.
In Ancient Greece, the victors of war kill all tFortune is the prey of whims and, like a maniac, turns somersaults. No man for long escapes her jolts.
In Ancient Greece, the victors of war kill all their enemies' men and enslave their women and children. The Trojan Women depicts the final days of Troy as the women and children are waiting to learn their fates. Euripides focuses on the Trojan royal family, Queen Hecuba, her daughters, her sons' wives, and her grandchildren. It is a sad and gruesome tale.
I read this play as part of a course and learned that Euripides wrote it as a warning to Athens at the height of the Peloponnesian War. By setting the tragedy in the mythical past, he hoped to make Athenians reflect upon the possible consequences of their current debacle in the same way that Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible during the McCarthy Era in the United States.
While The Trojan Women can be painful to read, Euripides' finely crafted dialogue and deft characterization make this a moving experience. Highly recommend....more
Stronger than lover's love is lover's hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make." ― Euripides
Euripides" revenge drama retells the myth of Medea, wStronger than lover's love is lover's hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make." ― Euripides
Euripides" revenge drama retells the myth of Medea, who, smitten by Jason of Argonaut fame, gives up everything, family and country, to help him capture the Golden Fleece. She even kills her brother. She does all this in exchange for the promise of marriage.
After ten years and two sons, Jason decides to leave her for a more advantageous marriage to a royal princess. Then, in a rage, she orchestrates the death of the princess and, inadvertently, her father, the King. Finally, Medea realizes that her children may pay the price for her deeds and decides to kill them herself rather than leave the act to individuals who may enact revenge more cruelly. This action, she surmises, will devastate the unfaithful Jason.
From the view of tragedy and play structure, this is an excellent drama. However, I found both protagonists unsympathetic, which hampered my ability to empathize and enjoy the audio production.
Differing Interpretations
I read the play as part of a course on Greek Tragedy and was surprised to learn that Medea did NOT murder her children in the original myth. Instead, according to the lecturer, Euripides added this action for dramatic effect. So I researched and found that contemporary retellings (Stephan Fry and Gustav Schwab) use Euripides as their only source. However, Robert Graves tells a different tale. He says that the Corinthians, enraged by the Princess's and King's deaths, stoned the children to death. Graves states:
'Mislead by the dramatist Euripides, whom the Corinthians bribed with fifteen talents of gold to absolve them of the guilt; many pretend that Medea killed two of her own children." (p.558)....more
My review of this book disappeared so I am reposting it!
The three great Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, dramatized Electra and My review of this book disappeared so I am reposting it!
The three great Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, dramatized Electra and Orestes' quest for revenge for their father's murder by their mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegtheis. While Aeschylus and Sophocles see this dual revenge killing as troubling yet ultimately justified, Euripides questions if matricide is warranted. He contrasts Electra's certainty with Orestes' ambiguity. Consequently, I found it the most interesting of the three plays.
This version of Euripides' Electra is part of a series that pairs a poet with a classical scholar. The exquisite translation, with fine-tuned writing, flowed throughout, making the play a joy to read.
I read all three versions back to back as part of a course on Greek tragedy. I enjoyed the sequential reading and recommend the play to anyone interested in Theater, the Classical World, or both....more
"All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride."
Polynices and his brot"All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride."
Polynices and his brother died in their battle to become the sole ruler of Thebes. Creon, the new King, decreed that Polynice, the invader, should be denied proper burial rites and his body left to rot and be eaten by carrion and dogs. According to Greek religion, this punishment would prevent his soul from entering the underworld. Creon added that anyone who ignored his edict and tried to bury Polynices would be sentenced to death. Creon's edit becomes Antigone, Polynice's sister's central dilemma. She must determine where her primary loyalty lies to her family or the state. Antigone chooses to bury her brother.
Sophocles uses Antigone's decision to examine the nature of power, arbitrary rules, and their effects on the family and social order. As Antigone was engaged to Creon's son, he must also choose between family and state.
Although written in the 5th century BC, Antigone remains relevant today. It presents debates that are nuanced and multifaceted. The writing is full and rich, and finely constructed lines often jump out at you. I read the play and listened to an excellent, full-cast, audible podcast production. Highly recommend.
"I ask this one thing: let me go mad in my own way." Electra
Queen Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murdered her husband, Agamemnon, on his return "I ask this one thing: let me go mad in my own way." Electra
Queen Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murdered her husband, Agamemnon, on his return from the Trojan War. The murder was a revenge killing. Agamemnon sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia in exchange for his armies' passage to Troy. Their remaining children, Electra and Orestes, sought revenge for their father's death by killing their mother and her lover.
Sophocles' Electra is one of three dramatic interpretations of this myth. It is a character study that focuses on Electra's obsessive desire for revenge that consumes her into middle age. The play follows her brother Orestes' return from exile and her unambiguous goading that ended in the double murder.
I am taking a course in Greek tragedy and became intrigued by a lecture comparing the three great Greek tragedians' interpretations of this myth. I read Aeychelus' Libation Bearers before reading Sophocles' interpretation. In Aeychelus, Electra is a secondary character. Sophocles' shift of focus forces the reader to examine Electra's inability to feel compassion for her mother or understand her brother's reluctance to kill her. The course professor, Elizabeth Vandiver, stated that Freud based the Electra complex upon Sophocles' rendition of the myth.
Thanks to OliverTaplin's excellent translation, Electra was an accessible and engaging read. I recommend it to anyone interested in the Classics or mythology in general. ...more
Does the Eumenides depict the establishment of trial by jury? Or is it an account of the origins of patriarchy?
The Eumenides portrays the trial of OreDoes the Eumenides depict the establishment of trial by jury? Or is it an account of the origins of patriarchy?
The Eumenides portrays the trial of Orestes and is the third play in Aeychelus' famous Oresteia trilogy. According to critic Wainmu Njoya, conventional interpretations of the Eumenides emphasize the shift from blood vendetta (family members bearing responsibility for avenging crimes against their kin) to the court system of trial by jury. She states that the playwright Aeschylus lived during Athens's golden age, and he hoped to add legitimacy to the courts by attributing their origins to the end of the mythic age of heroes.
Feminist critics see the play differently. The first two plays in the trilogy, Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers, dramatize the system of a blood vendetta. Clytemnestra murders her husband Agamemnon on his return from the Trojan War to avenge his sacrificial killing of their 16-year-old daughter. Likewise, tradition requires their son Orestes to avenge his father's death. However, loyalty to one's mother is also a traditional value. The god Apollo forces Orestes to choose. He kills his mother, and the Furies, the goddesses who punish breaches in domestic discord, pursue him to the temple of Athena, where The Eumides begins. It is the first drama of a trial in western history.
The goddess Athena decides that blood vendettas are not the way to arbitrate disputes and appoints the first mythical jury of Athenian men. Since Orestes has murdered his mother to avenge his father, the trial focuses on which parent and invariably which gender is more important. Apollo argues in defense of Orestes's actions and, in the process, spews some of the most sexist rhetoric I have I have ever come across. However, he can only convince half the jury, and Athena breaks the tie, siding with Apollo. She then disarms the Furies by forcing them to take minor roles, diminishing female powers, and the male hierarchy led by her father Zeus becomes institutionalized in Athens.
I didn't know quite what to make of the play. I was both fascinated and appalled. A new trilogy adaptation is coming from London to an off-broadway experimental theater in New York. I plan to see it and wonder how they handle the issues that make this classic so volatile.
Aeschylus's Oresteia trilogy examines revenge, retribution, and fate in the house of Atreus. Agamemnon, the tril"In war, the first casualty is truth."
Aeschylus's Oresteia trilogy examines revenge, retribution, and fate in the house of Atreus. Agamemnon, the trilogy's first play, depicts the murder of the King and his trophy slave Cassandra, daughter of the King of Troy, on his return to Mycenae from the Trojan War.
Ten years earlier, before setting out for war, Agamemnon offended the goddess Artemis, and she stopped the winds, keeping his fleet of 100 ships from sailing to battle. He learned from the prophet, Calchas, that the only way to appease Artemis was to sacrifice his oldest daughter Iphigenia. He had to decide between his duties to his family or his city-state. He chose his polis and lured Iphigenia and his wife Clytemnestra by promising his daughter's marriage to Achilles. The play begins ten years later with Agamemnon's homecoming as Clytemnestra enacts her revenge with her lover Aegisthus's help.
Agamemnon is a powerful poetic play filled with fear and rage. I listened to Audible's outstanding performance, which brought it to life. I highly recommend this production to anyone interested in the classical world or theater.
I wish I could personally thank Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver for her course on Greek tragedy. It was that good. In 24 finely constructed, thouOutstanding 5+
I wish I could personally thank Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver for her course on Greek tragedy. It was that good. In 24 finely constructed, thought-provoking lectures, she examined the cultural and historical background that led to tragedy's origins in 5th-century Athens, its development as a form (production, stagecraft, acting style, costume), and the works of the three great tragedians: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
Her illuminating lectures inspired me to read and listen to ten classic plays. I even saw a production of the Oresteia. The background she provided enhanced my understanding and enjoyment. In addition, she demonstrated the way the plays and playwrights built upon each other and highlighted shifts and innovations in the form over time.
I learned a great deal from my foray into Greek tragedy with Elizabeth Vandiver as my guide. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in the classical world or the origins of theater in the west....more
Written in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of France, Anouilh's retelling of Antigone is intended as a tribute to the French Resistance. It is a powerWritten in 1942 during the Nazi occupation of France, Anouilh's retelling of Antigone is intended as a tribute to the French Resistance. It is a powerful, beautifully written reinterpretation of the very moving original. It demonstrates the role of context in the interpretation of myth.
Thanks to GR friends Ilse and Theo Logos, for the recommendation...more
“The pain we inflict upon ourselves hurt most of all.”
The story of Oedipus, the king who is fated to kill his father and marry his mother, is one of t“The pain we inflict upon ourselves hurt most of all.”
The story of Oedipus, the king who is fated to kill his father and marry his mother, is one of the best-known Greek myths, thanks to Freud. I first read the play long ago as an undergraduate. In this rereading, I felt awed by Sophocles's skill as a playwright. The structure, pacing, and dialogue were brilliant, and considering that he was one of drama's earliest practitioners, the play is even more impressive.
I read and listened to a superb production on audible. I would love to see it performed. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the classics or drama....more