Medea and Other Plays: "Medea","Hecabe","Electra","Heracles" (Penguin Classics)

click here for more details, find new or used items	Euripides Our price £6.99 (£8.99) New from £2.21 Used from £0.19 Pages: 208 (Paperback) ISBN: 0140441298 Pub: Penguin Pub date: 1963-02-27 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5369

Reader Reviews:

Not Exactly Cheery! (0/0 people found this helpful)

Euripides wasn't exactly known for his light hearted approach to drama, but these are exciting plays. Short, pithy and to the point, violent, grim human dramas, the gut wrenching positions in which the characters find themselves evoke empathy even after all these centuries. Because of their humanity it saves the plays from some of the ridiculous situations and conventions that Greek drama of the day demanded, the Deus Ex Machina, the sometimes stilted chorus, the random tragic acts that just happen. It's still great drama, and that's what matters after all.

Not for me (2/11 people found this helpful)

Interesting but hard to get into and simply not for me. I had to read it for a course and was glad when I finished it. It isn't the worst thing I have read but this isn't really what I am into to so I found it a hard read.

Tales of tragedy (6/7 people found this helpful)

I had to read both Medea and Hecabe as part of background reading to some courses on Greek Mythology and Shakespeare during my degree. 'Medea' came as a surprise offshoot mythological tale to the aftermath of Jason (from the Argonauts) and Medea's union towards the end of Apollonius' 'Jason and the Golden Fleece'. The romantic, flowery love affair we see at the end of the tale turns out a sordid, tragic affair some 10 years later in Euripides' version after they're married with children. Betrayal, jealousy, self-doubt and eventual infanticide and suicide makes it one of the most horrific tales of human tragedy.

What makes Euripides so brilliant is his very human portrayal of the characters. You feel for them, you empathize with them, and you can anticipate their every emotional decision and thoughts of self-reflection. 'Hecabe', similarly deals with the immediate aftermath of the Trojan War and the death of the Trojans at the hands of the Achaens. Hecuba is the wife of Priam and mother of all the major Trojan warriors: Hector, Paris, Aeneus. She is grieving for the death of her husband and all her sons, except one and her daughter. She witness their deaths too, and her agony at the merciless hands of the Greeks (including Odysseus, whom we see here as very severe and inhumane, in contrast to his central heroic role in The Odyssey) make her suffering tragic beyond words. It was recently played in the West End by two productions in 2005.

I would suggest this book simply for the mastery of Euripides and his psychological dimension in human tragedy. Just because it is 'ancient' literature and a translation of the old Greek, does not in any way detract it from being so relevant and significant to the modern world. Raw human emotions, and you don't get that in today's literature much.

A Master of Greek Theater (1/1 people found this helpful)

Euripides remains my favorate of classical Greek theater, his plays subtly raising contempory issues whilst still keeping the power of other tragedies. Prehapse they're not his three best tragedies (+ "Helen", a satyr play), but they are still fantasic. Useful the historians of Classical Greece, those studying ancient litriture or just general interest. 2400 years old and still being read, that's an achievement even Shakespear can't claim.

is there anyone better in greek literature than Medea? (7/14 people found this helpful)

Medea's always been my favourite woman in greek myth - its easy to dismiss her as a villain but she's just such a complex individual - one minute you feel sorry for her, then you think she deserves everything she gets, then you dont know what to think! Whats not to like?
Euripides is easily the best of the greek playwrights in my humble opinion and I cant find fault with any of the plays in this book - the chacrters here are all so exreme - he shows us how quickly human fortune can change and makes us care about the characters, so long after the plays were written - if you like crazy females then this is definitely the book for you! Apart from Medea, one can hardly call Electra and Hecabe stable, and given all theyve been through who can blame them?

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