Plays: One : Medea, the Phoenician Women, the Bacchae (World Dramatists Series) - Softcover

Euripides; Brooks, Jeremy; Thompson, David; Walton, J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0413175502 ISBN 13: 9780413175502

Publisher: Methuen, 1988

Synopsis

Published in the new Methuen Classical Dramatists series

A dramatist whose trademark was the unexpected, Euripides has constantly challenged and intrigued audiences, from Athens of the fifth century Bc to the present. The three plays in this volume demonstrate Euripides' versatility. Hippolytos (which was turned into Phèdre by Racine), deals with sexual passion, incest and abstinence; Suppliants (a version of the Antigone story) sets the play in Eleusis and dramatises the moment when the mothers of the dead sons of Oedipus beg Theseus to go to Thebes and demand their sons' bodies for burial. In Rhesos, all the confusion of sentry duty, the intrigue of spies and intruders, disguises and deceptions are crammed into a single night when the fortunes of war turn against the Trojans by a mixture of devious behaviour and sheer bad luck.

About this title

About the Author:

Euripides (484-406 BC) was a Greek dramatist. The last major tragic playwright of the classical world, he has also been called ""the first modern"". Euripides was not highly successful in his lifetime, winning the first of only five victories at the Dionysia at the age of 43. By the end of the 19th century, however, Euripides was the most acclaimed Greek playwright. And, when the Royal Shakespeare Company presented a ten-play cycle The Greeks in 1980, seven of the works were by Euripides. Only 17 of his 92 plays survive. These include Medea, The Bacchae and Electra. Euripides's innovations included the deus ex machina and the formal prologue. He used simple everyday language, bringing a new realism to the stage. Although contemporaries accused him of killing tragedy, he humanized drama by adding elements of sentiment, romance, and even comedy. He was the first to argue against the social inferiority of women, and the first to show women in love. He was also the first to explore such subjects as madness and repression. A recluse, he shunned Athenian civil and social affairs, and in later life would sit all day in a cave on Salamis overlooking the sea as he contemplated and wrote ""something great and high"". In 408 BC Euripides was exiled for his unorthodox views to Macedonia, where he died less than two years later. According to tradition, when the Spartans arrived to burn Athens, they desisted after a reminder that this was Euripides's city.

Synopsis:

Always controversial, Euripides' plays are now celebrated for the subtlety of their characterization and their unorthodox dramatic style. This volume contains three of his tragedies: "Medea"; "The Phoenician Women"; and "Bacchae".

About this edition

• Publisher: Methuen
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0413175502
• ISBN 13: 9780413175502
• Binding: Paperback