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Two renditions of Hercules fighting the Nemean lion on ancient Greek pottery But the gods' ways aren't ours:Between good and bad action,They don't draw a clear line.And time, as the years roll on,Does not lay things bareOr blind us with the truth. At about the halfway point through the generally fascinating plays of Euripides (c. 480 – c. 406 BCE) I've just read the quite consternating Herakles. First performed c. 416 - so a product of his later, more pessimistic period - Herakles breaks with
ENGLISH: The tale of the madness of Heracles, caused by the jealousy of Hera, like many of his misfortunes, during which he murdered his children and his wife Megara, mistaking them for the children of his enemy, King Eurystheus, who forced him to perform the twelve jobs.In this work, Euripides reverses the order of events, since Heracles goes mad just at the end of his works, whereas in current mythology the works are the consequence of his crime and of his madness.Regretful for his heinous cri...
An odd set of inversions here. The ancient mythology is straightforward: Now it came to pass that after the battle with the Minyans Hercules was driven mad through the jealousy of Hera and flung his own children, whom he had by Megara, and two children of Iphicles into the fire; wherefore he condemned himself to exile, and was purified by Thespius, and repairing to Delphi he inquired of the god where he should dwell. The Pythian priestess then first called him Hercules, for hitherto he was calle...
Evil has changed sides; he who was erst a mighty king is now turning his life backward into the road to Hades.Nor shall ocean with its moaning waves, nor the earthquake, nor the thunderbolt with blast of agony be half so furious as the headlong rush I will make into the breast of Herakles; through his roof will I burst my way and swoop upon his house.Now to one who was erst called happy, such changes are a grievous thing; though he who is always unfortunate feels no such pain, for sorrow is his
(I did not read this version of Heracles, I found mine in the Penguin Classics edition of Medea and other plays by Euripides, but did not find that version on Goodreads.)CHORUS: “My right hand, how you long to grip a spear again!But, being weak, you waste your wish. Had I been youngI would have made you swallow that word ‘slave’; and we Would have set up good government in Thebes, where you Now take your pleasure. Faction and folly had driven ThebesInsane, or she would never have got you for Kin...
Herakles goes nuts and kills everyone except his dad. Good times.
read anne carson's translation from "grief lessons". THESEUSIs this the all-heroic Heracles talking?HERAKLESNot all-heroic. There has to be some limit to pain.
A story of redemption4 March 2012 Like pretty much all of the Greek tragedies this play utilises the unities of time and place. The entire action takes place in a single day outside a palace in Thebes. Once again, all of the action takes place off stage and in narrated to the audience by one of the characters, and as in other plays the background and the events leading up to the play are narrated to us at the start. It appears, with Greek drama, that the bulk of the play deals with the climax an...
This tragedy is driving me nuts!! ;) — no, really, very good. I thought I'd read it before but it seems I hadn't—although I did know what was going to happen
I read the Jon Davie translation in the Penguin edition.
If anyone reading this review has played the immensely popular video-game 'god of war', s/he will have an idea of the game's basic concept, that basically a man (Kratos in the game) who has achieved military success as general of the spartan army is 'blinded' by frenzy and madness into killing his own wife and child. Well, 'Herakles' by Euripides was most probably the inspiration for the game's plot. The ultimate tragedy if you will. We all know who Hercules is. Is there a man living who has not...
The gods/fate are brutal. Friendship offers a kind of solace.
Euripides knows how to twist the knife and this is twisted even for him. He's a very complex playwright. Not the best poet but his manipulation of convention is remarkable. At first I thought this play had crossed the line between satire and evil, but then the eponymous character is redeemed by a tragic value worthy of Sophocles and we're left with more questions... Making fun of Heracles would be too easy; instead Euripides both addresses all of the easy satirical points but ends by inspiring p...
Ah yes, another play about Heracles... if anyone has read my other reviews on Heracles, I have said time and time again that I just don't like the guy. Even in plays that are genuinely good, Heracles is still a huge douchebag (remember when he got wasted in Alcestis before he knew that the guy's wife had just died? Yeah.). I still maintain that opinion, but his douchebaggery is actually an important part of Herackles.In this play, Herakles actually ends up going crazy, killing his wife, Megara,
the greeks, and more specifically euripides (as well as sophocles), set the benchmark for dramatic writing unsurpassably high. poignancy as bountiful as it comes.
One of the Greek classics I loved back in my high school days :)
Better than Medea, but not as good as Hippolytus or Bacchae.4/5
"What groaning, what lament,what song of death, what dance of Hadesshall I do?" Now, this is tragedy. Sweet carthasis, emotions lived through characters and expunged. A condensed punch in the gut delivered through 1,400 lines. Euripides' tragedies get to me every single time. He’s the greatest playwright. Anne Carson's translation (found in Grief Lessons) does him justice. The play starts with an absent Herakles in the underworld, while his children, wife, and father are about to executed by
Thanks to goodread's interview with George Saunders about his new book of short stories ("Tenth of December"), I was spurred to read this classical play, which indeed feels frightfully modern in its bloody telling of misfortune, fortitude, madness and succor. I'm excited to read Saunders' reimagining of the tale ("Home") next. Excerpts:"As for friends, some I see are insincere; while others, who are staunch, have no power to help us further. This is what misfortune means to man.""Yea, for men's
Probably my least favourite of Euripides' plays that I've read so far -- but the ending is truly very moving.This tragedy begins with Herakles off on the last of his twelve labors: bringing Cerberus up out of Hades into the light of day. While Herakles is away, his wife, Megara, and their three sons are set to be killed by the new ruler of Thebes, Lycus. Megara's father was Creon, the deposed ruler of Thebes, and Lycus worries that the sons will rise up against the killer of their grandfather. M...
As wild as tragedies can get, Euripides' Heracles stands out among his work simply because of how anarchic it is. It is right there next to Bachai as a particularly chaotic and pessimistic play, with not a dull moment in sight. Since the first thing that one notices is the chaos, let's start by adressing such chaos. You might remember the myth of Heracles and his labors, tasks to redeem himself after murdering his family. Here, Euripides turns the myth upside down. Heracles comes home from his l...
"Maybe the real treasure wasn't the brutal and tedious labors suffered at the hands of a spited God, or the divine madness inspired by the same cruel mistress that caused me to murder my wife and children at the exact moment of maximum dramatic effect, or even the divine apotheosis eventually granted me as a reward for my arbitrary suffering, cleverly excluded by the playwright who sought to depict me as a mortal man subject to vicissitudes of fate despite my mighty deeds, but the friends we mad...
The end of this was way more emotional than I would have thought!
Empty and incomprehensible for modern readers not intimate with the legends of ancient Greek gods. Absent that familiarity, the tale is rather silly and inexplicable. Some things don’t age well…
translated by anne carson.read like half of grief lessons so if i ever fully finish it ill just switch that with this.
One of the most neglected Euripides' plays? No wonder. They are lamenting that they're going to die. But this triggers no emotional reaction (in reader) since everyone knows Heracles would come back soon enough to "save them". And than kills them and it's only told in not-very-interesting speech of messenger and than they're all lamenting again and the rest I do not remember well since I was too bored to focus properly on play. Euripides is my favourite ancient playwright but here he fails on ev...
I read this play for my "Heroes in Classic and Contemporary mythology" course. This a beautiful story of friendship which is something I absolutely loved about this play. Heracles touching relationship with his mortal adoptive father is beautiful as well as the relationship which reveals itself at the end of the play. I also really enjoyed how Euripides strays from your typical ancient ideals of gods being the upmost greatest and perfect beings. Heracles is a great example of humanity despite be...
Honestly, Greek Tragedy just isn't really my cup of tea. I can appreciate the history and the importance of it, but I just get too easily bored when reading it. I get less bored when watching it, but I still don't feel very connected and engaged with the text. I found this especially true with Herakles. I do really like the characterization of Theseus in this play though.
Who are the friends of a man in misfortune?Misfortune, to repeat it to thee, has no friends.Nor can I ever believe that one god is the lord of another.A god, if he is a real god, is in need of nothing. These are just miserable tales made up by poets.
I am, generally, very fond of Euripides, and "Herakles" is one of his most underrated yet fascinating plays. The paradoxical image of gods and men presented here and the drama of a goddess forced to do something evil and the hero forced to kill his own make this play so attractive.