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I'll start with a summary of each play.
Medea: Having helped Jason (of the Argonauts) to capture the golden fleece, Medea and Jason are now in exile in Corinth, where Jason marries the Corinthian princess Creusa under the pretext of being able to secure money and a better future for his and Medea's two sons. Betrayed, jealous, and ordered to go into exile by Creon, the king of Corinth, Medea sends Creusa a magical tiara and dress that kill both Creusa and Creon. Unwiling to let her sons fall prey to Corinth vengeance, Medea kills her two beloved sons.
The Phoenician Women: Jocasta, mother and wife of Oedipus, first starts off summarising Oedipus' history and his curse on his sons Eteocles and Polyneices. Eteocles and Polyneices had agreed to take turns ruling Thebes for one year each, but Eteocles refused to give up rule after one year. In the play, Polyneices has now come to attack Thebes. Jocasta first organises a truce and tries, unsuccessfully, to mediate between the brothers. Eteocles, while planning for the battle, asks Creon to seek the prophet Tiresias' advice, and is told that Creon's son Menoeceus must die as a sacrifice to the god of war. Creon refuses, but Menoeceus kills himself. In the battle, many soldiers on both sides are killed. Eteocles and Polyneices then agree to single combat, in which they kill each other. Jocasta kills herself in anguish. Creon seizes control of Thebes, exiles Oedipus, and the brothers' sister Antigone exiles herself to care for Oedipus.
Bacchae: Dionysos, son of Zeus and Semele, who was accidentally killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus, after gathering a loyal following of worshippers (the Bacchantes, or Maenads) from across Asia, returns to Thebes to seek the honour that was denied him by his aunts and cousin, King Pentheus, who deny his divinity. He drives the aunts into madness, and when Pentheus repeatedly spurns Dionysos, he drives Dionysos into madness too. The aunts, including Pentheus' mother Agaue, kill Pentheus.
As mentioned in the introduction, these plays frame the 27-year Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta that decimated Athens. Medea was performed just before the start of the war, The Phoenician Women in the middle, and Bacchae at the end. Interestingly, in the City Dionysia (the key theatrical festival in Athens), Medea came last, The Phoenician Women second, and Bacchae first. Walton, the editor, suggests that this was firstly because Euripides' criticism of war and violence was initially unwelcome in these war years, and secondly because Euripides introduced new concepts like realism and the active involvement of the chorus in the plot which took the Athenians time to get used to.
Personally, while Medea was the only play I'd heard of before reading this book, I did feel the other two were stronger plays. The Phoenician Women had an engaging, multi-faceted plot and characters that aroused strong emotions in me, while Bacchae made good use of the chorus, and the dancing and frenzy that Dionysos inspires would make good theatricality.
It was clever of the editors to combine these three plays together, as they all have similar themes. Medea, Polyneices and Dionysos have all been wronged, and all seek revenge against family members. How close they are to these family members differs. Medea gave her life to Jason and now hates him for betraying her. Dionysos was cast off from birth and has no reason for loyalty to his aunts and cousin. Polyneices was the most pitiful, for he loves his mother, sister and Thebes, but is forced to attack his beloved city.
In all the plays, morality is questioned. We sympathise for Medea, Polyneices and Dionysos at the start. But when Medea kills her two children and Dionysos induces the Agaue to rip her own child limb from limb and triumphantly show off his head on a branch, our sympathies are questioned. Polyneices retains our sympathy till the end, but in his insistence on attacking Thebes, he is not fully innocent either. The characterisations are realistic. There are no true heroes. Two wrongs do not make a right, and it is difficult to persist siding with somebody who takes revenge viciously.
There is also a common theme of the evils of unrestrained ambition. Medea's tragedy is partly due to her inability to bear a failure after having been successful all her life. Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other because neither is willing to give up power. Dionysos cannot stand the idea of not being worshipped and hence punishes the mortals. During a real-life war in which Athens suffered many losses in her struggle for power, Euripides asks his Greek audience if power really means anything when it comes at the price of unnecessary, and often meaningless, death.
This was my first exposure to classical Greek plays and I enjoyed it very much. I look forward to reading more.
Medea: Having helped Jason (of the Argonauts) to capture the golden fleece, Medea and Jason are now in exile in Corinth, where Jason marries the Corinthian princess Creusa under the pretext of being able to secure money and a better future for his and Medea's two sons. Betrayed, jealous, and ordered to go into exile by Creon, the king of Corinth, Medea sends Creusa a magical tiara and dress that kill both Creusa and Creon. Unwiling to let her sons fall prey to Corinth vengeance, Medea kills her two beloved sons.
The Phoenician Women: Jocasta, mother and wife of Oedipus, first starts off summarising Oedipus' history and his curse on his sons Eteocles and Polyneices. Eteocles and Polyneices had agreed to take turns ruling Thebes for one year each, but Eteocles refused to give up rule after one year. In the play, Polyneices has now come to attack Thebes. Jocasta first organises a truce and tries, unsuccessfully, to mediate between the brothers. Eteocles, while planning for the battle, asks Creon to seek the prophet Tiresias' advice, and is told that Creon's son Menoeceus must die as a sacrifice to the god of war. Creon refuses, but Menoeceus kills himself. In the battle, many soldiers on both sides are killed. Eteocles and Polyneices then agree to single combat, in which they kill each other. Jocasta kills herself in anguish. Creon seizes control of Thebes, exiles Oedipus, and the brothers' sister Antigone exiles herself to care for Oedipus.
Bacchae: Dionysos, son of Zeus and Semele, who was accidentally killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus, after gathering a loyal following of worshippers (the Bacchantes, or Maenads) from across Asia, returns to Thebes to seek the honour that was denied him by his aunts and cousin, King Pentheus, who deny his divinity. He drives the aunts into madness, and when Pentheus repeatedly spurns Dionysos, he drives Dionysos into madness too. The aunts, including Pentheus' mother Agaue, kill Pentheus.
As mentioned in the introduction, these plays frame the 27-year Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta that decimated Athens. Medea was performed just before the start of the war, The Phoenician Women in the middle, and Bacchae at the end. Interestingly, in the City Dionysia (the key theatrical festival in Athens), Medea came last, The Phoenician Women second, and Bacchae first. Walton, the editor, suggests that this was firstly because Euripides' criticism of war and violence was initially unwelcome in these war years, and secondly because Euripides introduced new concepts like realism and the active involvement of the chorus in the plot which took the Athenians time to get used to.
Personally, while Medea was the only play I'd heard of before reading this book, I did feel the other two were stronger plays. The Phoenician Women had an engaging, multi-faceted plot and characters that aroused strong emotions in me, while Bacchae made good use of the chorus, and the dancing and frenzy that Dionysos inspires would make good theatricality.
It was clever of the editors to combine these three plays together, as they all have similar themes. Medea, Polyneices and Dionysos have all been wronged, and all seek revenge against family members. How close they are to these family members differs. Medea gave her life to Jason and now hates him for betraying her. Dionysos was cast off from birth and has no reason for loyalty to his aunts and cousin. Polyneices was the most pitiful, for he loves his mother, sister and Thebes, but is forced to attack his beloved city.
In all the plays, morality is questioned. We sympathise for Medea, Polyneices and Dionysos at the start. But when Medea kills her two children and Dionysos induces the Agaue to rip her own child limb from limb and triumphantly show off his head on a branch, our sympathies are questioned. Polyneices retains our sympathy till the end, but in his insistence on attacking Thebes, he is not fully innocent either. The characterisations are realistic. There are no true heroes. Two wrongs do not make a right, and it is difficult to persist siding with somebody who takes revenge viciously.
There is also a common theme of the evils of unrestrained ambition. Medea's tragedy is partly due to her inability to bear a failure after having been successful all her life. Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other because neither is willing to give up power. Dionysos cannot stand the idea of not being worshipped and hence punishes the mortals. During a real-life war in which Athens suffered many losses in her struggle for power, Euripides asks his Greek audience if power really means anything when it comes at the price of unnecessary, and often meaningless, death.
This was my first exposure to classical Greek plays and I enjoyed it very much. I look forward to reading more.
