Philoctetes deserved better

can we be content
when we scan the divine and find the gods are evil?

honestly, i finished this largely out of spite. i'm glad i did, because the last play was the best of all four, but this was so hard to finish. the language and structure seemed so average (and i'm not sure if that's a translation thing or not), but i usually find greek plays so lovely.

women of trachis: 3 stars
- i didn't feel bad for hercules at all which probably took away a lot
- the most interesting character was probably hyllus, or poor iole who didn't get a single word
- interesting premise, and i liked it more when i explained it to somebody else

ajax: 2 stars
- super disappointed because this was the one that i was most anticipating, but in reality it was kind of stupid
- felt like i was skim-reading most of menelaus' speeches
- and then ajax i couldn't find any sympathy for at all, because he wanted to kill the greeks even before his madness?
- although it did have one really beautiful passage:
"The winter's snow-strewn paths make room in time
For summer's fruits; and night's eternal round
Resigns for day's white steeds to light her flame;
The breath of awesome winds can lay to rest
The roaring sea; and sleep that conquers all
Unlocks its chains and cannot keep its hold.
Must we not also learn to know our place?

electra: 2 stars
- i just really hate agamemnon
- like really
- and electra was really annoying too
- the sister was my favourite

philoctetes: 4 stars
- my favourite of them all!!!
- the premise was good, the characters were likeable
- odysseus was a sneakly little shit as usual
- this is the first time ever in my life i've felt even a slither of anything nice towards neoptolemus (in fact, i really liked him):
"Double-dealing is not my nature,
Neither, they tell me, was it my father's way."

so all in all, they weren't awful, but there was just so much to dislike.

I only read Ajax & coordinating intro. This was for a special bookclub called "Ancient Greeks & Modern Life". Ajax is a combat vet returning home & things don't go well. The connection to modern life is currently returning vets have the same troubles adapting to civilian life, perhaps more so since most their peers out of the combat zone have no idea, nor want to know what they've done to make it home. At least in ancient Greece, all (male) citizens served from 18 yrs to 60 yrs old, so peers out of the combat zone knew what being at war was like & what it could do to a mind of even the bravest.