Medea is determined on revenge, and after a dreadful mental struggle between her passionate sense of injury and her love for her children, she decides to punish her husband by murdering both the Corinthian princess and their own sons, thereby leaving her husband to grow old with neither wife nor child. However, Euripides was also an object of ridicule of the comic poets, especially Aristophanes, who characterized Euripides as an orator of destructive ideas, associated with declining standards in both society and tragedy. Euripides succeeds in evoking sympathy for the figure of Medea, who becomes to some extent a representative of women’s oppression in general. In the works written after 415 bc his lyrics underwent a change, becoming more emotional and luxuriant. His marriage was a disaster with his wife, who had bore him three sons, cuckolded him. ‘The Alcestic’ written in 438 BC is another tragic comedy which enthralled critics for a long time. It is possible to reconstruct only the sketchiest biography of Euripides.
Euripides wrote some less intense plays such as ‘The Cyclops’ which conveyed the optimistic approach a young hopeful poet.

Later tradition invented for him a spectacularly disastrous married life. The plot of Children of Heracles (430 bc; Greek Hērakleidai) concerns the Athenians’ defense of the young children of the dead Heracles from the murderous intentions of King Eurystheus of Argos. Electra herself is portrayed as a frustrated and resentful woman who finally lures her mother to her death by appealing to her maternal instincts. But those with a clever eye knew that although the duos ideas were original, Euripides had a unique versatility that showed in his plays and also over the course of his career where he could move easily between tragic, comic, romantic and political effects. 10 Best Science Fiction Books Of All Time, Top 10 Greatest Romance Authors of All Time, 10 Famous Science Fiction Authors You Must Be Reading, 10 Influential Black Authors You Should Read, 16 Stimulating WorkPlaces of Famous Authors.

Take a look below for 25 more interesting and awesome facts about Sophocles. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Almost all of the plays start with a monologue that is in effect a bare chronicle explaining the situation and characters with which the action begins. It is said that he composed his works in a cave on Salamis Island. More to the point is that on more than 20 occasions Euripides was chosen, out of all contestants, to be one of the three laureates of the year. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Misogyny is altogether too simple an explanation here, although Euripides’ reputation in his own day was that of a woman hater, and a play by Aristophanes, Women at the Thesmophoria, comically depicts the indignation of the Athenian women at their portrayal by Euripides. Her accusation provokes Theseus into pronouncing a curse on his son that eventually leads to Hippolytus’ death. It is known that he had a wife called Melito and produced three sons. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Most of his life and career corresponded with the struggle between Athens and Sparta for control in Greece but he didn’t last to see the final defeat of his city. Euripides treated myths sensibly and expected men to use their logical powers. Furthermore, the regularity with which Aristophanes parodied him is proof enough that Euripides’ work commanded attention. The chief structural peculiarities of Euripides’ plays are his use of prologues and of the providential appearance of a god (deus ex machina) at the play’s end. Euripides was much associated to Aeschylus and Sophocles, the other two popular tragedians.

Also set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, Hecuba (c. 425 bc; Greek Hekabē) shows the double disaster that reduces the aged Trojan queen Hecuba, now a widowed slave, by sheer weight of hatred and misery to a mere animal ferocity. Plays of the tragicomedy type seem to anticipate the New Comedy of the 4th century bc. full title The Bacchae. He also apparently rejected the gods of Homeric theology, whom he frequently depicts as irrational, petulant, and singularly uninterested in meting out “divine justice.” That the gods are so often presented on the stage by Euripides is partly due to their convenience as a source of information that could not otherwise be made available to the audience. Euripides left Athens for good in 408, accepting an invitation from Archelaus, king of Macedonia. Euripides is the author of The Cyclops, the only satyr play to survive in its entirety. Such is the power of misery to deprave, and the play’s closing prophecy of Hecuba’s future transformation into a bitch seems appropriate.

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