The Bacchae and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)
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Product Description
Product Description
Through their sheer range, daring innovation, flawed but eloquent characters and intriguing plots, the plays of Euripides have shocked and stimulated audiences since the fifth century BC. Phoenician Women portrays the rival sons of King Oedipus and their mother's doomed attempts at reconciliation, while Orestes shows a son ravaged with guilt after the vengeful murder of his mother. In the Bacchae, a king mistreats a newcomer to his land, little knowing that he is the god Dionysus disguised as a mortal, while in Iphigenia at Aulis, the Greek leaders take the horrific decision to sacrifice a princess to gain favour from the gods in their mission to Troy. Finally, the Rhesus depicts a world of espionage between the warring Greek and Trojan camps.
Book Information
Euripides (c. 484--406 BC) was the most controversial of the three great Greek tragedians and the most modern.
His major themes--religious scepticism, the injustices suffered by women and the destructive folly of war--are issues still vitally important today. Ion, a play more concerned with character than ideas, deals with the problem of reconciling religious faith with the facts of human life. The Women of Troy poignantly reveals the horror of war, a theme also woven into the comedy Helen, in which Euripides pleasantly parodies himself. The Bacchae, his last surviving tragedy and masterpiece, explores the psychology of mass violence. Above all, as these four plays demonstrate, Euripides sought to understand the nature of the human soul and human society. As Philip Vellacott states in his introduction, through reading these dramas we enter a world ‘whose mysteries are infinite because they are the simple ones of common human experience’.
For more titles in the Penguin Classics range, visit Amazon.co.uk's Penguin Classics Bookstore. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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[The scene is the royal palace at Thebes. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
[The scene is the royal palace at Thebes. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Bacchae and Iphigenia in Aulis are esssential, and The Phoenician Women is of some interest (in my opinion). I liked the translation; I prefer formal prose to blank verse. The notes and the introductory material are also very useful.
It's not Euripides' fault that I prefer Aeschylus and Sophocles!
It's not Euripides' fault that I prefer Aeschylus and Sophocles!
Format:Paperback
I only read the Bacchae because it was part of my classics syllabus so the review is just for that play. This play can be difficult if you know little about the gods and the rules back in ancient Greece. The plot for the play is really good with the focus of madness and people in a craze which really makes the play have humour but also is quite disturbing. It lets into how powerful the gods are and how they can do what they like for whatever reason they like making them worse than humans because they have no consequences for their actions. This book should be read because it a classic play and is enjoyable to read.
Format:Paperback
Five great plays; Iphigenia at Aulis, The Bacchae, Rhesus, Phoenician Women and Orestes, and although Rhesus may be of less interest due to its authorship issues, they are all worth reading.
Iphigenia at Aulis, Rhesus and Orestes are particularly interesting if you are studying Homer. Personally I found they enriched my understanding of the texts and I now intend to read Aeschylus' Oresteia, which again deals with the murder of Agamemnon, his son's revenge and the consequences.
In short, well worth a read if you are interested in Greek tragedy, and the notes are very helpful too.
Iphigenia at Aulis, Rhesus and Orestes are particularly interesting if you are studying Homer. Personally I found they enriched my understanding of the texts and I now intend to read Aeschylus' Oresteia, which again deals with the murder of Agamemnon, his son's revenge and the consequences.
In short, well worth a read if you are interested in Greek tragedy, and the notes are very helpful too.
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