Review: Medea and Other Plays: Medea / Hecabe / Electra / Heracles

Medea and Other Plays: Medea / Hecabe / Electra / Heracles by Euripides
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Medea (22/11/18)

Dang that Medea is one frosty ICE QUEEN. She's upset because the man she moved overseas for (after killing her bro - but that's another story) decided to shack up with another woman so I kinda can't blame her? But then she kinda goes next level and it's definitely tragic.

How about these quotes though:

'If only children could be got some other way,
Without the female sex! If women didn't exist,
Human life would be rid of all its miseries.' (Jason)

'O Zeus! Why have you given us clear signs to tell
True gold from counterfeit; but when we need to know
Bad men from good, the flesh bears no revealing mark?' (Medea)

Girl, I hear you. That Jason is an A-grade A-hole.

Like, I'm secretly just a little bit proud of her for standing up for herself.

Just not, you know, that last bit. That was probably going a little too far.

***

Hecate (25/11/18)

Man, I really feel for Hecate in this one! Interesting to kind of read a snippet of what may have gone down after the Trojan War. Hecate is a fascinating character, and I enjoyed the way she reasoned things out.

Gotta admit, I LOVE revenge stories, so this one was fun. I feel sorry for all the kids getting the raw deal in all their parents' drama, though.

The 'Chorus' character does confuse me a little, with them all speaking as one.

Also this, like Medea, has some serious gender battles.

'... To be brief,
I'll say just this: all the abuse that men have heaped
On women in time past, all they are saying now
Or will ever say, I can sum it in one phrase:
No monster like a woman breeds in land or sea;
And those who have most to do with women know it best.'

Savage.

I probably liked this a bit more than Medea, though; I think because Hecate's grief is more powerful, and her cause more justified.

***

Electra (28/11/18)

Although I liked how short and (not so) sweet Medea was, this was probably my favourite in terms of themes.

Electra's peasant husband is a cool cat; very respectful and I was happy for Electra in that respect. I really enjoyed her discussing revenge with her bro because it felt like finally we had a good cause to root for. Even though killing people is not the answer, blah, blah, blah. But the way the themes twisted and wrung out different emotions was quite powerful.

The explanations from Clytemnestra were quite interesting, as well! I mean, she kinda sounds like a savage, but good on her not putting up with that, 'a woman must agree with her husband on everything' crap. Huh. Kinda seems like Euripides was a feminist waaaaay ahead of his time.

One to go!

***

Heracles (29/11/18)

Guh, this one was the worst.

It hurt my heart.

We all know Hercules/Heracles, the half-god-half-mortal son of Zeus (and, according to this, also some other guy called Amphitryon? I need to brush up on my Greek myths) who did a bunch of tough tasks that we all refer to as labors. Then you get this tragic ending where H is off slaying Cerberus (poor puppy) and in the meantime this psycho king is planning to kill his wife and kids. (I have a lot of love for Megara because I always picture her as the sass queen from the Disney version.)

Herc is a hero. I really like him. So to read his tragedy was a little heart-breaking.

Here's some good quotes though!

'Friends, life's a brief and trivial thing, Such as it is,
As you pass through, find as much pleasure as you can ...'

'Good-bye to all my famous labours! They're a waste of time, while I
Neglected to help my own.'

***

Overall, a really great, tragic collection. Highly recommend for those interested in a more creative take on some well-known legends.

View all my reviews