Heracles | Heracles

At a glance:

Author: Euripides
First Published: 420
Type of Work: Drama
Type of Plot: Classical tragedy
Time of Work: Remote antiquity
Setting: Thebes
Principal Characters: Amphitryon, Megara, Lycus, Herakles, Theseus, Iris, Madness, Chorus Of The Old Men Of Thebes
Genres: Fable, Drama, Folklore, Tragedy
Subjects: Mythology or myths, Mental illness, Legends, Gods or goddesses, Fate or fatalism, Heroes or heroism, Greek or Roman times, Greece or Greek people
Locales: Greece, ancient, Thebes, ancient

HERAKLES MAD, one of the most puzzling of Euripides’ plays, begins with a stereotyped situation and weak characters, builds to a powerful climax in the mad scene of Herakles, and is followed by one of the most moving tragic reconciliations in all drama. Some critics see in Euripides’ treatment of Herakles the suggestion that he has been deluded all his life and has never really performed his twelve great labors; others have suggested that the madness comes not from Hera, but from Fate. In either case he reaches heroic and tragic stature when, after...

Heracles | Heracles

At a glance:

Critique:

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