Hecuba

Hecuba (Hekabe)

    Alternative Title: Hecabe

    Author: Euripides

    First Performance: c.424 BC, Athens?

    First English Translation: 1728

    Genre: Greek trag. in verse

    Setting: Before Agamemnon's tent on the Thracian shore, after the Trojan War

    Cast: 5m, 3f, extras, chorus (f)

Hecuba, former Queen of Troy, is now the slave of Odysseus. The Greeks are waiting to set sail for home, when the ghost of their slain hero Achilles demands the sacrifice of Hecuba's daughter. Hecuba reminds Odysseus that she once saved his life, when he came as a spy to Troy. Odysseus promises to spare Hecuba her own life, but is bound by duty to sacrifice her daughter, who goes bravely to her death. As Hecuba is preparing to bury her daughter, servants carry in the body of her youngest son, Polydorus,...

[The entire page is 398 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass