Wild justice
Subtitle: a study of Euripides' Hecuba
By: Judith Mossman.
Series: Oxford classical monographs
Publisher: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 283
Subjects: Euripides.; Hecuba (Legendary character) in literature.; Trojan War -- Literature and the war.; Revenge in literature.; Tragedy.
Description: 'Revenge is a kind of wild justice ...' (Francis Bacon). Euripides' Hecuba is dominated by the vengeance which Hecuba takes on the faithless Polymestor, and explores in a complex and profound manner the potential of revenge as a subject for tragedy. The sacrifice of Polyxena is in counterpoint to the revenge action; the whole is set in the chaotic aftermath of the fall of Troy. The combination of plots creates one of Euripides' most effective dramas, full of pathos, suspense, and excitement.

This, the first book-length study of the play in English, argues that it has been greatly undervalued by critics who have failed to appreciate the power of its rhetoric, the subtlety of its characterization, and the beauty of its choral odes. The book also examines and seeks to explain the powerful influence of Hecuba in the Renaissance, and compares the play with English revenge tragedy of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

. The thesis from which the book developed won the Hellenic Foundation Sixth Annual Award for the best doctoral thesis in ancient Greek literature and philosophy in the UK in 1992; and a penultimate draft won the Conington Prize for 1993.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [264]-274) and indexes.