Alcestis, Heracles, children of Heracles, Cyclops
By: Euripides ; translated by Robin Waterfield ; introduction by Edith Hall ; notes by James Morwood.
Contributors: Waterfield, Robin, 1952-
Series: Oxford world's classics; Oxford world's classics (Oxford University Press)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Oxford [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 161
Subjects: Euripides -- Translations into English; Alcestis (Greek mythology) -- Drama; Heracles (Greek mythology) -- Drama; Heracles (Greek mythology) -- Family -- Drama; Cyclopes (Greek mythology) -- Drama
Genres: Translations into English.; Drama.
Other titles: Heracles and other plays
Description: "Euripides wrote about timeless themes, of friendship and enmity, hope and despair, duty and betrayal. The first three plays in this volume are filled with violence or its threat, while the fourth, Cyclops, is our only surviving example of a genuine satyr play, with all the crude and slapstick humour that characterized the genre." "There is death in Alcestis, which explores the marital relationship of Alcestis and Admetus with pathos and grim humour, but whose status as tragedy is subverted by a happy ending. The blood-soaked Heracles portrays deep emotional pain and undeserved suffering; its demand for a more humanistic ethics in the face of divine indifference and callousness makes it one of Euripides' more popular and profound plays. Children of Heracles is a rich and complex work, famous for its dialogues and monologues, in which the effects of war on refugees and the consequences of sheltering them are explored. In Cyclops Euripides takes the familiar story of Odysseus' escape from the Cyclops Polyphemus and turns it to hilarious comic effect."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Alcestis; title: Heracles; title: Children of Heracles; title: Cyclops