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Two Tragedies Of Seneca, Medea And The Daughters Of Troy
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120 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 65
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 22, 2021
This interesting pair of plays available at Project Gutenberg makes an eloquent case that Seneca was not only an enormously influential playwright but an under-rated one.
I greatly liked "The Daughters of Troy" which deals with the aftermath of the Greek victory in the Trojan war. The Trojan women are waiting on the shore to be assigned to Greek masters and taken away to new homes. The ghosts of the dead clamour for revenge. Pleas for mercy are made to now available and the drama proceeds to its horrific conclusion. "The Daughters of Troy" is consistent with the view of the 21st century that women and children are the principal victims of war. At the same time it is a magnificent reflection from the Roman Imperial era on the dreadful aftermath of the Trojan war which had dominated the work of the great tragedians active Athens during the fifth century B.C. (i.e. Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles).
Seneca's version of Medea which compares rather well to the earlier version of Euripide was another pleasant surprise. Seneca focuses on the extreme nature of Medea's desire for vengeance whereas Euripides looks at Jason's inability to foresee the consequences of his betrayal of Medea. Both plays have their virtues. Medea is an important figure in our literary conscious and requires more than one view.
While no one today would put Seneca on the same level as Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles his importance as a transmitter of classical culture was as great. The Roman Catholic Church imposed Latin on Western European and so the Greek authors were forgotten until the Renaissance. Even then Latin remained the more important of the two classical languages. Today, when the classic authors are read in translation, Seneca has fallen into relative obscurity because his work is not on the same level as that of the great playwrights of ancient Greece. Nonetheless, this pair of plays show that he was still a very good writer who deserves to be read.
I greatly liked "The Daughters of Troy" which deals with the aftermath of the Greek victory in the Trojan war. The Trojan women are waiting on the shore to be assigned to Greek masters and taken away to new homes. The ghosts of the dead clamour for revenge. Pleas for mercy are made to now available and the drama proceeds to its horrific conclusion. "The Daughters of Troy" is consistent with the view of the 21st century that women and children are the principal victims of war. At the same time it is a magnificent reflection from the Roman Imperial era on the dreadful aftermath of the Trojan war which had dominated the work of the great tragedians active Athens during the fifth century B.C. (i.e. Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles).
Seneca's version of Medea which compares rather well to the earlier version of Euripide was another pleasant surprise. Seneca focuses on the extreme nature of Medea's desire for vengeance whereas Euripides looks at Jason's inability to foresee the consequences of his betrayal of Medea. Both plays have their virtues. Medea is an important figure in our literary conscious and requires more than one view.
While no one today would put Seneca on the same level as Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles his importance as a transmitter of classical culture was as great. The Roman Catholic Church imposed Latin on Western European and so the Greek authors were forgotten until the Renaissance. Even then Latin remained the more important of the two classical languages. Today, when the classic authors are read in translation, Seneca has fallen into relative obscurity because his work is not on the same level as that of the great playwrights of ancient Greece. Nonetheless, this pair of plays show that he was still a very good writer who deserves to be read.
December 15, 2022
aw baby astyanax got his (gore warning)
skull smashed on the walls of troy. better luck next time.
skull smashed on the walls of troy. better luck next time.
March 4, 2017
Greek tale, in Latin, translated to English iambic pentametrical verse. Eh, I'm sure much has been lost or altered. I am NO scholar of classics but I enjoyed these; I had never read Medea. Oh, I liked the Euripedes "Women of Troy" better, because Kate Hepburn kicked ass as Hecuba in the 1970s film.
November 25, 2022
Seneca's retelling of Medea is actually one of my favourite. His Medea is so cruel and descriptive in her curses and revenge. The opening starts with Medea calling for the gods to avenge for her, whereas in Euripedes, it started with the nurses retelling her sorrow. Euripedes managed to give more sympathy toward her, whereas Seneca just chose violence. The final scenes are particularly different because Medea does not blame Jason for the death of her children in Seneca's version, even killing one of her sons in front of him, and blaming herself for the death. In Euripides' version Medea does the opposite, because she blames Jason and does not feel any guilt or blame for her actions. Jason, in Seneca's, is also a much more powerful figure. Although Medea's revenge got progressively more gruesome as the play continues, Jason also becomes more weak.
November 23, 2020
came for medea and jason, stayed for hektor and andromacbe supremacy
December 28, 2022
seminar
January 16, 2026
[She casts down to him the bodies of her children, and is borne away in a chariot drawn by dragons.]
May 10, 2019
What lovely, angry plays these were. So much fire and bitterness. Oh.
These were two plays by Seneca, retelling the Greek tales of Medea and the women of Troy right after its fall. There were earlier versions by Euripides. I guess you could say these are remakes.
The action is in both plays revolve around sad and angry women lamenting their fates. Medea gave up her country for love, and her lover was leaving her for another woman. The women of Troy have seen their husbands, sons and brothers slain, and were being sent off into slavery to the victorious Greeks, or in one case, to death, in a 'marriage' to a dead man. There was a lot of pain to lament.
The words were sharp, stabbing through the centuries, which made them a delight to read. At the same time, if I was not familiar with the myths already, I would have little idea what was going on. The author assumed that the audience was familiar with the actions, and while he described what was going on, there really wasn't enough detail to get the whole picture.
If you know the stories, though, it's a brutal retelling, full of sharp, keening anger.
These were two plays by Seneca, retelling the Greek tales of Medea and the women of Troy right after its fall. There were earlier versions by Euripides. I guess you could say these are remakes.
The action is in both plays revolve around sad and angry women lamenting their fates. Medea gave up her country for love, and her lover was leaving her for another woman. The women of Troy have seen their husbands, sons and brothers slain, and were being sent off into slavery to the victorious Greeks, or in one case, to death, in a 'marriage' to a dead man. There was a lot of pain to lament.
The words were sharp, stabbing through the centuries, which made them a delight to read. At the same time, if I was not familiar with the myths already, I would have little idea what was going on. The author assumed that the audience was familiar with the actions, and while he described what was going on, there really wasn't enough detail to get the whole picture.
If you know the stories, though, it's a brutal retelling, full of sharp, keening anger.
September 15, 2019
Somehow I always felt a small sparkle of sympathy for Medea. Greek mythology rarely is kind to women and recently I've read there is a long lost, alternative ending in which she doesn't kill her children at all. In that version, she is doing all in her power to save them.
Anyway, I couldn't help but picture Medea as Nero and both her nurse and Jason as Seneca. Even though he was a personal advisor and teacher to Nero, he was never able to dissuade the mad Emperor. Ironically after Seneca's death, Nero turned for worse.
With each scene, this Medea is slowly becoming an inhumane tool of revenge. Is she justified? Not in her murdering tendencies, I'm sure. And yet, I could see the point in her plight. Similar to Ariadne, she sacrificed everything for the sake of love, just to be betrayed by the same love. However, where the Cretan Princess is resigned to her fate, Medea fights back with vengeance.
I won't write anything about "The daughters of Troy". I think Medea is more entertaining of these two plays.
Anyway, I couldn't help but picture Medea as Nero and both her nurse and Jason as Seneca. Even though he was a personal advisor and teacher to Nero, he was never able to dissuade the mad Emperor. Ironically after Seneca's death, Nero turned for worse.
With each scene, this Medea is slowly becoming an inhumane tool of revenge. Is she justified? Not in her murdering tendencies, I'm sure. And yet, I could see the point in her plight. Similar to Ariadne, she sacrificed everything for the sake of love, just to be betrayed by the same love. However, where the Cretan Princess is resigned to her fate, Medea fights back with vengeance.
I won't write anything about "The daughters of Troy". I think Medea is more entertaining of these two plays.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews