Status Updates From Alcestis and Other Plays

Alcestis is a masterpiece of satire

These Greek gods. They’re not really nice people are they.

Fickle lot.

also i really enjoyed the translator’s background info; it was well articulated & insightful. the notes were also very detailed & i appreciated reading about his interpretations/why he translated certain parts in that way 🐛

ofc i loved reading about Iphigenia & Orestes! i’ve read a retelling that incorporated Iphigenia in Taurus. in particular, i like Euripides use of irony when it comes to Iphigenia’s feelings of revenge. she expresses her understanding of her father’s cruelty & him being at fault for her sacrifice, but ironically blames Helen for her woes. this is another critique of women’s roles/using them as scapegoats

—rant about his marriage bed being defiled, how his son has disgraced him, etc. to him, Phaedra is merely an extension of him; an element of his property & reputation. it’s also ironic, considering that Euripides chooses to frame Hippolytus’s conception as nonconsensual here, making Theseus a bit of a hypocrite too.

Hippolytus continued several of Euripides’s themes from Alcestis; critique of divine punishment, analyzation of women’s roles/family dynamics, discussion of necessity. new elements were introduced too: prevalence of chance, who deserves to be pardoned. similar to Admetus, Theseus only views the alleged crimes against Phaedra to really impact him. sure, he says how sorry he is for her, but quickly moves on to—