Medea ; Hippolytus ; Electra ; Helen
(Book)

Translated from the Ancient Greek.

This edition includes: introduction; textual note; bibliography; chronology; appendices; and explanatory notes.

"First published as an Oxford world's classics paperback 1998. Reissued 2008"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages xxxvi-xlii).

One of the greatest Greek tragedians, Euripides gives dramatic articulacy to his remorseless view of human nature, and a world in which the gods are malevolent, impotent, or simply absent. With extraordinary psychological insight he portrays a child-killing and vengeful mother, a stepmother's passion for her stepson, and a heroine who helps to murder her mother in an act blurring the boundaries between justice and sin. The satyr drama 'Helen', although lighter in tone than the tragedies, explores the impossibility of certitude and offers a fragile but genuine hope of redemption. This new translation by James Morwood captures Euripides' variety of register and mood while a lucid introduction provides substantial analysis of each play as well as detailing the traditions and background to Euripides' world.