Hippolyte analysis. Yarkho V.: Dramaturgy of Aeschylus and some problems of ancient Greek tragedy

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Hippolyte is the protagonist of the tragedy of the same name. I., the son of the Athenian king Theseus, who lives in Troezen, with his zealous veneration of Artemis and the neglect shown to Aphrodite, aroused the wrath of the latter. According to her plan, Theseus' wife and stepmother I. Fedra fell passionately in love with him. Phaedra's old nurse decides to help her at all costs. Against Phaedra's wishes, she volunteers to mediate their love. However, I. with hatred and contempt rejects the proposal of the nurse. Phaedra accidentally overhears this conversation and commits suicide. But in order to wash away the shameful stain from her name, and also to punish I. for his arrogance, she leaves a letter for her husband, in which she blames I., who allegedly dishonored her, for her death. Returning from a trip to the oracle, Theseus finds Phaedra's letter and curses in anger I., begging Poseidon, who promised him to fulfill his three wishes, so that I. would not live to see the end of this day. I. goes into exile, but the monstrous bull sent by Poseidon from the sea terrifies I.'s horses, which rush in different directions, breaking I. against stones. Theseus orders to bring his dying son to him. Appearing Artemis reveals the truth to Theseus, accusing him of a hasty decision, and promises I. posthumous honors on earth.

The main feature of the image of I. is his piety. At the same time, the main virtue is his virginal purity. I. does not doubt his virtue and considers himself superior to all people in it. However, the flip side of the total devotion to Artemis is the natural disdain that he shows to the goddess Aphrodite. I. resolutely rejects all attempts of his old servant to save him from arrogance before Aphrodite. He spreads his hatred to all women and angrily falls on Phaedra, who did not deserve his reproaches at all. I. hates women not at all because, from his point of view, Phaedra's behavior turned out to be vicious, on the contrary, he judges Phaedra's behavior in this way because of his hatred of women. And it was this unfair attitude that ultimately became the direct cause of his death. In a fit of anger and indignation, I. threatens to break his oath of silence, not condescending to any requests from the nurse. Phaedra hears these cries of indignation and, preparing to die, prepares death for I.

An additional characteristic of the image of I. is the emphasized elitism of his way of life, which also could not receive an unambiguously positive assessment from even a completely educated and modern ancient viewer of this tragedy.

In this tragedy, Phaedra is the main antagonist of I.. In her image, the same theme is developed - the ratio of true piety and the observance of purity. In this sense, the images have a parallel development. However, in relation to Phaedra, the theme develops in a positive way: Phaedra resists passion in order not to transgress the traditional norms of morality, and such resistance can cause nothing but praise. As for I., then in his image the theme receives a rather negative interpretation. In this sense, the images of Phaedra and I. are opposed to each other.

Theseus ruled in ancient Athens. Like Hercules, he had two fathers - the earthly one, King Aegeus, and the heavenly one, the god Poseidon. He accomplished his main feat on the island of Crete: he killed the monstrous Minotaur in the labyrinth and freed Athens from tribute to him. The Cretan princess Ariadne was his assistant: she gave him a thread, following which he left the labyrinth. He promised to take Ariadne as his wife, but the god Dionysus demanded her for himself, and for this the goddess of love Aphrodite hated Theseus.

The second wife of Theseus was an Amazon warrior; she died in battle, and Hippolyta left Theseus.

The son of an Amazon, he was not considered legal and was not brought up in Athens, but in the neighboring city of Troezen. The Amazons didn't want to know men - Hippolytus didn't want to know women. He called himself a servant of the virgin hunting goddess Artemis, initiated into the underground mysteries, which the singer Orpheus told people about: a person must be clean, and then he will find bliss behind the grave. And for this, the goddess of love Aphrodite also hated him.

The third wife of Theseus was Phaedra, also from Crete, the younger sister of Ariadne. Theseus took her as his wife in order to have legitimate children-heirs. And here begins the revenge of Aphrodite. Phaedra saw her stepson

Hippolyta and fell in love with him with mortal love. At first, she overcame her passion: Hippolyte was not around, he was in Troezen. But it so happened that Theseus killed the relatives who had rebelled against him and had to go into exile for a year; together with Phaedra, he moved to the same Troezen. Here the stepmother's love for her stepson flared up again; Phaedra was maddened by her, fell ill, and no one could understand what was happening to the queen. Theseus went to the oracle; in his absence, tragedy struck. Actually, Euripides wrote two tragedies about this. The first one has not survived. In it, Phaedra herself revealed herself in love to Hippolytus, Hippolytus rejected her in horror, and then Phaedra slandered Hippolytus to the returned Theseus: as if her stepson had fallen in love with her and wanted to dishonor her. Hippolyte died, but the truth was revealed, and only then Phaedra decided to commit suicide. This story is best remembered by posterity. But the Athenians did not like him: Phaedra turned out to be too shameless and evil here. Then Bvripid composed a second tragedy about Hippolyta - and it is before us.

The tragedy begins with Aphrodite's monologue: the gods punish the proud, and she will punish the proud Hippolytus, who abhors love. Here he is, Hippolyte, with a song in honor of the virgin Artemis on his lips: he is joyful and does not know that punishment will fall on him today. Aphrodite disappears, Hippolyte comes out with a wreath in his hands and dedicates it to Artemis - "pure from pure." "Why don't you honor Aphrodite?" - asks his old slave. “I do, but from afar: the night gods are not to my liking,” Hippolyte replies. He leaves, and the slave prays for him to Aphrodite: "Forgive his youthful arrogance: that's why you gods are wise to forgive." But Aphrodite will not forgive.

A chorus of women from Trezen enters: they have heard a rumor that Queen Phaedra is sick and delirious. From what? Wrath of the gods, evil jealousy, bad news? Phaedra, tossing about on her bed, is carried out to meet them, with her old nurse. Phaedra raves: “I would like to hunt in the mountains! To the flowery Artemidin Meadow! To the coastal horse races" - all these are Hippolytus' places. The nurse persuades: "Wake up, open up, pity if not yourself, then the children: if you die, they will not reign, but Hippolytus." Phaedra shudders, "Don't say that name!" Word for word: “the cause of the disease is love”; "the reason for love is Hippolyte"; "There is only one salvation - death." The nurse opposes: “Love is the universal law; resisting love is fruitless pride; and there is a cure for every disease.” Phaedra understands this word literally: maybe the nurse knows some kind of healing potion? Nurse leaves; the choir sings: "Oh, let Eros blow me!"

Noise from behind the stage: Phaedra hears the voices of the Nurse and Hippolyte. No, it was not about the potion, it was about Hippolyte's love: the nurse revealed everything to him - and in vain. Here they go on stage, he is indignant, she prays for one thing: “Just don’t say a word to anyone, you swore!” “My tongue swore, my soul had nothing to do with it,” Hippolyte replies. He pronounces a cruel denunciation of women: “Oh, if only you could continue your race without women! A husband spends money on a wedding, a husband takes in-laws, a stupid wife is difficult, a smart wife is dangerous - I will keep my oath of silence, but I curse you! He's leaving; Phaedra, in despair, stigmatizes the nurse: “Damn you! By death I wanted to be saved from dishonor; Now I see that death cannot save us from it. There is only one thing left, the last resort, ”and she leaves without naming him. This remedy is to blame Hippolytus before his father. The choir sings: “This world is terrible! Run away from him, run away!

Weeping from behind the scene: Phaedra is in a noose, Phaedra has died! There is anxiety on the stage: Theseus appears, he is horrified by an unexpected disaster, the palace swings open, a general cry begins over the body of Phaedra. But why did she kill herself? She has writing boards in her hand; Theseus reads them, and his horror is even greater. It turns out that it was Hippolyte, the criminal stepson, who encroached on her bed, and she, unable to bear the dishonor, laid hands on herself.

"Father Poseidon! Theseus exclaims. “You once promised me to fulfill my three wishes, - here is the last of them: punish Hippolytus, let him not survive this day!” Hippolyte appears; he is also struck by the sight of the dead Phaedra, but even more by the reproaches that his father brings down on him. “Oh, why can’t we recognize lies by sound! Theseus screams. - Sons are more deceitful than fathers, and grandsons - sons; soon there will be no room for criminals on earth. Lies are your holiness, lies are your purity, and here is your accuser. Get out of my sight - go into exile! - “Gods and people know - I have always been clean; Here is my oath to you, but I am silent about other excuses, - Hippolytus replies. - Neither lust pushed me to Phaedra the stepmother, nor vanity - to Phaedra the queen. I see: the wrong one came out clean from the case, but the truth did not save the clean. Execute me if you want. - "No, death would be your favor - go into exile!" “Sorry, Artemis, sorry, Troezen, sorry, Athens! You have never had a purer heart than me.” Hippolyte exits; the choir sings: “Fate is changeable, life is terrible; God forbid I know the cruel laws of the world!”

The curse comes true: a messenger arrives. Hippolyte in a chariot left Troezen along a path between the rocks and the seashore. “I don’t want to live as a criminal,” he called out to the gods, “but I just want my father to know that he is wrong, and I am right, alive or dead.” Then the sea roared, a wave rose above the horizon, a monster arose from the shaft, like a sea bull; the horses shied away and carried away, the chariot hit the rocks, the young man was dragged over the rocks. The dying man is carried back to the palace. “I am his father, and I am dishonored by him,” says Theseus, “let him expect neither sympathy nor joy from me.” But here above the stage is Artemis, the goddess Hippolyta. "He's right, you're wrong," she says. - Phaedra was not right either, but she was driven by the evil Aphrodite. Cry, king; I share your grief with you."

Hippolyte is brought in on a stretcher, he groans and begs to finish him off; Whose sins is he paying for? .Artemis leans over him from a height: “This is the wrath of Aphrodite, it was she who killed Phaedra, and Phaedra Hippolyta, and Hippolytus leaves Theseus inconsolable: three victims, one more unfortunate than the other. Oh, what a pity that the gods do not pay for the fate of people! There will be grief for Aphrodite - she also has a favorite - the hunter Adonis, and he will fall.

Hippolyte is the main character of the tragedy. The main feature of the image of I. is his piety. At the same time, the main virtue is his virginal purity. I. does not doubt his virtue and considers himself superior to all people in it. However, the flip side of the total devotion to Artemis is the natural disdain that he shows to the goddess Aphrodite. I. resolutely rejects all attempts of his old servant to save him from arrogance before Aphrodite. He spreads his hatred to all women and angrily falls on Phaedra, who did not deserve his reproaches at all. I. hates women not at all because, from his point of view, Phaedra's behavior turned out to be vicious, on the contrary, he judges Phaedra's behavior in this way because of his hatred of women. And it was this unfair attitude that ultimately became the direct cause of his death. In a fit of anger and indignation, I. threatens to break his oath of silence, not condescending to any requests from the nurse. Phaedra hears these cries of indignation and, preparing to die, prepares death for I. An additional characteristic of the image of I. is the emphasized elitism of his way of life, which also could not receive an unambiguously positive assessment from even a fully educated and modern ancient viewer of this tragedy.

Helena is a character in three tragedies by Euripides: "The Trojan Women", "Helen" and "Orestes". Two of them, "Troyanka" and "Orest", represent the traditional image of E. - an unfaithful wife who fled with Paris and the culprit of the troubles that befell Hellas. In the tragedy "Helen" Euripides portrays E. innocent. The Trojan Women tragedy depicts the enslavement of famous Trojan women. Among the prisoners is also E., whom the Greeks handed over to Menelaus with a wish to kill or take back to Greece.

Having met her husband at the end of the Trojan War, E. does not feel embarrassed or ashamed, but tries to cover up her betrayal with a speech full of deceit and sophistical tricks. E. claims that divine necessity prompted her to misconduct, and the old Hecuba shows that it was a passion for Paris and untold riches. E. insists that after the death of Paris, she lived in Troy as a prisoner, meanwhile, according to Hecuba, all this time she enjoyed the luxury of Asian life and never wanted to leave Troy. The scene gets a special sound because everyone knows that E. will not be killed by Menelaus, but will subdue him and return home safely. In this respect, her image contrasts with the images of other captives: Cassandra, Andromache, Hecuba, Polyxena, who, without having any guilt behind them, endure violence, abuse, and some even death. The tragedy Orestes depicts the arrival of E. from Troy to Argos, where Menelaus, fearing the wrath of the crowd, secretly sent her before his own arrival.

In the interpretation of the image of E., two aspects are distinguished by this tragedy. On the one hand, this is E., as she is perceived by the Greeks, - the “queen of evils”, the culprit of the war and all the troubles caused by the war in general. E. is surrounded by the hatred of both the crowd and the household, who consider her the cause of the misfortunes that befell their house. On the other hand, it is emphasized that in addition to the attitude of the fathers and mothers of the dead heroes towards E., in addition to her crime against Greece, there is a divine plan, the instrument of which she was. E. is to become a goddess, and the features of the divine are guessed in some features of her behavior. Excessive passions bypass her; in contrast to other participants in the drama, she maintains a measure in her experiences. Sadness about the fate of the house of Agamemnon is balanced in her by joy for her daughter Hermione. Being, according to the thoughts of all the participants in the tragedy, the main culprit of the intrigue, E. alone does not experience any particular suffering. When the desperate Orestes and Pylades want to kill her as the culprit of all evils, Apollo takes her to heaven, for she is not subject to human judgment.

In the tragedy “Helen”, Euripides sets out a version according to which it was not E. herself who was taken away by Paris to Troy, but her ghost, woven by Hera from the ether. E. herself, at the time of the Trojan War, was transferred by Hermes to Egypt to the pious king Proteus, where she had to, faithfully to Menelaus, wait until he, by the will of the gods, was in this land.

Elektra is a character in the tragedies Elektra and Orestes. In the tragedy "Electra" E. is given by Aegisthus and Clytemnestra to marry a poor peasant. However, this marriage remains fictitious, as the peasant is aware that he received E. not by right. Going for water, E. meets Orestes at the source, who, together with Pylades, secretly arrived in Argos and, after E.'s conversation with the choir, recognized her sister in her. A revenge plan is drawn up, and Orestes becomes confused, not knowing how to deal with Aegisthus and his mother at the same time. E. offers her help in relation to her mother: according to her plan, she must lure Clytemnestra into the house under the pretext of giving birth to her first child. Before the arrival of Clytemnestra, Orestes is seized with doubts and horror, so that he is completely ready to abandon the idea of \u200b\u200bkilling her, and only the persistence and inflexibility of E. return him to the original plan. E. meets Clytemnestra with a speech full of hatred and reproaches and escorts her to the house where Orestes kills her. Immediately after the murder of his mother, E. and Orestes cry about what they have done, and E. takes all the blame.

In constructing the image of the main character, Euripides uses his favorite technique common to all his so-called "revenge dramas" (cf. "Medea", "Hecuba"). The essence of this technique boils down to the fact that, despite the legitimate desire to take revenge, the unholy passion for revenge possessing the heroine is portrayed as lawless, which in the finale turns the situation in the opposite direction from that outlined at the beginning, depriving the accomplished revenge of any legitimate justification. This effect is achieved, as a rule, by the fact that the criterion for evaluating all the acts of a tragedy is the measure of ordinary human morality.

Hippolytus is the main character in the tragedy Hippolytus, the son of the Athenian king Theseus. Hippolyte lives in Troezen, diligently reveres the goddess Artemis, at the same time neglects Aphrodite and incurs her wrath. In retaliation, the goddess of love sends on Phaedra, Hippolytus' stepmother, a passion for her stepson. Phaedra's old nurse decides to help her without her knowledge and become an intermediary in their love. Hippolyte with hatred and contempt rejects the nurse's offer. Phaedra, who accidentally witnessed this conversation, laid hands on herself. However,

in an effort to punish Hippolytus for his arrogance, and also to wash away the shameful stain from herself, she leaves a letter to her husband in which she blames Hippolytus Theseus, who allegedly dishonored her, for her death, returns home from a long journey and finds Phaedra's letter. Angry at his son, he begs the god Poseidon, who promised to fulfill his three wishes, not to let Hippolytus live until the evening. He sends his son into exile, but a monstrous bull sent by Poseidon from the bottom of the sea frightens Hippolytus' horses, which scatter and smash Hippolytus against the stones. Theseus, wanting to say goodbye to his dying son, orders to bring him to him. Appears

the goddess Artemis and reveals the truth to Theseus, accusing him of a hasty decision. She promises Hippolyte posthumous honors on earth.

Hippolytus is the personification of piety. He considers virginity to be his main virtue, and he boasts of it in front of everyone. The old servant tries to warn Hippolytus about the danger that his neglect of the goddess of love Aphrodite threatens, but Hippolytus does not heed his requests. Hippolytus hates all women, his hatred extends to the innocent Phaedra. His contempt for women is not at all due to the unworthy behavior of Phaedra, on the contrary, he judges Phaedra based on the general hatred of women. Such injustice as a result becomes the cause of his death.

Phaedra becomes the main antagonist of Hippolytus in the work. The theme of true and imaginary piety in her image receives a completely different development than in the image of Hippolytus. Phaedra resists her feelings for her stepson, does not want to break the accepted norms of morality, which causes sympathy. The piety of Hippolytus receives rather a negative interpretation, on the basis of which the images are opposed to each other.

Glossary:

– Euripides Hippolytus analysis

– hippolytus euripides analysis

- characteristics of Euripides' phedra

– Euripides Hippolytus analysis of the work

– Tragedy hippolyte analysis

Origin of Euripides

The third great Athenian tragedian, Euripides, was born on the island of Salamis in 480 BC (Ol. 75, 1), according to legend, on the same day that the Athenians defeated the Persian fleet at Salamis, - 20 voedromion or 5 October. The poet's parents, like most Athenians, fled from Attica during the invasion of the hordes of Xerxes and sought refuge on Salamis. Euripides' father was called Mnesarchos (or Mnesarchides), his mother was Clito. There are wonderful, contradictory reports about them, which, perhaps, partly owe their origin to the mocking Attic comedy. Euripides' mother, as Aristophanes often reproached him, was, they say, a merchant and sold vegetables and herbs; the father is said to have also been a merchant or innkeeper (κάπηγοσ); it is said that, for no known reason, he fled with his wife to Boeotia and then settled again in Attica. In Stobeus we read that Mnesarchus was in Boeotia and there he was subjected to an original punishment for his debts: the insolvent debtor was taken to the market, there he was imprisoned and covered with a basket. By this he was dishonored and therefore left Boeotia for Attica. The comedians say nothing about this story, although they used everything they could to ridicule Euripides.

Euripides with an actor's mask. A statue

From all that has been reported, one can, it seems, conclude that Euripides' parents were poor people, from the lower class. But Philochorus, the famous collector of Attic antiquities, who lived during the time of the Diadochi, in his essay on Euripides, on the contrary, reports that Euripides' mother came from a very noble family; Theophrastus (c. 312 BC) also speaks of the nobility of the poet’s parents, according to whom Euripides was once among the boys who poured wine for singers during the Thargelia festival - an occupation for which only children from noble locals were chosen childbirth. A biographer's remark that Euripides was the torch-bearer (πύρθορος) of Apollo Zosterius has a similar meaning. Therefore, we must assume that Euripides came from a noble Athenian family. He was assigned to the district of Phlia (Φλΰα).

Youth and education of Euripides

If Euripides' father was not rich, then nevertheless he gave his son a good upbringing, which fully corresponded to his origin. The father especially tried to train his son in athletics and gymnastics, precisely because, as the legend says, at the birth of a boy, the father received a prediction from an oracle or from passing Chaldeans that his son would win victories in sacred competitions. When the boy's strength was already sufficiently developed, his father took him to Olympia for the games; but Euripides was not allowed to the games, due to his youth. But later he is said to have received an award for an athletic contest in Athens. In his youth, Euripides was also engaged in painting; later in Megara there were more of his paintings. In adulthood, he devoted himself zealously to philosophy and rhetoric. He was a student and friend of Anaxagoras of Clazomenus, who, in the time of Pericles, first began to teach philosophy in Athens; Euripides was on friendly terms with Pericles and with other remarkable people of that time, as, for example, with the historian Thucydides. In the tragedies of Euripides one can see the deep influence that the great philosopher (Anaxagoras) had on the poet. His tragedies also sufficiently testify to his knowledge of rhetoric. In rhetoric, he used the lessons of the famous sophists Protagoras of Abdera and Prodicus of Ceos, who lived and taught in Athens for a long time and were on good terms with the most remarkable people in this city, which then became the rallying point for all outstanding scientists and artists. In ancient biographies, Socrates is also mentioned among the teachers of Euripides; but that's just a chronological error. Socrates was a friend of Euripides, who was 11 years older than him; they had common views and common aspirations. Although Socrates rarely went to the theater, he went there whenever a new play by Euripides was being played. "He loved this man, says Elian, for his wisdom and for the moral tone of his writings." This mutual sympathy between the poet and the philosopher was the reason why the comedians, ridiculing Euripides, assured that Socrates helped him write tragedies.

The dramatic activity of Euripides and the attitude of his contemporaries to it

What prompted Euripides to leave philosophy and turn to tragic poetry, we do not know for sure. Apparently, he took up poetry not from an inner impulse, but from a deliberate choice, wanting to popularize philosophical ideas in poetic form. For the first time he performed with a drama in the 25th year of his life, in 456 BC (Ol. 81.1), in the year of the death of Aeschylus. Then he received only the third award. How many dramas Euripides wrote - this was not exactly known even in antiquity; most writers attributed 92 plays to him, including 8 satirical dramas. He won his first victory in 444 BC, the second in 428. In general, throughout his long-term poetic activity, he only received the first award four times, the fifth time he received it after his death, for the didascalia, which put on the stage on his behalf by his son or nephew, also named Euripides.

Euripides. Project Encyclopedia. Video

From this small number of victories, it is clear that the works of Euripides did not enjoy special attention among his fellow citizens. However, during the life of Sophocles, who, being the favorite of the Athenian people, reigned inseparably on the stage until his death, it was difficult for anyone else to achieve fame. In addition, the reason for the insignificant successes of Euripides was mainly in the peculiarities of his poetry, which, leaving the solid ground of ancient Hellenic life, tried to acquaint the people with philosophical speculations and sophistry, therefore, took a new direction, which did not like the generation brought up on the old customs . But Euripides, despite the dislike of the public, stubbornly continued to follow the same path, and in the consciousness of his own dignity sometimes directly contradicted the public if it expressed its displeasure with some of his bold thoughts, the moral meaning of some place in his works. So, for example, they say that once the people demanded that Euripides cross out some place from his tragedy; the poet went on stage and declared that he was used to teaching the people, and not learning from the people. On another occasion, when, at the presentation of Bellerophon, all the people, having heard how the misanthrope Bellerophon praised money above all else in the world, rose from their seats in anger and wanted to drive the actors off the stage and stop the performance, Euripides again appeared on the stage and demanded that the audience waited for the end of the play and saw what awaits the fan of money. This is similar to the next story. In the tragedy of Euripides "Ixion" its hero, the villain, elevates injustice into a principle and destroys all concepts of virtue and duty with impudent sophistry, so that this tragedy was condemned as godless and immoral. The poet objected, and only then withdrew his drama from the repertoire when he was forced to do so.

Euripides did not pay much attention to the verdict of his contemporaries, confident that his works would be appreciated later. Once, in a conversation with the tragedian Akestor, he complained that in the last three days, despite all his efforts, he managed to write only three verses; Akestor boasted that at that time he could easily write a hundred verses; Euripides remarked: "But there is a difference between us: your poems are written only for three days, and mine are forever." Euripides was not deceived in his expectations; as a supporter of progress, which more and more attracted the younger generation, Euripides from the time of the Peloponnesian war began to meet little by little more approval, and soon his tragedies became the common property of the Attic educated public. Brilliant tirades from his tragedies, pleasant songs and thoughtful maxims were on everyone's lips and were highly valued throughout Greece. Plutarch, in the biography of Nikias, says that after the unfortunate outcome of the Sicilian expedition, many of the Athenians who escaped captivity in Syracuse and fell into slavery or lived in poverty in another part of the island owed their salvation to Euripides. “Of the non-Athenian Greeks, the Sicilian Greeks were the greatest admirers of the muse of Euripides; they memorized passages from his works and gladly communicated them to one another. At least many of those who returned to their homeland from there joyfully greeted Euripides and told him, some how they freed themselves from slavery, having learned their master what they knew by heart from the Euripides tragedies, others how they, singing his songs, received their livelihood when, after the battle, they had to wander without shelter. In this regard, Plutarch tells how once a ship pursued by pirates sought salvation in the bay of the city of Cavna (in Caria): the inhabitants of this city at first did not let the ship into the bay; but then, having asked the sailors if they knew anything from Euripides and having received an affirmative answer, they allowed them to hide from their pursuers. The comedian Aristophanes, a representative of the "good old times", an enemy of all innovations, especially strongly attacks Euripides and very often laughs at passages from his tragedies; this proves how important Euripides was to his fellow citizens during the Peloponnesian War, and how famous his poems were.

Personal character of Euripides

The dislike with which Euripides was greeted for a long time by his fellow citizens is partly due to his personal character and way of life. Euripides was a completely moral person, which is already evident from the fact that Aristophanes nowhere cites a single immoral incident from his life; but by his nature he was serious, gloomy and uncommunicative; like his teacher and friend Anaxagoras, whom no one had ever seen laughing or smiling, he hated all carefree enjoyment of life. Nor was he seen laughing; he avoided intercourse with people and never left a concentrated, thoughtful state. With such reclusiveness, he spent time with only a few friends and with his books; Euripides was one of the few people of that time who had his own library, and, moreover, quite significant. The poet Alexander Aetolsky says about him: “The student of the strict Anaxagoras was grouchy and unsociable; the enemy of laughter, he did not know how to have fun and joke over wine; but everything he wrote was full of pleasantness and attractiveness. He retired from political life and never held public office. Of course, with such a lifestyle, he could not claim popularity; like Socrates, he must have seemed useless and idle to the Athenians; they considered him an eccentric "who, buried in his books and philosophizing with Socrates in his corner, thinks to remake Hellenic life." This is how Aristophanes presents him, of course, for the amusement of the Athenians, in his comedy Acharnians: Euripides sits at home and soars in the higher spheres, philosophizes and composes poetry, and does not want to go downstairs to talk with Dikeopolis, since he has no time; only yielding to the urgent requests of the latter, he orders, for the sake of great convenience, to push himself out of the room. Paying some attention to the judgments of the crowd, Euripides in his "" advises smart people not to give their children an extensive education, "since a wise person, even because he loves leisure and solitude, arouses hatred among his fellow citizens, and if he invents anything good, fools consider it a daring innovation. But if Euripides retired from public life, however, as can be seen from his poetry, he had a patriotic heart; he tried to arouse in his fellow citizens love for the fatherland, he vividly felt the failures of his native city, rebelled against the intrigues of the unscrupulous leaders of the mob, and even in political affairs gave sound advice to the people.

On the island of Salamis, they showed a lonely shady cave with an entrance from the sea, which Euripides arranged for himself in order to retire there from the noisy light for poetic studies. In all likelihood, the gloomy and melancholic nature of this cave, reminiscent of the personal properties of Euripides, prompted the Salamis to name this cave after the poet born on the island. On one stone that Welker (Alte Denkmäler, I, 488) speaks of, there is an image referring to this Euripides cave. Euripides, a stout old man with a large beard, stands next to the Muse, who holds a scroll in her hand and brings it to a woman sitting on a rock. This woman, according to Welker's explanation, is “a nymph who lives in this coastal rock, a nymph in this cave, friendly hosting Euripides; Hermes, standing behind the nymph, points to the construction of a cave here for solitary practice of wise poetry.

The theme of women in Euripides

The gloomy and unsociable nature of Euripides also explains the hatred of women, which the Athenians and especially Aristophanes reproached him with in his comedy "Women at the Thesmophoria". The women, irritated by the bad reviews of Euripides about them, want to take revenge on him and, having gathered for the feast of Thesmophoria, where there is complete agreement between them, they decide to arrange a trial for the poet and sentence him to death. Euripides, in fear for his fate, is looking for one of the men who would agree to dress in a woman's dress, take part in a meeting of women and defend the poet there. Since the pampered, effeminate poet Agathon, whom Euripides asks to provide this service, does not want to be in danger, then Mnesilochus, Euripides' father-in-law, who has fully mastered the philosophical and oratorical techniques of his son-in-law, takes on this role and, dressed in a woman's dress delivered by Agathon , goes to the temple of Thesmophoria. Here a lawsuit takes place in which female orators violently attack the son of a tradeswoman who vilifies their gender; Mnesiloch ardently defends his son-in-law, but he is soon recognized and, by order of the priest called to the temple, they are tied to a pole in order to later judge him for a criminal intrusion into the women's society. Euripides, who has run to the temple, tries in vain, with the help of various tricks, to free his father-in-law; finally, he succeeds in freeing him when he promises women never to scold them again, and, with the assistance of a flutist, diverts the attention of the Scythian, who is on guard. on Euripides and wanted to kill him, but he escaped, giving them a promise that he would never say anything bad about them; Speaking about this, the biographer cites several verses from the drama “Melanippe” by Euripides, which say: “The abuse uttered by men against women does not hit the target; I assure you that women are better than men. According to another biographer, the women attacked Euripides in the Salamis cave; they broke in there, says the biographer, and wanted to kill him while he was writing the tragedy. How the poet reassured them is not mentioned; of course, with the help of the above promise.

Seated Euripides. Roman statue

Euripides paid special attention to the female sex and brought women to the stage much more often than other poets. The passions of a woman's heart, especially love and its collision with a moral sense, were often the subject of his tragedies; thus, in his tragedies, situations could easily appear in which the bad and dark sides of the female heart were sharply outlined. Thus, it is not uncommon for a woman to appear in a bad light in entire plays and in many individual scenes, although it cannot be said that the poet’s firm conviction is expressed in these scenes. The Athenians could be offended both by the fact that the poet generally depicted a woman on stage with all her innermost feelings and motives, and by the fact that women's errors and corruption of character were portrayed in such bright colors, and moreover, at a time when Attic women really stood morally. not particularly high. This is the reason why Euripides gained a reputation among the Athenians as a hater of women; we must admit that his attitude towards women does him at least as much honor as shame. In his dramas, we meet many noble women, distinguished by high love and self-sacrifice, courage and willpower, while men often appear next to them in a miserable and secondary role.

Family relations of Euripides

If Euripides' harsh judgments about women are in most cases explained by the nature of the dramatic plot, then some of the sentences of this kind, apparently, were expressed by him quite sincerely. In his family life, the poet had to endure severe trials. According to biographers, Euripides had two wives; the first was Chirilus, the daughter of the above-mentioned Mnesiloch, by whom Euripides had three sons: Mnesarchides, who later became a merchant, Mnesiloch, who became an actor, and Euripides the Younger, a tragedian. Since this wife was unfaithful to Euripides, he divorced her and took another wife, Melito, who, however, turned out to be no better than the first and left her husband herself. Others call this Melito the first wife of Euripides, and Chiril (or Chirin) the second; Gellius even says that Euripides had two wives at the same time, which, of course, is not true, since bigamy was not allowed in Athens. Chirila is said to have been involved with a certain Cephisophon, an actor believed to be a young slave of Euripides and whom comedians say helped Euripides write dramas. Chiril's infidelity prompted Euripides to write the drama Hippolytus, in which he especially attacks women; having experienced the same trouble from his second wife, the poet began to blame women even more. Under such circumstances, of course, he could quite sincerely put into the mouth of Hippolyte such strange thoughts:

"Oh Zeus! you have darkened the happiness of people by bringing a woman into the world! If you wanted to support the human race, you would have to make sure that we do not owe our lives to women. We mortals could bring copper or iron or expensive gold to your temples, and in return receive children from the hands of a deity, each according to his offering; and these children would grow up freely in their father's house, never seeing or knowing women; for it is clear that woman is the greatest calamity.”

Departure of Euripides from Athens to Macedonia

In the last years of his life, Euripides left his native city. This was shortly after the introduction of Orestes (408 BC). What prompted him to do this we do not know; perhaps family troubles, or the constant bitter attacks of comedians, or the turbulent situation in Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War, or perhaps all this together made his stay in his homeland unpleasant. He went first to the Thessalian Magnesia, whose citizens received him very hospitably and honored him with gifts. However, he did not stay there for long and went to Pella, to the court of the Macedonian king Archelaus. This sovereign was not distinguished by moral qualities; he made his way to the throne by a triple murder; but he was very zealous about introducing Greek culture and customs into his country, especially about giving his court more brilliance, attracting Greek poets and artists. At his court lived, among others, the tragedian Agathon of Athens, the epic Chiril from Samos, the famous painter Zeuxis from Heraclea (in Magna Grecia), the musician and author of dithyrambs Timothy from Miletus. At the court of the hospitable and generous king, Euripides enjoyed pleasant leisure and, in honor of the Macedonian royal house, wrote the drama Archelaus, which depicts the foundation of the Macedonian kingdom by Archelaus, the son of Temen, a descendant of Hercules. In Macedonia, however, Euripides wrote the drama The Bacchae, as can be seen from the allusions to local circumstances in this play. These plays were presented in Dion, in Pieria, near Olympus, where the cult of Bacchus existed and where King Archelaus arranged dramatic competitions in honor of Zeus and the Muses.

Possibly, the poet Agathon also took part in these competitions, who left Athens and arrived in Pella almost at the same time as Euripides. As a joke, a story was invented that the handsome Agathon in his youth was the lover of Euripides, who was then about 32 years old, and that Euripides wrote his Chrysippus to please him. Just as little faith deserves the story of how the old man Euripides once, drunk at dinner at Archelaus, kissed the 40-year-old Agathon, and to the question of the king, does he still consider Agathon his lover, answered: “Of course, I swear by Zeus ; after all, beauties are given not only a beautiful spring, but also a beautiful autumn.

Legends about the death of Euripides

At the court of Archelaus, Euripides did not live long. He died in 406 BC (Ol. 93, 3), 75 years of age. There are various stories about his death, which, however, hardly deserve probabilities. The most widespread was the news that he had been torn to pieces by dogs. The biographer tells the following: In Macedonia there was a village inhabited by the Thracians. Once the Molossian dog Archelaus ran there, and the villagers, according to their custom, sacrificed it and ate it. For this the king fined them one talent; but Euripides, at the request of the Thracians, begged the king to forgive them this act. A long time later, Euripides once walked in a grove near the city, in which at the same time the king was hunting. The dogs, escaping from the hunters, rushed at the old man and tore him to pieces. They were the puppies of the same dog that the Thracians had eaten; hence the proverb “dog revenge” appeared among the Macedonians. Another biographer tells that two poets, the Macedonian Arideus and the Thessalian Kratev, out of envy of Euripides, bribed the royal slave Lysimachus for 10 minutes to unleash the dogs on Euripides, which tore him to pieces. According to other reports, not dogs, but women attacked him at night on the road and tore him to pieces.

The news of the death of Euripides was received in Athens with deep sorrow. It is said that Sophocles, having received this news, put on mourning clothes, and during a performance in the theater brought the actors on stage without wreaths; the people wept. Archelaus erected a decent monument to the great poet in a romantic area between Arethusa and Wormis, near two sources. The Athenians, having learned about the death of the poet, sent an embassy to Macedonia, with a request for the extradition of the body of Euripides for burial in his native city; but since Archelaus did not agree to this request, they erected a cenotaph in honor of the poet on the road to Piraeus, where Pausanius later saw him. According to legend, the tomb of Euripides, like the tomb of Lycurgus, was destroyed by a lightning strike, which was considered a sign of the special attention of the gods to mortals, since the place where the lightning struck was declared sacred and inviolable. The historian Thucydides or the musician Timothy is said to have adorned his cenotaph with the following inscription:

“The whole of Greece serves as the grave of Euripides, while his body is in Macedonia, where he was destined to end his life. His fatherland is Athens and all Hellas; he enjoyed the love of the Muses and thus gained praise from everyone.

Bergk believes that this inscription was not composed by the historian Thucydides, but by another Athenian of the same name from the house of Acherdas, who was a poet and, apparently, also lived at the court of Archelaus. Perhaps this inscription was intended for the monument to Euripides in Macedonia.

Let us mention here one more circumstance. Shortly after the death of Euripides, the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius, who gained dominion in the same year, bought from his heirs, for one talent, the string instrument, board and stylus that belonged to the poet, and donated these things, in memory of Euripides, to the temple of the Muses in Syracuse.

From antiquity to our time, many busts of Euripides have been preserved, representing him either separately or together with Sophocles. A colossal bust of the poet in Parian marble is in the Chiaramonti Vatican Museum; this is probably a copy from a statue that was placed, by order of Lycurgus, in the theater, next to the statues of Aeschylus and Sophocles. “In the features of Euripides’ face, one can see that seriousness, gloom and inhospitability, in which the comedians reproached him, that dislike for fun and laughter, with which his love for solitude, for the remote Salamis cave, is so consistent. Together with the seriousness in his figure, benevolence and modesty are expressed - the properties of a true philosopher. Instead of sophistical complacency and self-love, something honest and sincere is seen in the face of Euripides. (Welker).

Euripides. Bust from the Vatican Museum

Euripides and sophistry

For more details, see the article "Sophistic Philosophy" (section "Influence of Sophistic Philosophy on Euripides")

Euripides is a complete representative of the time when the Athenians fell in love with sophistry and began to flaunt sensitivity. A penchant for intellectual pursuits distracted him early from social activities, and he lived in a circle of philosophers. He delved into the skeptical ideas of Anaxagoras, he enjoyed the seductive teachings of the sophists. He did not have the cheerful energy of Sophocles, diligently performing civic duties; he shunned state affairs, shunned the life of the society whose morals he portrayed, lived in a vicious circle. His tragedies were liked by his contemporaries; but his ambition remained unsatisfied - perhaps that is why he left Athens in his old age, where comic poets constantly laughed at his works.

Akin to her in trend, in content, probably close to her and in time, the tragedy of The Petitioner. Its content is the legend that the Thebans did not allow to bury the Argive heroes killed during the Campaign of the Seven against Thebes, but Theseus forced them to do so. There are also clear hints at contemporary political relations. The Thebans also did not want to allow the Athenians to bury the soldiers killed in the battle of Delia (in 424). At the end of the play, the king of Argos makes an alliance with the Athenians; it also made political sense: shortly after the Battle of Delia, the Athenians formed an alliance with Argos. The choir of the Petitioners is made up of the mothers of the slain heroes of Argos and their servants; then the sons of these heroes join them; the songs of the choir are excellent. Probably, the scenery representing the Eleusinian temple of Demeter had a beautiful view, at the altars of which “petitioners” sit down - the mothers of the murdered heroes. The scenes of the burning of those heroes, the procession of boys carrying urns with the ashes of the dead, the voluntary death of Kapanei's wife, who ascended the fire to the body of her husband, were also good. At the end of the drama, Euripides, by deus ex machina, brings the goddess Athena onto the stage, who demands an oath from the Argos never to fight the Athenians. Following this, the Athenian-Argos alliance is formed, for the sake of the renewal of which, in modern times, The Petitioners were written.

Euripides - "Hekuba" (summary)

Some of the tragedies of Euripides that have come down to us have episodes from the Trojan War, in particular from the terrible events of the death of Troy; they depict strong passions with great energy. So, for example, in Hecuba, the sorrow of the mother is first depicted, from whose arms the daughter, Polyxena, the bride of Achilles, is pulled out. Having stopped after the destruction of Troy on the Thracian coast of the Hellespont, the Greeks decided to sacrifice Polyxene on the tomb of Achilles; she willingly goes to her death. At this moment, the maid, who went for water, brings Hecuba the body of Polydor, which she found on the shore, her son, who was killed by the traitor Polymestor, under whose protection Polydor was sent. This new misfortune makes an avenger out of the victim of Hecuba, the thirst for revenge on the murderer of her son merges in her soul with despair from the death of her daughter. With the consent of the chief leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon, Hecuba lures Polymestor into a tent and blinds him with the help of slaves. In the execution of his revenge, Hecuba shows great intelligence and extraordinary courage. Euripides depicts jealousy in Medea, revenge is depicted in Hecuba with the most energetic features. The blinded Polymestor predicts Hecuba her future fate.

Euripides - "Andromache" (summary)

Passion of a completely different kind is the content of the tragedy of Euripides "Andromache". Andromache, the unfortunate widow of Hector, at the conclusion of the Trojan War, becomes the slave of Achilles' son, Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus' wife, Hermione, is jealous of her. Jealousy is all the stronger because Hermione has no children, and Andromache gives birth to a son, Molossus, from Neoptolemus. Hermione and her father, the Spartan king Menelaus, brutally persecute Andromache, even threaten her with death; but Neoptolemus' grandfather, Peleus, delivers her from their persecution. Hermione, fearing her husband's revenge, wants to kill herself. But Menelaus' nephew, Orestes, who used to be Hermione's fiancé, takes her to Sparta, and the Delphians, excited by his intrigues, kill Neoptolemus. At the end of the play, the goddess Thetis appears (deus ex machina) and heralds the happy future of Andromache and Molossus; this artificial denouement is intended to produce a reassuring impression on the spectators.

The whole tragedy is permeated with hostility to Sparta; this feeling is inspired in Euripides by modern relations; Sparta and Athens were then at war with each other. "Andromache" was put on stage probably in 421, a little earlier than the conclusion of the Peace of Nice. Euripides with obvious pleasure depicts in Menelaus the severity and deceit of the Spartans, in Hermione the immorality of Spartan women.

Euripides - "Trojan Women" (summary)

The tragedy "The Trojan Women" was written by Euripides around 415. Its action takes place on the second day after the capture of Troy in the camp of the victorious Hellenic army. The captives taken in Troy are distributed among the leaders of the victorious Greeks. Euripides depicts how Hecuba, the wife of the murdered Trojan king Priam, and the wife of Hector, Andromache, are preparing for the slave fate. The son of Hector and Andromache, the baby Astyanax, the Greeks throw off the fortress wall. One daughter of Priam and Hecuba, the Trojan prophetess Cassandra, becomes the concubine of the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, and in ecstatic madness makes predictions about the terrible fate that will soon befall most of the destroyers of Troy. Another daughter of Hecuba, Polyxene, is to be sacrificed at the grave of Achilles.

The role of the choir in this drama of Euripides is played by the Trojan women taken prisoner by the Greeks. The finale of the "Troyanka" becomes the scene of the burning of Troy by the Hellenes.

As in the case of The Petitioners, Andromache, and The Heraclides, the plot of The Trojan Women has a close connection with the events of that time. In 415 BC, the Athenians, on the advice of the ambitious adventurer Alcibiades, decided to turn the tide of the Peloponnesian War sharply and achieve pan-Greek hegemony through a military expedition to Sicily. This thoughtless plan was condemned by many prominent people of Athens. Aristophanes wrote the comedy The Birds for this purpose, and Euripides wrote The Trojan Women, where he vividly depicted the bloody disasters of the war and expressed sympathy for the suffering captives. The idea that even with the successful completion of the campaign, its further consequences will be tragic for the victors who have transgressed justice, was carried out by Euripides in the Trojan Women very clearly.

The Trojan Women, one of the best dramas of Euripides, was not successful when first staged - about the time the Sicilian expedition began. The “anti-war” meaning of the “Trojans” did not please the people excited by the demagogues. But when in the fall of 413 the entire Athenian army perished in Sicily, the sensible fellow citizens recognized the correctness of Euripides and instructed him to write a poetic epitaph on the tomb of fellow countrymen who fell in Sicily.

Euripides - "Helena" (summary)

The content of the tragedy "Helen" is borrowed from the legend that the Trojan War was waged because of a ghost: in Troy there was only the ghost of Helen, and Helen herself was carried away by the gods to Egypt. The young king of Egypt, Theoclymenus, pursues Helen with his love; she runs away from him to the tomb of King Proteus. There, her husband, Menelaus, who was brought to Egypt by storms after the capture of Troy, finds her in beggarly clothes, since all his ships were wrecked by a hurricane. To deceive Theoclymenos, Helen informs him that Menelaus allegedly died near Troy, and she, now a free woman, is ready to marry the king. Elena asks only to be allowed to go on a boat to the sea to perform the last funeral rites for her ex-husband. On this boat, Helena leaves with Menelaus in disguise. They are assisted by the priestess maiden Theonoah, the only noble person in the play. Theoclymenus, having revealed the deceit, sends a chase after the fugitives, but she is stopped by the Dioscuri, who play the role of deus ex machina: they announce that everything that happened happened by the will of the gods. "Helen" - both in content and in form, one of the weakest tragedies of Euripides.

Euripides - "Iphigenia in Aulis" (summary)

Euripides also took themes for his tragedies from the legends about the Atrids, the descendants of the hero Atreus, among whom were the leaders of the Trojan War, Agamemnon and Menelaus. The drama Iphigenia in Aulis is beautiful, but distorted by later additions, the content of which is the legend of the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigenia.

Before sailing on a campaign against Troy, the Greek army gathers in the harbor of Aulis. But the goddess Artemis stops the fair winds, as she was angered by the supreme leader of the Hellenes, Agamemnon. The famous soothsayer Calhant announces that Artemis's wrath can be mitigated by sacrificing Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigenia, to her. Agamemnon sends a letter to his wife Clytemnestra with a request to send Iphigenia to Aulis, since Achilles, allegedly, makes it a condition of his participation in Troy's campaign to receive Iphigenia as his wife. Iphigenia arrives in Aulis with her mother. Achilles, having learned that Agamemnon used his name for deceptive purposes, is terribly indignant and declares that he will not allow Iphigenia to be sacrificed, even if it means fighting other Greek leaders. Iphigenia in response says that she does not want to become the cause of a fight between compatriots and will gladly give her life for the good of Hellas. Iphigenia voluntarily goes to the sacrificial altar, but the messenger who appears at the end of the tragedy of Euripides reports that at the time of the sacrifice the girl disappeared and instead of her a doe was under the knife.

The plot of "Iphigenia in Aulis" is borrowed by Euripides from the legends of the Trojan War, but it gives the tradition such a look that a moral conclusion is drawn from it. In the confusion of the events of human life, agitated by passions, the only true path is the one along which a pure heart, capable of heroic self-sacrifice, leads. Euripides' Iphigenia selflessly proposes that she be sacrificed; its free decision is the reconciliation of the arguing heroes. Thus, this tragedy is free from the artificial way of arranging a denouement by the intervention of a deity, although here, too, this method is somewhat reminiscent of the appearance at the end of the Herald.

Euripides - "Iphigenia in Tauris" (summary)

"Iphigenia in Tauris" also has a high artistic merit; its plan is good, the characters are noble and beautifully outlined. The content is borrowed from the legend that Iphigenia, who escaped the sacrifice in Aulis, then became a priestess in Tauris (Crimea), but then fled from there, taking with her the image of the goddess she served.

Artemis, who saved Iphigenia in Aulis, took her from there to Taurida on a wonderful cloud and made her her priestess there. The barbarians of Tauris sacrifice to their Artemis all the strangers who fall into their hands, and Iphigenia is instructed to perform a preliminary rite of purification over these unfortunate ones. Meanwhile, the Trojan War ended, and Iphigenia's father, Agamemnon, who returned to his homeland, was killed by his own wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Avenging for his father, Iphigenia's brother, Orestes, kills his mother Clytemnestra and is then subjected to terrible torments of repentance sent by the goddesses Erinyes. Apollo proclaims to Orestes that he will get rid of torment if he goes to Tauris and brings back the idol of Artemis captured by the barbarians. Orestes arrives in Tauris with his friend Pylades, but local savages capture them and doom them to be sacrificed. They are brought to the priestess Iphigenia, sister of Orestes. Euripides describes the moving scene in which Iphigenia recognizes her brother. Under the pretext of performing a cleansing ceremony, Iphigenia takes Orestes and Pylades to the seashore and runs with them to Greece, taking away the image of Artemis. The barbarians of Tauris give chase, but the goddess Athena (deus ex machina) forces them to stop.

Iphigenia in Euripides is not such an ideal face as in Goethe, but nevertheless she is a pious girl, faithful to her duties, passionately loving her homeland, so noble that even barbarians respect her; she inspires them with humane concepts. Although the barbarians sacrifice people to the goddess she serves, Iphigenia herself does not shed blood. Dramatic is the scene in which Orestes and Pylades each want to be sacrificed in order to save their friend from death. Euripides managed to give touchingness to this dispute of friends, without resorting to excessive sentimentality.

Euripides - "Orestes" (summary)

In both tragedies, titled Iphigenia, the characters are energetic and noble, but one of the ancient scholiasts already said about the tragedy "Orestes" that in it all the characters are bad, with the exception of one Pylades. Indeed, both in content and in form, this is one of the weakest works of Euripides.

According to the decision of the Argive court, Orestes should be stoned for the murder of his mother, Clytemnestra, although she herself had almost killed him before with her father, Agamemnon. The infant Orestes was then rescued by his sister, Elektra. Now Elektra is being tried along with Orestes, for she participated in the murder of their common mother. Orestes and Electra hope for the support of the brother of their father killed by Clytemnestra, the Spartan king Menelaus, who arrived in Argos during the trial. However, he, out of cowardice and selfishness, does not want to save them. When the people's assembly condemns Orestes to the death of Euripides - "Heraclides" (summary) of death, he, together with his faithful friend Pylades, takes Helen, the wife of Menelaus, the culprit of the Trojan War, hostage. But divine power carries her through the air. Orestes wants to kill Elena's daughter, Hermione. At the decisive moment, Deus ex machina appears - Apollo plays this role here - and orders everyone to reconcile. Orestes marries Hermione, whom he recently wanted to kill, Pylades on Electra.

The characters of the characters in this drama of Euripides are devoid of any mythical grandeur; they are ordinary people, without tragic dignity.

Euripides - "Electra" (summary)

The same defect, but even more than the Orestes, suffers from the Elektra, in which the sublime legend is remade so that it becomes like a parody.

Clytemnestra, in order to get rid of the constant reminders of the murder of her husband, passes off her daughter, Electra, as a simple peasant. Elektra lives in poverty, she herself is engaged in menial work in the household. Orestes Clytemnestra, for the same purpose, sends Agamemnon from the capital, Mycenae, as a baby. Having matured in a foreign land, Orest returns to his homeland and comes to his sister. Elektra recognizes him by the scar he has from a bruise he received as a child. Conspiring with Elektra, Orestes kills the lover of their common mother and the main culprit in the death of their father, Aegisthus, outside the city. Elektra then lures Clytemnestra into her poor hut under a pretense. as if she had given birth to a child. In this hut, Orestes kills his mother. This terrible denouement plunges Electra and Orestes into insanity, but the Dioscuri, miraculously appearing, excuse them by saying that they acted at the behest of Apollo. Electra marries Orestes' friend, Pylades. Orestes of Dioscura himself is sent to Athens, where he will be justified and cleansed from sin by the council of the elders - the Areopagus.

Euripides - "Hercules" (summary)

Hercules (or The Madness of Hercules), a play designed for effects, has several scenes that make a strong impression. It combines two different activities. When Hercules leaves for the underworld, the cruel Theban king Lik wants to kill his wife, children and old father, Amphitryon, who remained in Thebes. The unexpectedly returned Hercules frees his relatives and kills Lik. But then he himself exposes them to the fate from which he saved. Hera deprives Hercules of reason. He kills his wife and children, imagining that they are the wife and children of Eurystheus. He is tied to a fragment of a column. Athena restores his sanity. Hercules feels bitter repentance, wants to kill himself, but Theseus appears and keeps him from this, taking him to Athens. There, Hercules is cleansed of sin by sacred rites.

Euripides - "Ion" (summary)

"Ion" is a wonderful play in terms of the entertaining content and the distinct characterization of the faces, full of patriotism. Neither the greatness of passions, nor the greatness of characters is in it; action is based on intrigue.

Ion, the son of Apollo and Creusa, the daughter of the Athenian king, will be thrown as a baby by his mother, ashamed of an accidental connection, in the Delphic temple. He is brought up there, destined to be a servant of Apollo. Ion's mother, Creusa, marries Xuthus, who was chosen by the Athenian king for his heroism in war. But they don't have children. Xuthus comes to Delphi to pray to Apollo for the birth of a descendant and receives an answer from the oracle that the first person he meets at the exit from the temple is his son. Xuthus meets Ion first and greets him like a son. Meanwhile, secretly from Xuthus, Creusa also comes to Delphi. Hearing how Xuthus calls Ion with his son, she decides that Ion is the offspring of her husband. Not wanting to accept a stranger into his family, Creusa sends a slave with a poisoned cup to Ion. But Apollo keeps her from villainy. He also holds Ion, who, having learned about the insidious plan against him, wants to kill Creusa, not knowing that she is his mother. The priestess who raised Ion comes out of the Delphic temple with a basket and diapers in which he was found. Creusa recognizes them. Apollo's son Ion becomes heir to the Athenian throne. The play of Euripides ends with Athena confirming the truth of the story of the divine origin of Ion and promising power to his descendants - the Ionians. For the pride of the Athenians, the legend was pleasant that the ancestor of the Ionians comes from the line of ancient Achaean kings and was not the son of a foreign alien, the Aeolian Xuthus. Depicted by Euripides, the young priest Ion, sweet and innocent, is an attractive face.

Euripides - "Phoenician Women" (summary)

Later, "Jonah" was written by Euripides, the drama "Phoenician Women", and in which there are many beautiful places. The name of the play comes from the fact that its choir is made up of captive citizens of the Phoenician Tyre, who are sent to Delphi, but are delayed in Thebes on the way.

The content of The Phoenicians is borrowed from the myth of the Theban king Oedipus, and the drama is replete with many different episodes from this cycle of legends. The alteration of the myth by Euripides is limited to the fact that Oedipus and his mother and wife Jocasta are still alive during the campaign of the Seven against Thebes, when their sons Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other. Jocasta, who, together with her daughter Antigone, tried in vain to prevent the single combat of two sons, kills herself in the camp over their dead bodies. Blind Oedipus, expelled from Thebes by Creon, is led by Antigone to Colon. The son of Creon, Menekey, in fulfillment of the prophecy given by Tiresias of Thebes, throws himself from the Theban wall, sacrificing himself to reconcile the gods with Thebes.

Euripides - "Bacchae" (summary)

Probably, the tragedy "Bacchae" belongs to a later time. It appears to have been written by Euripides in Macedonia. In Athens, the Bacchae was probably staged by the author's son or nephew, Euripides the Younger, who also staged Iphigenia in Aulis and Euripides' tragedy Alcmaeon, which has not come down to us.

The content of the "Bacchae" is the legend of the Theban king Pentheus, who did not want to recognize his cousin Bacchus-Dionysus, who returned from Asia to Thebes, as a god. Pentheus saw in the ecstatic cult of Dionysus only deceit and debauchery and began to strictly persecute his servants, Bacchantes, contrary to the opinion of his grandfather, the hero Cadmus, and the famous soothsayer Tiresias of Thebes. For this, Pentheus was torn to pieces by his mother Agave (the sister of Dionysus' mother, Semele) and the maenads (Bacchantes) who accompanied her. Dionysus sent a frenzy over the entire Theban women, and they, led by Agave, fled to the mountains, so that in deer skins, with thirs (wands) and tambourines (tambourines) in their hands, indulge in orgy. Dionysus communicated to Pentheus an insane desire to see the Bacchae and their ministry. Having dressed up in a woman's dress, he went to Kieferon, where it was performed. But Agave and other Bacchantes, at the suggestion of Dionysus, mistook Pentheus for a lion and tore him to pieces. Agave triumphantly carried the bloody head of her own son to the palace, imagining that it was the head of a lion. After sobering up, she was cured of her madness and was stricken with remorse. The end of the Bacchantes by Euripides is poorly preserved, but, as far as one can understand, Agave was condemned to exile.

This tragedy is one of the best in Euripides, although the verses in it are often sloppy. Its plan is excellent, the unity of action is strictly observed in it, consistently developing from one basic given, the scenes follow one after another in orderly order, the excitement of passions is depicted very vividly. The tragedy is imbued with a deep religious feeling, and the songs of the choir breathe it in particular. Euripides, hitherto a very free-thinking man, in his old age seems to have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to respect religious traditions, that it is better to maintain piety among the people and not deprive them of respect for ancient beliefs with ridicule, that skepticism deprives the masses of the happiness that they find in religious feeling.

Euripides - "Cyclops" (summary)

In addition to these 18 tragedies, the satirical drama of Euripides "Cyclops" has come down to us, the only surviving work of this branch of dramatic poetry. The content of the Cyclops is an episode borrowed from the Odyssey about the blinding of Polyphemus. The tone of this play by Euripides is cheerful and playful. Its choir is made up of satyrs with their head, Silenus. Cyclops Polyphemus in the course of the play embarks on confused, but bloodthirsty in meaning reasoning, praising extreme amoralism and selfishness in the spirit of the theories of the sophists. The satyrs subordinate to Polyphemus are eager to get rid of him, but out of cowardice they are afraid to help Odysseus, who is threatened with death by the Cyclops. At the end of this play by Euripides, Odysseus defeats the Cyclops without the help of others. Then Silenus with satyrs in a comic tone ascribes the merit of Odysseus to himself and loudly glorifies his "courage".

Political views of Euripides

Evaluation of Euripides' creativity by descendants

Euripides was the last great Greek tragedian, although he is lower than Aeschylus and Sophocles. The generation that followed him was very pleased with the properties of his poetry and loved him more than his predecessors. The tragedians who followed him zealously studied his works, why they can be considered the "school" of Euripides. The poets of modern comedy also studied and highly respected Euripides. Philemon, the oldest representative of the new comedy, who lived about 330 BC, loved Euripides so much that in one of his comedies he said: “If the dead really live behind the grave, as some people claim, then I would hang myself, if only only to see Euripides." Until the last centuries of antiquity, the works of Euripides, due to the lightness of form and the abundance of practical maxims, were constantly read by educated people, as a result of which so many of his tragedies have come down to us.

Euripides. Passion World

Translations of Euripides into Russian

Translated Euripides into Russian: Merzlyakov, Shestakov, P. Basistov, H. Kotelov, V. I. Vodovozov, V. Alekseev, D. S. Merezhkovsky.

Theater of Euripides. Per. I. F. Annensky. (Series "Monuments of World Literature"). Moscow: Sabashnikovs.

Euripides. Petitioners. Trojans. Per. S. V. Shervinsky. M.: Hood. lit. 1969.

Euripides. Petitioners. Trojans. Per. S. Apta. (Series "Antique Dramaturgy"). M.: Art. 1980.

Euripides. Tragedy. Per. Inn. Annensky. (Series "Literary monuments"). In 2 vols. M.: Ladomir-Nauka. 1999

Articles and books about Euripides

Orbinsky R.V. Euripides and its significance in the history of Greek tragedy. SPb., 1853

Belyaev D. F. To the question of the worldview of Euripides. Kazan, 1878

Belyaev D. F. Views of Euripides on estates and states, domestic and foreign policy of Athens

Decharme. Euripides and the spirit of his theatre. Paris, 1893

Kotelov N. P. Euripides and the meaning of his "drama" in the history of literature. SPb., 1894

Gavrilov A. K. The Theater of Euripides and the Athenian Enlightenment. SPb., 1995.

Gavrilov A.K. Signs and action - mantica in "Iphigenia Tauride" by Euripides

After some dates according to the account before the Nativity of Christ, our article also indicates the dating according to the ancient Greek Olympiads. For example: Ol. 75, 1 - means the first year of the 75th Olympiad

The ancient world in the tragedies of Euripides “Hippolytus” and Seneca “Phaedra” Contents

1. Assignment for term paper

2. SUMMARY

3. Introduction

4. Comparative analysis of tragedies

5. Views of poets on the problems of our time

5.1 Interpretation of religion and gods in the works of Euripides "Hippolytus" and Seneca "Phaedra";

5.2 Hippolytus - "a man of goodness"; the fate of a mortal is in the hands of the gods;

5.3 PHEDRA - THE DEGREE OF THE IMAGE TRAGISM IN BOTH WORKS;

5.4 THE MAIN QUESTION OF THE WORKS - "WHAT IS EVIL?"

7. List of used literature

TASK Topic of work The ancient world in the tragedies of Euripides “Hippolytus” and Seneca “Phaedra” Time of delivery of the completed work by the student Initial data for the work Texts of the works of Seneca and Euripides, literary and philosophical works devoted to this problem. Checklist of issues to consider

1. Comparative analysis of tragedies.

2. Interpretation of religion and gods in the works of Euripides “Hippolytus” and Seneca “Phaedra”.

3. The concept of a “good man” and the fate of a mortal are in the hands of the gods.

4. The tragedy of the image of Phaedra in the tragedies of Euripides and Seneca.

Date of issue of the assignment SUMMARY

Object of study in this work are texts of literary works by Euripides (“Hippolytus”), Seneca (“Phaedra”, “Letters to Lucilius”), biographical sources and philosophical theses.

The purpose of the work is the study of the problem of the literary traditions of antiquity through the study of particular examples of the artistic and philosophical worlds of Euripides and Seneca. The study is expected to solve the following tasks:

Establish the main features and differences in the manner of writing a work by Greek and Roman authors; Reveal the degree of social influence and the historical basis of both tragedies and the work of these authors in general; Find the root cause of the different approaches of the authors to the problems raised in the works; To carry out an independent analysis of intertextual connections and differences, their dependence on the social environment of the authors.

Research methods- method of system analysis and comparative.

Scientific novelty This work is an attempt to identify a direct relationship between the historical basis, the social environment and the views of the two authors of antiquity, Seneca and Euripides, their approaches to contemporary problems and the plot of the same ancient myth in particular.

Application area- teaching literature, philosophy.

GOOD MAN, TRAGISM OF IMAGE, HISTORICAL BASIS, SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT, STOICISM, “NEW” STYLE, POLIS SYSTEM, ROCK, PROVISION.

Introduction

Through the centuries, from deep antiquity, the heroes of mythological plots come to us, retaining their customs, customs, originality. But, passing through the prism of time and distance, their main ideas, partly characters, views and the very essence of their actions change. There is no exception and the plot in which Phaedra, the wife of the Athenian king Theseus (Fesey), fell in love with her stepson Hippolytus. Rejected by him, she commits suicide, discrediting Hippolytus and accusing him of an attempt on her honor. So this plot was used by the great Greek tragedian Euripides, Seneca, the Roman master of the “new style”, and Racine in his work “Phaedra”, written in the best traditions of French classicism (1677).

Of course, each work is the brainchild of not only its author, but also the people, the social position in society, the political system that existed at that time, and, often, only emerging new thoughts and trends, as was the case with the work of Euripides "Hippolytus".

So, to find the differences and pidibia in the works of Euripides and Senelli, the reasons for their occurrence and the degree of influence of public opinion and the surrounding reality on them is our task.

In my opinion, the roots of the theme, the ideas of each work and the reasons that prompt the author to do so, should be sought in its origin, education, way of thinking and acting, and the surrounding reality.

The isolation of the individual and the critical attitude towards tmyth - both of these trends of the new worldview were in sharp contradiction with the ideological foundations of the tragedy of Aeschylus and Sophocles; nevertheless, they received their first literary incarnation within the tragic genre, which remained the leading branch of Attic literature in the 5th century. New currents of Greek social thought found a response in the works of Euripides, the third great poet of Athens.

The dramatic work of Euripides proceeded almost simultaneously with the activities of Sophocles. Euripides was born around 406. His first plays were staged in 455, and from that time on he was Sophocles' most prominent rival on the Athenian stage for almost half a century. He did not achieve success with his contemporaries soon; success was not lasting. The ideological content and dramatic innovations of his tragedies met with sharp condemnation from the conservative part of the Athenians and served as the subject of constant ridicule of the comedy of the 5th century. Over twenty times he performed with his works at tragic competitions, but the Athenian jury for all this time awarded him only five prizes, the last time posthumously. But later, during the period of the expansion of the policy and in the Eliistic era, Euripides became the favorite tragic poet of the Greeks.

The most reliable biographical sources depict Euripides as a solitary thinker - a book lover. He was the owner of a fairly significant book collection. In the political life of Athens, he did not take an active part, preferring leisure time devoted to philosophical and literary pursuits. This way of life, unusual for the citizens of the polis, was often attributed by Euripides even to mythological heroes.

The crisis of the traditional polis ideology and the search for new foundations and ways of worldview found a very vivid and complete reflection in the tragedy of Euripides. A solitary poet and thinker, he sensitively responded to the burning issues of social and political life. His theater is a kind of encyclopedia of the mental movement of Greece in the second half of the 5th century.

In the works of Euripides, various problems were posed that were of interest to Greek social thought, new theories were presented and discussed, ancient criticism called Euripides a philosopher on stage .. However, he was not a supporter of any philosophical doctrine, and his own views were neither consistent nor constancy .

It is important for us that Eripides' negative attitude is caused by the aggressive foreign policy of democracy. He is an Athenian patriot and an enemy of Sparta. Euripides is alien to the philosophical views of Roman society.

Seneca, like Euripides, was the son of his state, and this influenced the character of his work “Phaedra”, as well as all his work. The structure of the empire created by Augustus (“Principate”) lasted over 200 years after the death of its founder, until the crisis of the 3rd century. The military dictatorship turned out to be the only state form in which the ancient society, corroded by the contradictions of the slave, could continue to exist after the collapse of the polis system.

With all the appearance of flourishing, symptoms of the impending decomposition of the slave system began to appear very soon. It is in Italy that the signs of economic decline are most pronounced, but while the economic decline was only approaching, the social and moral decline of Roman society was already evident. The general lack of rights and the loss of hope for the possibility of a better order corresponded to general apathy and demoralization. The bulk of the population demanded only "bread" and "circuses". And the state considered it its direct duty to satisfy this need.

Subservience, outright pursuit of material wealth, weakening of social feelings, fragility of family ties, celibacy and a drop in the birth rate are characteristic features of Roman society in the 1st century BC.

On this ground, the level of Roman literature is lowered, and individual brilliant exceptions do not change the overall picture. A characteristic feature of the "Silver Age" is the appearance of a large number of provincials among literary figures. In particular, Spain, the oldest and most culturally advanced of the Romanized Western provinces, produced a number of significant writers—Seneca, Lucan, Quintilian, and others. The style, created by the “reciters” of the time of August, became most widespread in the middle of the 1st century. Writers I. call it the "new" style, in contrast to the "old" style of Cicero, whose long speeches, philosophical reasoning, strictly balanced periods now seemed sluggish and boring. The literary traditions of "Asiaticism" found fertile ground in Rome at the beginning of the 1st century BC. with its thirst for brilliance, the desire for a proud pose and the pursuit of sensually vivid impressions. the best master of the “new” style in the middle of the 1st century. - Lucius Annaeus Senela. Born in Spain, in the city of Corduba, but grew up in Rome. Seneca was educated in the spirit of the new rhetoric and expanded it with philosophical knowledge. In his youth, he was fond of fresh philosophical trends, and in the 30s he took up advocacy and ended up in the Senate. But, having gone through the circles of hell of political intrigues, ups and downs, he moved away from the court and took up literary and philosophical activities.

The philosophical views of Seneca, like those of Euripides, are not distinguished by either consistency or constancy. His reflections are centered around questions of spiritual life and practical morality. Philosophy is medicine for the soul; knowledge of the environment interests Seneca mainly from the religious and ethical side, as a means of knowing the deity merged by nature (“What is God? The soul of the universe”) and for purifying the soul from false fears, and in logical studies he sees only fruitless reasoning.

Like most of his contemporaries, Seneca loves bright colors, and he is best at painting vices, strong affects, pathological conditions. He relentlessly adheres to the slogans of the "new" style - "passion", "swiftness", "impulsiveness". In Seneca's short pointed phrases, saturated with figurative contrasts, the "new" style received its most legitimate expression. Seneca's enormous literary popularity was based on this stylistic art, and it is these characteristics that can be traced in his tragedy Phaedra.

Thus, the great temporal separation, life in states of different political systems, different social philosophies that surrounded the Greek and Roman tragedians, their life had a great influence on their approaches to the plot, theme and idea of ancient myth. The main task of this work is to answer the questions:

Comparative analysis of the tragedies of Seneca and Euripides; interpretation of gods and religion as philosophical views on being; Phaedra is the main character, the tragedy of her fate; Hippolytus - the fate of man is in the hands of the gods; the main questions of the works “Hippolytus” and “Phaedra” are “What is evil?”, “What are its causes?”. Comparative analysis of tragedies

Along with the criticism of the traditional worldview, the work of Euripides reflects the enormous interest in the individual and its subjective aspirations characteristic of the period of the crisis of the polis, monumental images are alien to him, highly elevated above the ordinary level, as the embodiment of universally binding norms. He depicts people with individual drives and impulses, passions and internal struggles. The display of the dynamics of feeling and passion is especially characteristic of Euripides. For the first time in ancient literature, he clearly poses psychological problems, in particular the disclosure of female psychology. The significance of Euripides' work for world literature is primarily in the creation of female characters. Euripides finds grateful material for depicting passions using the theme of love. Of particular interest in this respect is the tragedy Hippolytus. The myth of Hippolyta is one of the Greek versions of the story about a treacherous wife who slanders in front of her husband a chaste stepson who did not want to share her love. Phaedra, the wife of the Athenian king Fesey, is in love with the young man Hippolytus, a passionate hunter and worshiper of the virgin goddess Artemis, who avoids love and women. Rejected by Hippolytus, Phaedra unfairly accuses him of trying to dishonor her. Fulfilling the request of an angry father, the god Poseidon sends a monstrous bull, which instills fear in the horses of Hippolytus, and he dies, crashing against the rocks.

In Seneca's work, the external forms of the old Greek tragedy remained unchanged - monologues and dialogues in verse forms common to tragedy alternate with the lyrical parts of the choir, more than three characters do not take part in the dialogue, the parts of the choir divide the tragedy into five acts. But the structure of the drama, the images of the characters, the very nature of the tragic become completely different. The tragedy of Seneca looks more simplified. The ideological side of the Greek play was not relevant to Seneca. These questions have been eliminated, but not replaced by any other problems. Where Euripides makes you feel the complex drama of the rejected woman. Struggle between the temptation of passion and the preservation of honor:

And cheeks burn with shame ... to return

To consciousness hurts so much that it seems better

When I could die without waking up.

(Phaedra, "Hippolytus")

Seneca shifts the center of gravity to the vengeful fury of the rejected woman. The image became more monotonous, but on the other hand, moments of conscious, volitional purposefulness intensified in it:

“Shame has not left the noble soul.

I obey. Love can't be directed

But you can win. I won't stain

You, oh glory. There is a way out of troubles: I will go

Married. Death will prevent misfortune.”

(Phaedra, "Phaedra")

The number of actors has decreased, and the action itself has become simpler.

The tragedy of Seneca is rhetorical: the role of the directly influencing word increases in them at the expense of the indirectly influencing image of the action. The poverty of external dramatic action and even internal psychological action is striking, everything is expressed, behind the words of the hero there is no residue that requires a different, non-verbal expression, while Euripides expresses himself in allusions, obviously afraid of incurring a threat. The tragedy was written according to ancient custom, on a mythological theme; Seneca interestingly uses only one mythological hint, which creates an association rich in meaning, directly related to the plot of the drama. In Phaedra, between the heroine's criminal love for her stepson and her mother's love for the bull. This creates additional meaning, makes the details of the plot more intense - but, of course, slows down the overall movement.

Another reason for the static nature of Seneca's tragedy is in the nature of its performance. Apparently, it was never intended to be staged. And it was performed only in the form of recitation - public reading aloud. The injection of cruel details was supposed to compensate for the weakened sense of the tragedy of the usual plot. Everyone knew how Hippolytus would die, but if Euripides’ description of his death takes incomplete 4 lines, then Seneca devotes 20 lines to this, in which “torn flesh” (in Euripides) turns into a “face torn by sharp stones”, “a body torn apart by a drunken in the groin with a sharp bough”, “thorn thorns tearing half-dead flesh, so that bloodied shreds hang on all the bushes”.

The third reason for the “inaction” of tragedy lies in its philosophical setting. Offering us his mythological plot, he tries as soon as possible to ascend from a particular event to a general instructive rule. Each situation in the tragedy of Seneca is either discussed in general terms, or gives rise to a general thought.

Like Euripides, Seneca tried to bring his own vision of the problem into the work. He wrote in this way not for the sake of fashion, but because it allowed him to create a sense of non-literary, colloquial, intimate, lively interest. This brought him closer to the reader.

Views of poets on the problems of our time

Euripides takes a clear position in relation to traditional religion and mythology. Criticism of the mythological system, begun by the Ionian philosophers, finds a decisive follower in the person of Euripides. He often emphasizes the coarse features of mythological giving and accompanies with critical remarks. So in the tragedy "Electra" in the mouth of the choir, he puts the following statements:

“So they say, but I

hard to believe this...

Myths that instill fear in people

Profitable for the cult of the gods.”

Numerous objections are raised by him about the moral content of myths. Depicting the traditional gods, he emphasizes their base passions, whims, arbitrariness, cruelty towards people. In Hippolyta, Aphrodite clearly expresses her attitude towards people and confirms the idea of Euripides:

“The one who meekly takes over my power,

I cherish, but if in front of me

Whoever thinks to be proud, he perishes.”

A direct denial of popular religion was impossible in the conditions of the Athenian theater: the play would not have been staged and would have brought upon the author a dangerous accusation of impiety. Euripides therefore confines himself to allusions, expressions of doubt. His tragedy is structured in such a way that the outward course of action seems to lead to the triumph of the gods, but the viewer is instilled with doubts about their moral correctness. "If the gods do shameful deeds, then they are not gods." This is already emphasized in the prologue, from which the viewer learns that the catastrophe of Phaedra and Hippolytus is the revenge of Aphrodite. The goddess hates Hippolyta because he does not honor her. But at the same time, the innocent Phaedra must die.

“I don’t feel sorry for her that much,

In order not to saturate the heart

The fall of my haters…”

Aphrodite says in the prologue. This vindictiveness attributed to Aphrodite is one of Euripides' usual attacks on the traditional gods. Patronizing Hippolyta, Artemis appears at the end of the tragedy to reveal the truth to Fesey and console Hippolytus before his death; it turns out that she could not timely come to the aid of her admirer, since “it is customary not to go between the gods in defiance of each other.”

In the works of Seneca, first of all, the moment of will, that is, the responsible choice of life providence, came into conflict with stoic fatalism - the doctrine of fate as an insurmountable chain of cause-and-effect relationships. Therefore, Seneca prefers another stoic understanding of fate - as the will of the world-creating divine mind. Unlike the human will, this divine will can only be good: God cares about people, and his will is providence. But if providence is good, then why is human life full of suffering? Seneca replies: God sends suffering in order to temper a good person in trials - only in trials can one reveal oneself, and therefore prove to people the insignificance of adversity

“You will endure… You will overcome death…

But me, alas! Cyprida

Suffering has left a stigma…”

Theseus says in Euripides' Hippolytus. And this unites the views of the authors of the works. The best choice is to accept the will of the deity, even if it is harsh: "... great people rejoice in adversity, like brave warriors in battle."

As part of the divine will, a person of goodness also perceives death. Death is pre-established by world law and therefore cannot be an unconditional evil. But life is not an unconditional good: it is valuable insofar as it has a moral basis. When it disappears, the person has the right to commit suicide. This happens when a person is under the yoke of coercion, deprived of freedom of choice. He points out that one should not leave life under the influence of passion, but reason and moral sense should suggest when suicide is the best way out. And the criterion is the ethical value of life - the ability to fulfill one's moral duty. This is the view of Seneca.

Thus, on the issue of suicide, Seneca diverges from orthodox stoicism because, along with a person's duty to himself, he puts a duty to others. At the same time, love, affection, and other emotions are taken into account - those that a consistent Stoic would reject as “passions”.

Euripides' striving for the maximum likelihood of a tragic action can be seen in the psychological-natural motivations of the characters' behavior. It seems that the poet is disgusted by any stage convention. Even the very form of monologues, speeches without interlocutors. With such “everyday life” of the tragedies of Euripides, the participation in their action of gods, demigods and all sorts of miraculous forces that are not subject to earthly laws seems especially inappropriate. But already Aristophanes reproached Euripides for the inharmonious mixing of high and low, Aristotle reproached him for his predilection for the "god from the machine" technique, which consisted in the fact that the denouement did not follow from the plot, but was achieved by the appearance of god.

Showing in “Hippolytus” the death of a hero who self-confidently opposes the blind power of love, he warned of the danger that the irrational principle in human nature conceals in itself for the norms established by civilization. And if he so often needed the unexpected appearance of supernatural forces to resolve the conflict, then the point here is not just the inability to find a more convincing compositional move, but the fact that the poet did not see the resolution of many intricate human affairs in contemporary real conditions.

The central images of Seneca are people of great strength and passion, with the will to act and suffer, tormentors and martyrs. If they died bravely, one should not grieve, but wish for oneself the same firmness; if they did not show courage in grief, they are not so valuable as to grieve for them: “I do not mourn for either the joyful or the weeping; the first wiped away my tears, the second with tears reached the point that he was not worthy of tears. In the tragic aesthetics of Seneca, compassion recedes into the background. And this is a derivative of the public morality of the Romans of this era.

Comparing the images of Euripides and Seneca, we come to the conclusion that the images of the latter became more monotonous, but on the other hand, moments of passion and conscious volitional purposefulness intensified in them.

“What can the mind do? Rules, conquering, passion,

And the whole soul is in the power of a powerful god ... "

Phaedra Seneca exclaims in her monologue.

The number of actors has decreased, and the action itself has become simpler. Pathetic monologues and the injection of terrible pictures are the main means for creating a tragic impression. The tragedy of Seneca does not pose problems, does not solve the conflict. The playwright of the time of the Roman Empire, he is also a Stoic philosopher, feels the world as a field of inexorable fate, to which a person can oppose only the greatness of subjective self-affirmation, the readiness to endure everything and, if necessary, to perish. The result of the struggle is indifferent and does not change its value: with such an attitude, the course of the dramatic action plays only a secondary role, and it usually proceeds in a straight line, without replays.

Unlike the Roman, Euripides pays great attention to family issues. In the Athenian family, the woman was almost a recluse. “For an Athenian,” says Engels, “she really was, in addition to childbearing, nothing more than a senior servant. The husband was engaged in his gymnastic exercises, his public affairs, from which the wife was excluded. Under such conditions, marriage was a burden, a duty to the gods, the state, and one's own ancestors. With the decay of the polis and the growth of individualistic tendencies, this burden began to be felt very sharply; the characters of Euripides reflect on whether they should even marry and have children. The system of Greek marriage is especially sharply criticized by women who complain about their secluded existence, about the fact that marriages are carried out by agreement of parents, without meeting the future spouse, about the impossibility of getting away from a hateful husband. To the question of the place in the family, Euripides repeatedly returns to the tragedy, putting the most diverse opinions into the mouths of the characters. The image of Ferda was used by conservative opponents of Euripides in order to create a reputation for him as a "misogynist". However, he treats his heroine with obvious sympathy, and, moreover, the female images of his tragedies are by no means limited to figures like Phaedra.

Euripides depicted the conflict between the late passion of Phaedra and the strict chastity of Hippolytus twice. In the first edition, after the death of Hippolytus, his innocence was revealed, Phaedra committed suicide. This tragedy seemed immoral to the public. Euripides considered necessary a new edition of Hippolytus, in which the image of the heroine was softened. Only the second edition (428) has come down to us in its entirety. The picture of Phaedra's love torment is drawn with great force. The new Phaedra is languishing in passion, which she carefully tries to overcome: in order to save her honor; she is ready to sacrifice her life:

“And cheeks burn with shame ... to return
To consciousness hurts so much that it seems better
If only I could die without waking up.”

Only against her will, the old nurse, having elicited the secret of her mistress, reveals this secret to Hippolyte. The refusal of the indignant Hippolytus forces Phaedra to carry out a suicide plan, but now to save her good name with the help of a dying slander against her stepson. Phaedra the seductress of the first tragedy turns into Phaedra the victim. Euripides takes pity on the woman: she has become a hostage to her own position as the wife of a conquering husband, a hostage of her own feelings and mental illness, turning into a bodily one. Then, as Seneca's Phaedra only mentions his impotence in the face of "mental illness":

“No, love alone rules over me…”

and fights his position with decisive methods; Phaedra Euripides is forced to bear the burden of a martyr even after death. Artemis promises Theseus:

"… I,
I will avenge myself with one of my arrows,
Which do not fly for nothing.

In antiquity, both editions of Hippolytus were very popular. The Roman Seneca in his "Phaedra" relied on the first edition of Euripides. This was natural for the contemporary needs of readers. And this is what explains some of the cruelty of the work.

You in the field collect the corpse torn to pieces, -
(about the body of Hippolytus)
And dig this hole deep:
Let the earth oppress the criminal head.

(Theseus, "Phaedra")

It was Seneca's Phaedra, with the preserved second edition of Hippolytus, that served as material for Racine's Phaedra, one of the best tragedies of French classicism (1677).

As we can see, the difference between the image of Phaedra by Euripides and Seneca lies in the dynamics of the feelings of the heroine, the depth of her image, strength of character and will, Euripides showed the depth and ambiguity of feelings, softness and fear. The Roman painted a purposeful woman; attributed her illness to family inclinations. This is due to their contemporary views and approaches.

The image of Hippolytus was used by both authors to reveal the attitude of the gods towards mortals. And even though the Euripides goddess still appears to the young man to console him, however, she cannot help him in any way, because the gods do not go against “their own”. And be that as it may, both tragedians reveal the true meaning of religion and the worship of the gods.

Thus, Seneca, like Euripides, evades a direct answer to the question of where evil comes from in the world, but all the more decisively, he answers the question of where evil comes from in man: from passions. Everything is good in measure, and only human “madness”, “madness” turns evil. Phaedra calls her hatred and her love "disease". The worst of the passions is anger, from which come impudence, cruelty, rage; love also becomes a passion and leads to shamelessness. Passions must be eradicated from the soul by the power of reason, otherwise passion will completely take possession of the soul, blind it, plunge it into madness. Phaedra's monologue of affect is an attempt to understand oneself. Changes in feelings are replaced by introspection and introspection, emotional impact - so characteristic of Seneca's interest in the psychology of passion. But there is only one outcome: “What can the mind do?” - Phaedra exclaims, and in this exclamation is the whole depth of the gap between the doctrine of moralizing rationalism and life reality, where “passions” determine the fate of not only individuals, but the entire Roman world.

conclusions

The Romans have always treated poetry practically. Use was demanded of the poetic word, and Seneca was in this sense a true Roman. Euripides, on the other hand, was stronger in criticism than in the field of positive conclusions. He is always searching, hesitating, entangled in contradictions. Raising problems, he often limits himself to pushing opposing points of view against each other, while he himself evades a direct answer. Euripides tends to be pessimistic. His faith in the strength of man is shaken, and life sometimes seems to him a capricious game of chance, in the face of which one can only reconcile.

With the image of strong affects, with the pathos of torment, we encounter in the artistic work of Seneca. Features that distinguish it from the Attic tragedies of the 5th century. BC e., should not always be considered as innovations belonging exclusively to Seneca or his time; they deposited the whole later history of tragedy in Greek and Roman literature. But at that time, the views of Lucius Annei Seneca changed the very concept of Roman tragedy compared to Greek. Greek tragedy was not a tragedy of characters, but a tragedy of situations: its hero “is not distinguished by either virtue or righteousness, and falls into misfortune not because of viciousness and meanness, but because of some kind of mistake.” In Roman tragedy, the place of “mistake” is occupied by crime (the death of Hippolytus as an example). The cause of this crime is the passion that conquered reason, and the main point is the struggle between reason and passion.

One and a half thousand years will pass, and this struggle between reason and passion will become the main motive of the new European tragedy of the Renaissance and classicism.

Thus, comparing the works of Euripides “Hippolytus” and “Phaedra” by Seneca, having considered their philosophical views, their contemporary schools and trends, we came to the conclusion that works written on the same plot have different ideas, and therefore different ideas. the authors' approaches to the general question. From the examples presented in the work, it can be seen that each work reflects the political and social situation of the country at this stage, fully characterizes the author's attitude to this. The education and upbringing of the poet leaves an imprint on his style and attitude towards the heroes, their actions.

This work helped us to discover the depth of the issues revealed by the poets of the ancient world, the attitude of the Romans and Greeks to such issues as the attitude to religion and the worship of the gods, the attitude to the family and moral issues, as well as the cause of evil and the role of fate in the fate of people. It was interesting to learn about the peculiar approach of the poets of antiquity to some issues of the intimate life of their contemporaries and the moral standards established by ancient society. The author tried to fully cover the issues related to this topic and express his own opinion on this topic.

List of used literature Antique drama / Edited by I.V. Abashidze, I. Aitmatov and others - M .: Fiction, 1970. - 765 p. Antique Greece. Problems of the policy / Edited by E.S. Golubtsov et al. - M .: Nauka, 1983. - 383 p. .Moral letters to Lucilius. Tragedies / Edited by S. Averintsev, S. Apta and others - M .: Fiction, 1986. - 544 p. Tronsky I.M. History of ancient literature. - M.: Higher School, 1988. - 867 p. Chistyakova N.A., Vulikh N.V. History of ancient literature. - M .: Higher School, 1971. - 454 p. Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Problems of ideology and culture / Collection of scientific treatises / Edited by M.A. Polyakovskaya et al. - Sverdlovsk: Ural State University, 1987. - 152 p. Losev A.F., Sonkina G.A., Takho-Godi A.A. Antique Literature. - M.: Fiction, 1980. - 492 p. Mythological Dictionary / Edited by E.M.Metelinsky. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1991. - 736 p.

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