Euripides is identified with theatrical innovations that have profoundly influenced drama
down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as
ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy,
some of which are characteristic of romance. Yet he also became "the most tragic of poets",
focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was
"the creator of...that cage which is the theatre of Shakespeare's Othello, Racine's Phèdre, of Ibsen
and Strindberg," in which "...imprisoned men and women destroy each other by the intensity
of their loves and hates",[8] and yet he was also the literary ancestor of comic dramatists as diverse as Menander and George Bernard Shaw.
He was also unique among the writers of ancient Athens for the sympathy he demonstrated t
owards all victims of society, including women. His conservative male audiences were frequently shocked by the 'heresies' he put into the mouths of characters, such as these words of his heroine Medea:
Sooner would I stand
Three times to face their battles, shield in hand,
Than bear one child!
His contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism.
Like Socrates he was accused of impiety his thought on such are in his play the Medea
"If you introduce new, intelligent ideas to fools, you will be thought
frivolous, not intelligent. On the other hand, if you do get a reputation
for surpassing those who are supposed to be intellectually sophisticated,
you will seem to be a thorn in the city's flesh. This is what has happened
to me."— Medea, lines 298-302
down to modern times, especially in the representation of traditional, mythical heroes as
ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
This new approach led him to pioneer developments that later writers adapted to comedy,
some of which are characteristic of romance. Yet he also became "the most tragic of poets",
focusing on the inner lives and motives of his characters in a way previously unknown. He was
"the creator of...that cage which is the theatre of Shakespeare's Othello, Racine's Phèdre, of Ibsen
and Strindberg," in which "...imprisoned men and women destroy each other by the intensity
of their loves and hates",[8] and yet he was also the literary ancestor of comic dramatists as diverse as Menander and George Bernard Shaw.
He was also unique among the writers of ancient Athens for the sympathy he demonstrated t
owards all victims of society, including women. His conservative male audiences were frequently shocked by the 'heresies' he put into the mouths of characters, such as these words of his heroine Medea:
Three times to face their battles, shield in hand,
Than bear one child!
His contemporaries associated him with Socrates as a leader of a decadent intellectualism.
Like Socrates he was accused of impiety his thought on such are in his play the Medea
"If you introduce new, intelligent ideas to fools, you will be thought
frivolous, not intelligent. On the other hand, if you do get a reputation
for surpassing those who are supposed to be intellectually sophisticated,
you will seem to be a thorn in the city's flesh. This is what has happened
to me."— Medea, lines 298-302
No comments:
Post a Comment