Genre paper: Greek tragedy. The Works of Euripides

The Works of Euripides
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The Works of Euripides
Euripides ranks among the greatest Greek dramatists alongside Aeschylus and Sophocles. He is well known for going beyond his contemporaries by introducing dramatic innovations in content form and characterization. Many refer to him as the philosopher among poets as he integrated a skeptical view of traditional religion with realistic characterization. The realistic impression of characters and his treatment the most violent passion are the hallmarks of his tragedies that influenced the direction of European drama.
Euripides was born in 484 B.C in Salamis and died in 406 in Macedonia, and his works included eighty-eight plays, eighteen tragedies and one satiric play (Bell and Sons, 1907). Euripides plays showed how he deviated from the orthodoxies of Aeschylus and Socrates regarding style, form, and characterization. Euripides plays have a prologue, elaborate choral odes and epilogue (the deus ex machina) (Bell and Sons, 1907). How Euripides treated gods in his plays reflected the fifth-century criticism. He put into question the traditional religion and morality and was critical of contemporary society; making others suggest that Creon charged him with blasphemy.
Euripides wrote most of his plays at the time of Peloponnesian War, and the horrors of the war seemed to affect him more than his contemporaries; tragedy was a common theme in most of his plays. In his view of the world, human tragedy affects everyone and not just the nobles. For example, in Trojan Women a play written shortly after the Athenians conquered Melos, Euripides showed the suffering of women inflicted by soldiers following their husbands’ death in the war. Melos was neutral to during the war, and Euripides used the play to show his opposition to...