Helen, Phoenician Women, Orestes

Euripides has been prized in every age for the pathos, terror, surprising plot twists, and intellectual probing of his dramatic creations. In this volume, David Kovacs presents an edited Greek text and a faithful and deftly worded translation of three plays.Helen: after the Trojan war Helen is in Egypt, and the king there, Theoclymenus, wants to marry her. The Menelaus is shipwrecked and washes ashore.The Phoenician Women: Phoenician women on their way to Delphi are trapped in Thebes by the war. They represent the innocent and neutral people who very often are found in the middle of war situations. Patriotism is a significant theme in the story, as Polynices talks a great deal about his love for the city of Thebes, but has brought an army to destroy it; Creon is also forced to make a choice between saving the city and saving the life of his son. Euripides wrote under the influence of a big defeat of his homeland, Athens, which then faced a military disaster. (source: wiki)Orestes: follows the events after Orestes killed his mother (because she had killed his father, because the father killed his daughter, Orestes sister). Must he be punished? Of was it an obligation to kill the killer of your father even when the killer is your mother? A play that ends the cycle of obligated blood revenge.