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ohclaire's review against another edition
2.0
I only read Electra, which was interesting but ehhh wordy translation
ddd55's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bexpaxton's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
Hecuba is a mother experiencing the worst suffering a parent can face. She loses child after child as well as her husband, her homeland and her queendom. The staging posibilities are endless and this play is still upsettingly relevant considering the current conflicts in Palestine and Ukraine among many others. In many wars it is the women and children who suffer most of all for no reason which this play (and the trilogy as a whole) highlights.
ghofranegh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
swiftscrows's review against another edition
5.0
"yo, desde luego, no he muerto cuando debía morir, ni zeus me eliminó, sino que me da vida para que vea yo, la infeliz, otras desgracias mayores que las desgracias pasadas."
hécuba my beloved no one's doing it like you
hécuba my beloved no one's doing it like you
ayyismayo's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
brighid26's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ichirofakename's review against another edition
5.0
I must say this is the only Greek Tragedy I've read that is actually exciting. Massive on stage conflict resolved with (off stage) human sacrifice, murder and eye-gouging. Another good translation, with assorted distinct versifications, not just prose cut into lines.
Similar to The Trojan Women, it concerns the outcome for certain Trojan women and children after the defeat by the Greeks. Specifically, Hecuba's daughter being a human sacrifice on Achilles' grave.
Poetic and action-packed.
Similar to The Trojan Women, it concerns the outcome for certain Trojan women and children after the defeat by the Greeks. Specifically, Hecuba's daughter being a human sacrifice on Achilles' grave.
Poetic and action-packed.
arrrshia's review against another edition
3.0
Fascinating book. The end did not leave me wanting more, like Philoctetes. #GirlPower.
zmb's review against another edition
5.0
The way I read Hecuba is as extremely anti-war and as a plea for the cycle of vengeance and violence to stop. Which are extremely poignant themes in an Athens that had been carrying on a Peloponnesian War of escalating brutality for years when this play was written. This is seen in small touches - the denouncement of Odysseus as a shameful, populist politician (hello, Cleon!), the general lament over the 10 long years of war (Trojan and Peloponnesian), and the commiseration of the suffering Trojan women with the suffering counterparts on the opposite side in Sparta (this doesn't even need an aside).
But it's also seen, I think, in the main action of the play. Hecuba is brutally betrayed by two people from whom she has every right to expect good behavior - Odysseus has her daughter murdered after she saved him when he was in Troy (an unlikely interpretation of the Homeric story, but they both agree it happened), and Polymestor casually murders her son for gold, violating his sacred guest right. This after her city was sacked, her husband was murdered as a supplicant on the altar of Zeus the Protector, and she was enslaved. She's left with Cassandra as her surviving progeny, and well, that's not much of a comfort.
So her woes break her and she seeks petty revenge on the one person she can damage - Polymestor, after she convinces another great enemy, Agamemnon, not to interfere. The real tragedy is that she is consumed by her grief and desire for revenge and thus continues the cycle by murdering Polymestor's children and blinding the man himself. I can hear Euripides's plea to stop the ever-escalating violence - the Spartans had destroyed Plataea, and the Athenians likewise voted to destroy Mytilene, and the war looked as though it would never end, and Cleon wanted to send a fleet to Syracuse...
Naturally, Hecuba's violence rebounds upon herself, as a blinded and bitter Polymestor informs her that even Cassandra will be horribly murdered and Hecuba herself will be transformed into a dog (?) and drown. And of course, we the audience knows what happens to Agamemnon and Odysseus. Such are the rewards of war and violence.
But it's also seen, I think, in the main action of the play. Hecuba is brutally betrayed by two people from whom she has every right to expect good behavior - Odysseus has her daughter murdered after she saved him when he was in Troy (an unlikely interpretation of the Homeric story, but they both agree it happened), and Polymestor casually murders her son for gold, violating his sacred guest right. This after her city was sacked, her husband was murdered as a supplicant on the altar of Zeus the Protector, and she was enslaved. She's left with Cassandra as her surviving progeny, and well, that's not much of a comfort.
So her woes break her and she seeks petty revenge on the one person she can damage - Polymestor, after she convinces another great enemy, Agamemnon, not to interfere. The real tragedy is that she is consumed by her grief and desire for revenge and thus continues the cycle by murdering Polymestor's children and blinding the man himself. I can hear Euripides's plea to stop the ever-escalating violence - the Spartans had destroyed Plataea, and the Athenians likewise voted to destroy Mytilene, and the war looked as though it would never end, and Cleon wanted to send a fleet to Syracuse...
Naturally, Hecuba's violence rebounds upon herself, as a blinded and bitter Polymestor informs her that even Cassandra will be horribly murdered and Hecuba herself will be transformed into a dog (?) and drown. And of course, we the audience knows what happens to Agamemnon and Odysseus. Such are the rewards of war and violence.