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yoursam's review
dark
sad
fast-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Violence, and War
Minor: Rape
kon_b's review
4.0
As a fan of Euripides’ Medea, I was eager to read more of his tragedies, and this opportunity arose as part of my Classical Studies course, during which I wrote an essay on Trojan Women and Hecabe.
I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to read them for what they are in my own leisure but also to think about them critically and consider them through an academic lens. All five plays focus predominantly on women, a rare feature of other playwrights’ work, and as such gender plays a crucial role in the narrative. Other themes of duty and obligation are also prevalent and they teach us much about the importance of honouring the dead and conducting appropriate burial rites. These tragedies are often seen as grim, bleak, and protestations of war, but they’re so much more than that and are far too interesting to reduce them in such simplistic ways.
My ranking of the plays:
1. Trojan Women
2. Andromache
3. Hecabe
4. Electra
5. Suppliant Women
I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting to read them for what they are in my own leisure but also to think about them critically and consider them through an academic lens. All five plays focus predominantly on women, a rare feature of other playwrights’ work, and as such gender plays a crucial role in the narrative. Other themes of duty and obligation are also prevalent and they teach us much about the importance of honouring the dead and conducting appropriate burial rites. These tragedies are often seen as grim, bleak, and protestations of war, but they’re so much more than that and are far too interesting to reduce them in such simplistic ways.
My ranking of the plays:
1. Trojan Women
2. Andromache
3. Hecabe
4. Electra
5. Suppliant Women
monique3's review
dark
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
3.0
Only read Electra for uni... but will be revisiting.
jessica_grayson's review
3.0
My favourite in this collection is Andromache. Davie is a great translator for ancient plays.
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