About Euripides and his "Electra"

in #godflesh6 years ago

In Antiquity tragedy is the only genre through which mediation tells myths before the gathering (usually for a divine feast / tribal or later community in Ancient Greece). Then the characters connected by the invariable mechanism to which the duties are subject. Nothing can stop, disturb or reorient the development of the events that make up the myth used by the tragic poet. For the obvious tendency to reasoning, Euripides earned himself the nickname" philosopher on stage ". His characters often reflect in a realistic tone on contemporary issues ... Acting, with a greatly disturbed artistic illusion, Euripides' drama resembles an encyclopedia of views, and thus reminds the contradictory of the Homeric epic .

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The strategy of tragedioographer Euripides is very different from the art of presenting the myths of a scene developed before him by the Athenian dramatists Eshil and Sophocles. It falls under the influence of the Sophists, initially hired elders of eloquence, and later authoritative philosophers who convey to young people the most appropriate approaches to achieving success and happiness in life. The Sophists brought a new understanding of human nature. For the old aristocratic ethic, nobility and virtue were immeasurable, so the sophists became achievable. Driven by a good teacher, everyone can reach life's wisdom. This has democratized the notion of human nature and created a new democratic pedagogy, according to which political virtues become accessible to everyone. That is why the Sophists had the ability to speak and prove.. In the drama of Euripides, we often find moral concern, influenced by the Sophists, whether the gods are sufficiently solid guarantors of morality. Indeed, Euripides still adheres to the ancient legends and myths, but he dares to judge them more precisely, to change them more freely and to criticize them more openly. Obviously, he does not believe in the omnipotence of the gods and their predetermined interference with the fate of the people. He is no longer inclined to comprehend mythology as the only worldview that is valid for all. His characters resemble most of his contemporaries. They reflect on their own and do not have a special respect for traditional beliefs. The characters of Euripides do not feel relentlessly subjected to the omnipotent, according to the previous ideas, Fate. They are much more often victims of their own emotional choices and passions.

While Eschil seeks to cause horror to the audience, and Sophocles - horror and compassion, Euripides awakens through his works only human compassion. Not without reason, the comedian, Aristophanes, is attacking him because of his enthusiasm to distract the viewers by presenting unhappy people dressed in rags and crutches. Among his contemporaries, Euripides is glorified as a pervasive analyst of Andromaha and Hebuba's maternal love, of Medea and Fedra's passionate and jealous love, and of the sacrificed love of Alceste. However, among the connoisseurs of the high poetic genres at the end of the classical age, this dramaturge did not receive approval, as "deviates from the genre scheme and keeps, by disturbing it, at the instance of the work. Myth: The fatal error comes from Pelops, the son of Tantal, and the father of Testi and Atreus, who murdered him by casting him into the sea, the coach of Mirtel, the son of the god Hermes. Then Hermes cursed Electra and Orest's great grandfather and his whole family. The god made his son Pan to send the ram with the golden fleece, the pledge of the king's power, in order to bring about a quarrel between the two brothers / Testi and Atreus. After the death of Pelopess, Atreus became king of Argos and Mycenae and banished his brother Testista because he learned that he had entered into an illicit relationship with his wife Aerope and helped him with the magic ram. Later, Atreus pretended to forgive his brother, invited him to a feast, and brought him a piece of the bodies of his sons, Calleton and Orhommen. Atreus's second wife was Pelopee, Teste's daughter. She grew away from her father, and without knowing it, born to him, Egigus, who was brought up in the house of Atreus as his son. Eventually Atreus sent him to kill Tesest. But he understood who his real father was, and he turned his sword against Atreus, cut him off, and handed over the kingdom to Testi. Electra is the daughter of the son of Atreus Agamemnon, who has seven children from his wife Klitsamnestra. She is the sister of Iphigenia, who was sacrificed by her father to the goddess Artemis, who sent the winds to sail Agamemnon's sailboats to Troy. Her brother is Oreste, whom she saves by sending him to Uncle Stroffy in Phocida, where he grew up as he was brought up with his uncle's son Pilade.

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As it seemed to me, in the construction of the image of the main character, Euripides uses his favorite method, common to all his so-called "drama of revenge" (Medea, Hecuba), The essence of this technique is that, despite the legitimate desire to take revenge, lawless, the heroine possesses a wicked passion for revenge, which in the final turns the situation in contrast to the one planned at the beginning, depriving the revenge that has come about of any legitimate excuses. This effect is achieved, as a rule, by the fact that the criterion for assessing all acts of tragedy is the yardstick of ordinary human morality.

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