Euripides

I

Introduction

Euripides (c. 480-406 bc), Greek dramatist, the third, with Aeschylus and Sophocles, of the great Attic tragic poets. Euripides wrote nearly 90 plays, of which 18 survive today. His work exerted great influence on Roman drama, English and German drama, and especially the 17th-century French dramatic poets Pierre Corneille and Jean-Baptiste Racine.

The tragedies of Euripides present the most subtle analysis of human psychology of the three Greek dramatists. Sophocles is quoted as saying that he portrayed people as they ought to be, whereas Euripides portrayed them as they are.

II

Life of Euripides

Little is known about Euripides’s life. According to tradition he was born in Salamís on September 23, in about 480 bc. If it was 480, he was born on the day of the great Greek naval victory over the Persians (see Battle of Salamis) during the Persian Wars. His parents, according to some authorities, belonged to the nobility; according to others, they were of humble origin. Their son, in any case, received a thorough education. His plays began to be performed in the Attic drama festivals in 454 bc, but it was not until 442 bc that he won first prize. This distinction, despite his prolific talent, fell to him again only four times. Aside from his writings, his chief interests were philosophy and science.

Although Euripides did not identify himself with any specific school of philosophy, he was influenced by the Sophists and by such philosophers as Protagoras, Anaxagoras, and Socrates. Euripides was austere and considered himself misunderstood by his contemporaries, a conclusion not without foundation, for he was frequently the object of attack by the Athenian writers of comedy. Aristophanes in particular made him a subject of a satire in The Frogs (405 bc). Euripides's plays were criticized for their unconventionality, for their natural dialogue (his heroes and princes spoke the language of everyday life), and for their independence of traditional religious and moral values. His plays, however, if not overwhelmingly popular, were famous throughout Greece. In the latter part of his life he left Athens for Macedonia, where he died.

III

A New Consciousness

In contrast to Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides represented the new moral, social, and political movements that were taking place in Athens towards the end of the 5th century bc. It was a period of enormous intellectual discovery, in which “wisdom” ranked as the highest earthly accomplishment. Anaxagoras had just proven that air was an element, and that the Sun was not a divinity but matter. New truths were being established in all departments of knowledge, and Euripides, reacting to them, brought a new kind of consciousness to the writing of tragedy. His interest lay in the thought and experience of the ordinary individual rather than in the experiences of legendary figures of the heroic past.

Although Euripides drew on the old mythology, he treated its characters in a realistic fashion; they were no longer idealized symbols remote from commonplace life, but contemporary Athenians. Euripides shared in the intellectual scepticism of the day, and his plays challenged the religious and moral dogmas of the past, which had not yet fallen into disbelief among the people. His moods and attitudes shifted between extremes, sometimes within the boundaries of the same play; he was capable of the bitter, realistic observation of human weaknesses and corruption, and yet just as often his work reflected respect for human heroism, dignity, and more tender sentiments.

IV

Dramatic Structure

Although the tragedies of Euripides differ in some remarkable ways from those of Aeschylus and Sophocles, the plays of the three dramatists have many common features. The basic structure is much the same: scenes of spoken dialogue between two or three actors alternate with odes in lyric verse sung by a chorus. The members of the chorus are technically dramatis personae (characters) in the drama, but in effect they are often somewhere between the actors and the audience, especially when they act as witnesses and comment on the action. Euripides often uses the choral odes to reinforce leading themes rather than to advance plot.

Euripides’s plays differ in structure from those of Aeschylus and Sophocles chiefly in their frequent use of prologues and epilogues. These are written in the same verse as the dialogue and are spoken most often by deities who do not appear in the play; sometimes they are spoken by human characters who do appear. In the prologue Euripides makes clear to the audience the events that precede the opening of the play and often outlines what will happen during the play. The epilogue tells the remainder of the story, often changing the fate of the characters.

Euripides’s plays were criticized for their structure. His use of the prologue and epilogue came under attack as clumsy and undramatic. Aristophanes ridiculed Euripides for his mechanical and exaggerated use of the explanatory prologue, which was frequently burdened with long histories of the characters. Euripides’s use of the chorus independent of the chief action of the drama was also unconventional.

The loose structure of Euripides’s plays also drew criticism. Some of his works contain brilliant detached episodes that do not form coherent units, through which the plots gradually develop. He also relied heavily on the deus ex machina, the unexpected introduction of a god to solve the dilemmas of the characters and bring a play to its conclusion.