Greek tragedy

Name: Greek tragedy
Author: Norwood, Gilbert

Norwood, Gilbert

Greek drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism; Mythology, Greek, in literature

The Suppliants, who form the chorus, are the mothers of the Seven who
attacked Thebes and their attendants. They surround Æthra, mother of
Theseus, the Athenian king, and beg her to win his aid for them, since
the Thebans have refused burial to the slain. Theseus at first refuses,
but Æthra persuades him. A Theban herald enters to forbid Theseus, in
the name of the Theban king Creon, to aid the Suppliants. Theseus
rejects this behest and prepares for war. After an ode, news comes of
the Athenian victory. The remains of five heroes are brought in (of the
other two, Amphiaraus was swallowed up by the earth and Polynices is
supposed still at Thebes). Adrastus delivers funeral speeches over them.
The obsequies now take place. The body of Capaneus is burned separately,
and Evadne his wife throws herself upon his pyre despite the entreaties
of her father Iphis. The young sons of the chieftains bear in the funeral
urns, and Adrastus promises that Argos will cherish undying gratitude
towards Athens. The goddess Athena appears and bids Theseus exact an
oath to this effect; she comforts the fatherless boys with a promise of
vengeance.

This drama is perhaps the least popular and the least studied of all
Greek plays, which is not surprising when one considers that, in spite
of the praise merited by certain parts, the whole work considered
by really dramatic standards is astonishingly bad. There is no
character-drawing worth the name, and though it may be said that the
real heroine of the drama is Athens,[574] it is still strange to find
Euripides contented with such colourless persons as Theseus, Æthra, and
indeed all the characters. Still more striking are the irrelevancies.
Theseus’ address[575] to Adrastus and the assembly at large concerning
the blessings conferred by Heaven upon man, have hardly a semblance
of connexion with the urgent and painful subject of debate. Even more
otiose, and far longer, is the dispute[576] between Theseus and the
herald on the claims of monarchy and democracy. The scene of Evadne’s
_suttee_, however striking, is dramatically unjustifiable; it is an
episode in the bad sense meant by Aristotle—no integral part of the
action. The last scene is spoiled by the intervention of Athena, who
merely causes the Argives to give an oath instead of a simple promise
that they will ever be loyal friends of Athens. That this intervention
corresponds to very definite historical fact (the league between the two
states in 420 B.C. brought about by Alcibiades) makes no difference to
the æsthetic fact. None the less one notes in the _Supplices_ certain
excellent features. The appeal[577] of Æthra to her son, and the lyric
dirge of Evadne over her husband’s pyre, are admirably composed. Several
parts of the work are magnificent as spectacle—the opening in which
the sorrowing mothers, Adrastus, and the fatherless boys are grouped
about the aged queen, the return of Theseus and his troops with the

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Greek tragedyNorwood, Gilbert

History

Greek tragedy

Norwood, Gilbert

Greek drama (Tragedy) -- History and criticism; Mythology, Greek, in literature

The Suppliants, who form the chorus, are the mothers of the Seven who
attacked Thebes and their attendants. They surround Æthra, mother of
Theseus, the Athenian king, and beg her to win his aid for them, since
the Thebans have refused burial to the slain. Theseus at first refuses,
but Æthra persuades him. A Theban herald enters to forbid Theseus, in
the name of the Theban king Creon, to aid the Suppliants. Theseus
rejects this behest and prepares for war. After an ode, news comes of
the Athenian victory. The remains of five heroes are brought in (of the
other two, Amphiaraus was swallowed up by the earth and Polynices is
supposed still at Thebes). Adrastus delivers funeral speeches over them.
The obsequies now take place. The body of Capaneus is burned separately,
and Evadne his wife throws herself upon his pyre despite the entreaties
of her father Iphis. The young sons of the chieftains bear in the funeral
urns, and Adrastus promises that Argos will cherish undying gratitude
towards Athens. The goddess Athena appears and bids Theseus exact an
oath to this effect; she comforts the fatherless boys with a promise of
vengeance.

This drama is perhaps the least popular and the least studied of all
Greek plays, which is not surprising when one considers that, in spite
of the praise merited by certain parts, the whole work considered
by really dramatic standards is astonishingly bad. There is no
character-drawing worth the name, and though it may be said that the
real heroine of the drama is Athens,[574] it is still strange to find
Euripides contented with such colourless persons as Theseus, Æthra, and
indeed all the characters. Still more striking are the irrelevancies.
Theseus’ address[575] to Adrastus and the assembly at large concerning
the blessings conferred by Heaven upon man, have hardly a semblance
of connexion with the urgent and painful subject of debate. Even more
otiose, and far longer, is the dispute[576] between Theseus and the
herald on the claims of monarchy and democracy. The scene of Evadne’s
_suttee_, however striking, is dramatically unjustifiable; it is an
episode in the bad sense meant by Aristotle—no integral part of the
action. The last scene is spoiled by the intervention of Athena, who
merely causes the Argives to give an oath instead of a simple promise
that they will ever be loyal friends of Athens. That this intervention
corresponds to very definite historical fact (the league between the two
states in 420 B.C. brought about by Alcibiades) makes no difference to
the æsthetic fact. None the less one notes in the _Supplices_ certain
excellent features. The appeal[577] of Æthra to her son, and the lyric
dirge of Evadne over her husband’s pyre, are admirably composed. Several
parts of the work are magnificent as spectacle—the opening in which
the sorrowing mothers, Adrastus, and the fatherless boys are grouped
about the aged queen, the return of Theseus and his troops with the

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Greek tragedy

Greek tragedy

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