Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Euripides: Orestes

Euripides: Orestes

Wright, Matthew

Paperback

Series: Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy

Miscellaneous LanguagesLiterary CriticismPlays

ISBN10: 0715637142
ISBN13: 9780715637142
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
Published: Nov 10 2008
Pages: 144
Weight: 0.50
Height: 0.60 Width: 5.30 Depth: 8.30
Language: English

Orestes was one of Euripides' most popular plays in antiquity. Its plot, which centres on Orestes' murder of his mother Clytemnestra and its aftermath, is exciting as well as morally complex; its presentation of madness is unusually intense and disturbing; it deals with politics in a way which has resonances for both ancient and modern democracies; and, it has a brilliantly unexpected and ironic ending. Nevertheless, Orestes is not much read or performed in modern times. Why should this be so? Perhaps it is because Orestes does not conform to modern audiences' expectations of what a 'Greek tragedy' should be. This book makes Orestes accessible to modern readers and performers by explicitly acknowledging the gap between ancient and modern ideas of tragedy. If we are to appreciate what is unusual about the play, we have to think in terms of its impact on its original audience. What did they expect from a tragedy, and what would they have made of Orestes?

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