PENGUIN CLASSICS : HERACLES AND OTHER PLAYS PB B – EURIPIDES-RICHARD RUTHERFORD-JOHN DAVIE

Heracles/ Iphigenia Among the Taurians/ Helen/ Ion/ Cyclops: Of these plays, only Heracles truly belongs in the tragic sphere with its presentation of underserved suffering and divine malignity. The other plays flirt with comedy and comic themes. Their plots are ironic and complex with deception and elusion eventually leading to reconciliation between mother and son in Ion , brother and sister in Iphigenia , and husband and wife in Helen . The comic vein is even stronger in the satyric Cyclops in which the giant s inebriation and subsequent violence are treated as humorous. Together, these plays demonstrate Euripides challenge to the generic boundaries of Athenian drama.