Trojan Women And Hippolytus Similarities

The Importance of Comparison The three plays by Euripides that will be reviewed in this essay will be Iphigenia at Aulis, The Trojan Women, and Hippolytus. As I read each of these plays I found each more exciting than the last. The words of Euripides take the reader a step back in time and does a fantastic job giving the reader a mental image of what is going on. The stories of the Greek culture are very interesting and let the reader understand the values that were held in that period. They believed that every belief, emotion, or skill was a direct product of divine intervention. The Gods of this era are not like God that is worshipped by the Christian faith. Greek gods are spiteful and have individual jobs. The Greek were polytheistic and …show more content…
The chorus of all three plays have their similarities and differences. The number of people, the diversity of characters, and the individual attitude of the chorus are all unique. The goal of the chorus is all the same; they each are used to help set the scene and explain to the audience how the emotions towards the situation were. The chorus in Iphigenia at Aulis have very long lines, they come in in the breaks in the dialogue and help better set the scene for example, “Here I have arrived, here on the sandy beaches of Aulis. Here I stand after crossing the straits of Euripus” (Euripides 361). The way the chorus paints the scene makes the transition between the dialogues flow smoother; it is a great use of a character to make the story flow smoothly. The chorus in the play also show the emotions of the lower-class of the play in this case for example, “Let us stand by… Let us receive the queen from her carriage to the Earth.” (372.) This shows how excited the women were to go somewhere other than their home. Traveling was exciting for those who haven’t done it before. It must have been a great experience for them. The chorus in Hippolytus is much different than that of the other plays, the chorus tells a story and somewhat foreshadows the upcoming events of the play. They also acknowledge the pain of Theseus. The chorus horrifically proclaimed “Alas! …show more content…
The main character in Iphigenia of Aulis is King Agamemnon; he must make the decision of whether to sacrifice his daughter or not to get the winds to blow. He agrees to and then changes his mind by sending a letter, but it is intercepted, and his plan fails. He first told the truth to his old servant in the beginning of the play,” Our wedding celebrations are postponed indefinitely.” (360). Though the wedding celebration mentioned is fictional, he foreshadows the grave outcome when his daughter arrives, “The separation is long to come” (373). In the play Hippolytus the main character is Hippolytus. He refuses to lose his virginity and refuses to worship the God of love as well. He is so against worshipping her that he argues with the attendant, “I keep at a respectful distance, I am chaste.” (78). He eventually is spited by the goddess and his stepmother commits suicide after falling in love with him and she leaves a suicide note saying he raped her. He is extremely worried and when he is told to calm down after learning of his step-mother’s love for him, he replies with, “I can not be silent when I have heard such a horror.” (90). In the play The Trojan Women the main character is Hecuba a Trojan queen. She awakes to see the horror and onslaught that occurred in the war. Every man was slaughtered, and the women and children would soon be captured