1

Classic in Translation

Iliad
Homer .
Poem Summary
The Achaians, under King Agamemnon, have been fighting the Trojans off and on for nine years,
trying to retrieve Helen, the wife of Menelaos, and thus Agamemnon's sister-in-law. Paris, a son of
the king of Troy, kidnaps Helen, who becomes the legendary "Helen of Troy" and "the woman with
the face that launched a thousand ships."

Yet, after years of Achaian attacks, Troy remains intact, and the Trojan army remains undefeated.
The same cannot be said for the Achaian army. At present, the Achaian troops are dying from a
mysterious plague. Hundreds of funeral pyres burn nightly. Finally, Achilles, the Achaians' most
honored soldier, calls for an assembly to determine the cause of the plague.

A soothsayer reveals to the army that King Agamemnon's arrogance caused the deadly plague; he
refused to return a woman who was captured and awarded to him as a "war prize." Reluctantly,
Agamemnon agrees to return the woman, but, as compensation, he says that he will take the woman
who was awarded to Achilles, his best warrior.

Achilles is furious, and he refuses to fight any longer for the Achaians. He and his forces retreat to
the beach beside their ships, and Achilles asks his mother, the goddess Thetis, if she will ask Zeus,
king of the gods, to help the Trojans defeat his former comrades, the Achaians. Zeus agrees to do so.

The two armies prepare for battle, and Paris (the warrior who kidnapped Menelaos' wife, Helen)
leaps out and challenges any of the Achaians to a duel. Menelaos challenges him and beats him, but
before Paris is killed, the goddess Aphrodite whisks him away to the safety of his bedroom in Troy.

A short truce is called, but it is broken when an over-zealous soldier wounds Menelaos. During the
battle that follows, Diomedes, an Achaian, dominates the action, killing innumerable Trojans and
wounding Aphrodite, a goddess.

The Trojans seem to be losing, so Hektor returns to Troy to ask his mother to offer sacrifices to
Athena. She performs the rituals, but Athena refuses to accept them. Meanwhile, Hektor discovers
Paris safe in his bedroom with Helen, and shames him into returning to battle. Then Hektor visits
with his wife and their baby son. It is clear that Hektor is deeply devoted to his family, yet feels the
terrible weight of his responsibility as commander-in-chief of the Trojan army.
 2

During the fighting that continues, the Achaians begin to falter, and at one point Athena, Zeus'
daughter, fears that the entire Achaian army may be slaughtered. Thus, she and Apollo decide to
have Hektor challenge one of the Achaian' warriors to a duel in order to settle the war. Telamonian
Aias (Ajax) battles Hektor so valiantly that the contest ends in a draw, and a truce is called.

During this break in the fighting, the dead of both armies are buried and given appropriate funeral
rites, and the Achaians fortify their defenses with a strong wall and a moat-like ditch.

The fighting resumes, and so many Achaians are slaughtered that Agamemnon suggests that his
troops sail for home, but finally he is convinced that he must return to the fighting. Messengers are
sent to Achilles, asking him to return to battle, but Achilles is still sulking beside his ships and
refuses to fight.

Soon Agamemnon, Diomedes, Odysseus, and old Nestor are all seriously wounded, and Achilles
realizes that the Achaians are in danger of imminent defeat. Therefore, he sends his warrior-
companion, Patroklos, to find out who the seriously wounded are.

Patroklos talks with old Nestor, one of the wisest of the Achaian soldiers. Nestor asks Patroklos to
dress in Achilles' armor and return to battle. The Achaians, he says, will rejoice and have new faith
in their death struggle against the Trojans when they think that they see Achilles returning to the
battle. In addition, the Trojans will so fear the wrath of the mighty Achilles that they will be easily
defeated. Patroklos promises to ask Achilles for permission to use his armor and ride into battle
disguised as the mighty warrior.

Meanwhile, Hektor leads a massive Trojan surge against the Achaian wall that stands between the
Trojans and the Achaian fleet of ships, and the wall is successfully smashed. The tumult is so
deafening that hell itself seems unloosed.

Achilles is watching and realizes that his wish may be granted: The Achaians are about to be
annihilated. He sends Patroklos into the fighting, disguised as Achilles himself. The Achaian army
rejoices at what they think is the return of Achilles to the fighting, and the Trojans are so terrified
that they are quickly swept back to the walls of Troy.

Patroklos' valor seems superhuman. He has killed nine Trojans in a single charge when Apollo
strikes him with such fury that Hektor is able to catch him off-guard and thrust a spear through his
body. Then some of the most intense fighting of the war follows in a battle to claim Patroklos' body.
Finally, the Achaians rescue Patroklos' corpse, and Hektor captures Achilles' armor. Then the
Achaians return to the beach, guarding their ships as best they can.

Achilles is filled with overwhelming grief and rage when he learns that his warrior-companion,
Patroklos, has been slaughtered. His mother, Thetis, comes to him and advises him that it is fated
that he will die if he tries to revenge Patroklos' death. But she says that if Achilles decides to revenge
Patroklos' death, she will outfit him in a suit of new armor, made by one of the gods.

Achilles chooses: He will defy certain death and the Trojans in an attempt to punish them for what
they (and he) did to Patroklos. Thus, he returns to battle in his new armor and is so successful that he
and the Achaians rout the Trojans. He savagely kills Hektor, the Trojans' mightiest warrior. Achilles'
anger is not sated, however. He ties Hektor's corpse to his chariot and circles Patroklos' burial mound
every day for nine days.
 3

Hektor's parents are so grieved at the barbaric treatment given to their son's corpse that Priam,
Hektor's father, goes to Achilles and begs for his son's body. Achilles is moved by Priam's pleas and
by the memory of his own father. Consequently, he agrees to cleanse and return Hektor's body.

Hektor's body is given the appropriate cremation rites, and then with mourning and weeping for the
noble warrior, the Trojans place his remains in a golden casket and place it in a burial barrow.

About the Iliad
Introduction to the Poem

The Iliad deals with only a small portion of the Trojan War; in fact, it covers only a few months
during the tenth year of that war. The ancient Greek audience, however, would have been familiar
with all the events leading up to this tenth year, and during the course of the Iliad, Homer makes
many references to various past events.

The story of the Iliad has its actual beginning in the creation of the great wall at Troy. The Trojans
enlisted the aid of the sea god, Poseidon, to help build the wall. However, after the wall was
constructed, Poseidon demanded his just compensation, but the Trojans reneged. Consequently, Troy
was without divine protection and, in fact, Poseidon became its enemy.

At the time of the Trojan war, Troy was ruled by King Priam, who was married to Hekuba.
According to legend, Priam and Hekuba had forty-nine children, including the warrior Hektor, the
prophetess Cassandra, and the young lover, Paris (also known as Alexandros). Deiphobus is also one
of the children of Priam and Hekuba.

When Hekuba was pregnant with Paris, she had a dream that Paris would be the cause of the
destruction of Troy. An oracle and a seer confirmed that this son would indeed be the cause of the
total destruction of the noble city of Troy. Therefore, for the sake of the city, Hekuba agreed to
abandon her newborn infant to die by exposure on Mount Ida, but Paris was saved by shepherds and
grew up as a shepherd, ignorant of his royal birth.

The Iliad begins: The Judgement of Paris

On the Greek side, the story of the Iliad begins with the wedding of Peleus, a mortal, and Thetis, a
goddess. These two become the parents of Achilles. At their wedding, Eris, the goddess of strife,
throws down a golden apple with the message, "For the Fairest." Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all try
to claim the prize, and no god, including Zeus, is willing to resolve the dispute.

After a long conference on Mount Ida, Paris, the poor but royal shepherd is chosen to be the judge of
the dispute between the three goddesses. They all offer bribes to Paris. Hera offers him rule over all
of Asia. Athena offers victory in battle and supreme wisdom. But Aphrodite, knowing her man,
offers the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, wife of Menelaos, the ruler of Sparta. Paris
proclaims Aphrodite the fairest of all and anticipates his prize.
 4

The initiation of strife, in the form of Eris and her apple, at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis,
introduces an idea that runs throughout the Iliad. Strife, metaphorically embodied in a goddess in the
legend, is the motivating factor in most of the major events in the epic. Strife provokes the war.
Strife with Agamemnon over a slave girl causes Achilles to withdraw from battle. Strife between
various groups and individuals sharpens the action of the poem. Finally, the resolution of strife
provides an ending for the poem. Eris is rarely mentioned in the Iliad, but her presence is almost
palpable.

Before going to the court of Menelaos to secure Helen, Paris establishes his legitimacy as a son of
King Priam of Troy. Only then does Paris travel to Sparta, where for ten days he is treated royally as
the guest of Menelaos and Helen. After ten days, Menelaos has to travel to Crete to conduct business.
In Menelaos' absence, Paris abducts Helen and returns with her to Troy. Various accounts of this
event make Helen either a willing accomplice to Paris' scheme or a resisting victim of kidnapping. In
the Iliad, Helen's constant references to herself as a bitch and prostitute leave little doubt that Homer
sees her as a culpable accomplice in the abduction.

Word of Helen's abduction reaches Menelaos in Crete. He immediately goes to his brother,
Agamemnon, the great ruler of Mycenae. At first the two brothers try diplomacy with Troy to secure
the return of Helen. When that fails, they determine to enlist the aid of many other rulers of small
Greek kingdoms. Nestor of Pylos, an old friend of the family, accompanies Menelaos as he goes to
each state seeking support. The Greek army that Menelaos and Nestor help assemble represents the
Greek or Mycenaean notion of reciprocity. Actions were performed with the expectation of a
reciprocal action. According to some accounts, the various Greek rulers had all courted Helen and
felt an obligation to Menelaos. But, even so, they go on the raid with an understanding that they will
receive a share of the booty that will come from the destruction of Troy and other nearby states. In
fact, the opening dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles is over what they each see as inequity in
the distribution of their war prizes.

Some of the Greek leaders were anxious to sack Troy; but two, Odysseus and Achilles, were warned
by the oracles of their fates if they participated in the war. Odysseus was warned that his journey
home would last twenty years, and thus he feigned madness; but his ruse was quickly discovered and
he finally agreed to go to war. The Greeks knew that they could never capture Troy without the help
of Achilles, who was the greatest warrior in the world. He was practically invulnerable as a fighter,
because at birth his mother dipped him in the River Styx, rendering him immortal everywhere except
in the heel, where she held him. (Later, Paris discovers this vulnerability and shoots a poisoned
arrow into Achilles' heel — thus, we have the term "Achilles' heel," meaning one's vulnerability.)
Achilles was warned that if he went to war he would gain great glory, but he would die young. His
mother then disguised him in women's clothing, but the sly Odysseus discovered the trick and
Achilles finally consented to go.

After a few months, the Greek army gathers at Aulis in Euboea. According to some accounts, they
immediately launch an attack on Teuthrania, an ally of Troy, are defeated, and are driven back. Much
of the army disperses. During this same period, the prophet Kalchas predicts that ten years will pass
before the walls of Troy will fall. The Greeks, or Achaians as they called themselves, do not try a
mass attack on Troy again for about eight years. They have not, as many imagine, spent nine years
beneath the walls of Troy, as when the Iliad opens. Some scholars consider this first expedition story
to be a variant account of the more common story, but many others think that the expedition against
Troy was actually made up of two widely separated expeditions.
 5

The story of the second (or possibly first) assembly at Aulis is the more famous account. At this
assembly of the Achaian forces, they are unable to sail because of onshore winds. This time Kalchas
reports that Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, is offended because Agamemnon killed a deer sacred to
her. The only way the Achaians can leave is by Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigeneia,
to Artemis. Agamemnon tricks Iphigeneia by telling her that she is to wed Achilles. When she
arrives for her wedding, she is gagged so that she cannot pronounce a dying curse, and sacrificed to
Artemis. The winds shift, and the Achaians (Greeks) sail for Troy.

The Achaians land at a protected shore near Troy. They build a wall of earth, stone, and timber to
protect their ships. This wall is the focus of the Trojan attack in Books XII and XIII. After the
construction of the wall, the Achaians begin their siege of Troy. Some of their forces raid nearby
states. Achilles attacks cities to the south while Telamonian Aias (Ajax) takes Teuthrania.

A year later, the tenth year since the original prediction by Kalchas, all of the Achaians assemble
near Troy to begin what they hope will be the final assault. Here is where the Iliad begins as a feud
develops between Achilles and Agamemnon. The poem recounts the events of this feud as they take
place over several days. The epic ends with the death and burial of the Trojan warrior, Hektor.

After the Iliad: The fall of Troy

The events after the Iliad that lead to the fall of Troy are not a part of the poem. After the burial of
Hektor, the Trojans call on outside forces for help, and the Greeks lose many warriors. In one battle,
Achilles encounters Paris, who shoots an arrow that, guided by Apollo, strikes Achilles in the right
heel, the only place where he is vulnerable. Aias (Ajax) and Odysseus are able, with great difficulty,
to rescue Achilles' body, and immediately there arises a dispute over who should receive Achilles'
splendid armor. When it is awarded to Odysseus, Aias (Ajax) becomes so furious that he threatens to
kill some of the Greek leaders. When he realizes the lack of honor in his threats, he commits suicide.

With the death of their two greatest and most valiant warriors, Aias and Achilles, the Greeks become
anxious about ever taking Troy. After consulting various seers and oracles, they are instructed to
secure the bow and arrows of Heracles, which are in the hands of Prince Philoctetes, a Greek who
was abandoned earlier because of a loathsome wound that would not heal. Odysseus and Diomedes
are sent to Philoctetes, and they convince him to return with the bow and arrows. In his first
encounter in battle, he is able to kill Paris. This death, however, does not affect the course of the war.

The Greeks are then given a series of tasks that they must accomplish to secure victory: They must
bring the bones of Pelops back to Greece from Asia, bring Achilles' son into the war, and steal the
sacred image of Athena from the Trojan sanctuary. These tasks are accomplished, but none of them
changes the course of the war. Then Odysseus conceives a plan whereby the Greeks can get inside
the walls of Troy: A great horse of wood is constructed with a hollow belly that can hold many
warriors. In the darkness of night, the horse is brought to the Trojan plain. Odysseus and some of his
men are hidden inside the horse. The rest of the Achaians burn their camps and sail off behind a
nearby island.

The next morning, the Trojans find the Greeks gone and the huge, mysterious horse sitting before
Troy. They also discover a Greek named Sinon, whom they take captive. Odysseus provided Sinon
with plausible stories about the Greek departure, the wooden horse, and his own presence there to tell
the Trojans. Sinon tells Priam and the others that Athena deserted the Greeks because of the theft of
her image from her temple. Without her help, they were lost and so they departed. But to get home
safely, they had to have a human sacrifice. Sinon was chosen, but he escaped and hid. The horse was
 6

left to placate the angry goddess, and the Greeks hoped the Trojans would desecrate it, earning
Athena's hatred. These lies convince Priam and many other Trojans, so they pull the gigantic horse
inside the gates to honor Athena.

That night, the soldiers creep out of the horse, kill the sentries, and open the gates to let the Achaian
army in. The Achaians set fires throughout the city, massacre the inhabitants, and loot the city. The
Trojan resistance is ineffectual. King Priam is killed, and by morning all but a few Trojans are dead.
Only Aeneas, with his old father, his young son, and a small band of Trojans, escape. Hektor's young
son, Astyanax, is thrown from the walls of the city. The women who are left are given to the Greek
leaders as war prizes, to be used as slaves or as concubines. Troy is devastated. Hera and Athena
have their revenge upon Paris and upon his city.

Character List
The Achaians: Heroes

In the Iliad certain heroic characters play major roles in the battles even though the reader knows that
many more common soldiers must be involved. The heroes, however, are presented literally as
greater human beings than the ordinary warriors. Some may have a divine or semi-divine parent,
though the hero himself is still mortal and subject to death, unlike the gods. Heroes are of such
stature that they sometimes provoke envy from the gods and on occasion may even fight with a god.
Each hero is distinguished by a virtue but may also have an accompanying vice. For example,
Achilles is the greatest warrior, but he is also petulant and self-centered. In terms of status, heroes are
below the gods but above the ordinary warriors.

Overall, heroes lived by four rules: arete, the pursuit of excellence, as exemplified by valor in battle,
and nobility, as exemplified by skill in speech and diplomacy. Each of the greatest of these noble
heroes is given an aristeia, or greatest moment in battle, somewhere in the Iliad.

Achilles The central character of the Iliad and the greatest warrior in the Achaian army. The most
significant flaw in the temperament of Achilles is his excessive pride. He is willing to subvert the
good of the whole army and to endanger the lives of those who are closest to him to achieve
emotional blackmail. Chief virtue: a fighter. His humanity stems from his great passion.

Agamemnon The well-meaning but irresolute king of Mycenae; commander-in-chief of the

expedition against Troy. He is a brother of Menelaos. Chief virtue: being a king. His humanity stems
from his broad mindedness that makes him a weak king.

Diomedes He ranks among the finest and bravest of the Achaian warriors; he is always wise and
reasonable and is renowned for his courtesy and gallantry. He is, perhaps, Homer's vision of the
perfect young nobleman. He is sometimes called "lord of the battle cry."

Aias (Ajax) Son of Telamon, he is often called Telamonian Aias; his reputation is due primarily to
brute strength and courage, which are his virtues in the poem. Epithet: wall of army.
 7

Odysseus The shrewdest and most subtle of all the Achaians and a brave warrior besides, as he
demonstrates on many occasions. Epithet: "Seed of Zeus." Chief virtue: intelligence motivated by
persistence, which is his humanity.

Nestor The oldest of the Achaian warriors at Troy. Nestor has all the wisdom and experience of age
and is a valuable asset in the council. Although he can no longer fight, he remains at the front line at
every battle, commanding his troops. He is often referred to as "Gerenian Nestor."

The Achaians: Warriors

Warriors tend to be somewhat lesser individuals than the heroes are, although still much greater than
ordinary men. Their parents are usually mortals, and they are not given aristeias in the Iliad.

Aias the Lesser A distinguished warrior, but insolent and conceited. He is the son of Oileus and is
often called Oilean Aias.

Antilochos The son of Nestor; a brave young warrior who takes an active part in the fighting and the
funeral games.

Automedon The squire and charioteer of Achilles.

Helen Originally married to Menelaos, she ran away to Troy with Paris and became his wife.
Supposedly, she is the most beautiful woman in the world; however, she is also self-centered.

Idomeneus The King of Crete and one of the most efficient of the Achaian leaders, he has the
respect and liking of the whole Achaian army.

Kalchas Soothsayer and prophet of the Achaians.

Menelaos King of Sparta and brother of Agamemnon He was the husband of Helen, who was
abducted by Paris.

Patroklos Achilles' close friend and warrior-companion.

The Trojans: Heroes

Aeneas Son of Aphrodite; a Trojan nobleman. He is second in command of the Trojan army and a
brave, skillful warrior.

Hektor (Hector) Prince of Troy and son of Priam and Hekuba. Hektor is commander of all the
Trojan and allied forces. He is the greatest of the Trojan warriors and one of the most noble
characters in the Iliad. He is always conscious of his duty and his responsibilities to his people and
does not let his personal interests interfere. He is a devoted and loving husband and father.

The Trojans: Warriors

Andromache The wife of Hektor. She seems to illustrate Homer's idea of the good wife and mother;
she is loyal, loving, and concerned for her family, and is willing to accept the decisions of her
husband.
 8

Antenor A Trojan nobleman who unsuccessfully advocates the return of Helen to the
Achaians.

Astyanax The infant son of Hektor and Andromache.

Chryseis Daughter of Chryses, the priest of Apollo. She is the "war prize" hostage of Agamemnon
until Apollo demands that she be returned to her father.

Dolon A Trojan nobleman, captured by Odysseus and Diomedes during their night expedition to the
Trojan camp in Book X.

Glaukos A prince; a renowned warrior.

Hekuba Wife of Priam. Hektor is the most prominent of her sons.

Helenos Son of Priam and Hekuba; a prince of Troy and a seer.

Cassandra The daughter of Priam and Hekuba; Hektor and Paris' sister.

Pandaros A good archer, but a treacherous man; it is he who breaks the truce in Book IV.

Paris (Alexandros) A prince of Troy; son of Priam and Hekuba; also husband of Helen. He seems
content to allow the Trojans to fight for him. He is reprimanded for this by Hektor more than once.
His reputation is that of a "pretty boy." His smoothness and glibness are not admired by the warriors
of either side, and they often accuse him of cowardice.

Poulydamas One of the Trojan leaders; a very able and clear-headed military strategist whose advice
to Hektor is usually not heeded.

Priam King of Troy. He is very old and no longer able to command his army in the field, but his
great courage is seen when he travels to the Achaian camp one night to ransom Hektor's body. He is
a noble and generous man, one of the few Trojans besides Hektor who treats Helen with respect and
courtesy, despite her infidelity to her husband and the war caused by her actions.

The Gods

Gods differ from mortals primarily in their immortality. They are unaware of the fear of death and
sometimes seem unable to grasp the pain and horror that fighting and dying bring to mortal warriors.
The gods have ichor, an immortal fluid, rather than blood; they eat ambrosia and drink nectar. They
live on Mt. Olympos, though in the Iliad Zeus often watches the battle from Mt. Ida. The gods can
and do change shape and interact with humans. Occasionally, the gods fight humans and suffer
wounds, but this doesn't cause the gods any real harm, because the gods cannot bleed or die. The
Greek gods are all anthropomorphic: They look like humans, although they are taller, larger, more
beautiful, and they often exhibit human emotions such as anger, envy, and deceit.

Zeus The supreme god and king of Olympos. His duty is to carry out the will of Destiny, so he is
officially neutral in the war, but he is sympathetic toward the Trojans, particularly Hektor and Priam,
and he supports Achilles against Agamemnon. Of all the gods, he alone seems able to change fate,
though he chooses not to because of the disruption to the world that would be caused. He is married
to Hera with whom he is often in disputes.
 9

Hera Sister and wife of Zeus. She is the most fanatical of all the Olympian supporters of the
Achaians and is willing to go to any lengths, including the deception of her husband, to achieve the
defeat of Troy. She was the goddess of women and childbirth.

Athena Daughter of Zeus; she sprang directly from his head and became the goddess of wisdom.
She plays a prominent role in the war, fighting on the Achaian side. She is also known as the battle
goddess and is often referred to as Pallas or Pallas Athena.

Aphrodite Daughter of Zeus; goddess of love and sexual desire. She is the mother of Aeneas and is
the patron of Paris, so she fights on the Trojan side. Her love is Ares, god of war. She is especially
connected with Paris and Helen in the Iliad.

Apollo Son of Zeus; god of prophecy, light, poetry, and music. He fights on the Trojan side. Apollo
is also the plague god and is responsible for the plague in Book I that leads to the argument between
Achilles and Agamemnon. He is also called Loxias, meaning "tricky."

Ares Son of Zeus and Hera, and the god of war. He is the lover of Aphrodite and fights on the Trojan
side, despite an earlier promise to Hera and Athena that he would support the Achaians. Only
Aphrodite likes him.

Artemis Daughter of Zeus; sister of Apollo; goddess of chastity, hunting, and wild animals. She
fights on the Trojan side, but with little effect.

Dione Mother of Aphrodite.

Hades God of the dead and ruler of the underworld.

Hermes Ambassador of the gods; conductor of dead souls to Hades and a patron of travelers. He is
on the Achaians' side, but he does little to aid them. He escorts Priam on his visit to Achilles in Book
XXIV.

Iris A messenger of the gods.

Poseidon Younger brother of Zeus; god of the sea. He is a strong supporter of the Achaian cause,
having an old grudge against Troy. He is also somewhat resentful of Zeus' claim to authority over
him.

Thetis Mother of Achilles, a sea nymph. She is a staunch advocate of her son in his quarrel with
Agamemnon and does all she can to help him, but she is not otherwise involved in the war.

Xanthos Son of Zeus; god of one of the major rivers of Troy. He fights against Achilles in Book
XXI, but is defeated by Hephaistos' fire.

Critical Essays The Hero and Homeric Culture

The notion of personal honor is prevalent throughout the Iliad. The honor of every person in Homeric culture was
important, but to the hero, his honor was paramount. He could not endure insults, and he felt that he had to protect
his reputation — even unto death. The hero's duty was to fight, and the only way he had of gaining glory and
 10

immortality was through heroic action on the battlefield; thus, he continually prepared his life for the life-and-death
risks of battle. The Homeric hero believed that men had to stand together in battle; men had to respect each other;
and they had to refrain from excessive cruelty. This last condition was critically important for the Homeric hero. He
loathed deliberate acts of cruelty and injustice. If he were ready to kill a victim, he believed that he should do it
quickly; he was not to mutilate him, as Achilles does with Hektor's body. By following this code, a hero gained a
sense of dignity and a reputation for honor that would ensure his place in the social memory of his community.
The Homeric hero lived by strict social and cultural norms that would guide his life at home and on the battlefield.
His position as a hero depended upon understanding his place in society and performing in accordance with
society's expectations. He accepted the pattern of a hero, which included a hero's suffering and a hero's death.
When the hero expressed himself in words, he believed that his thoughts were derived from either society or a god.
Nothing came from within. (In his soliloquies, the hero speaks to "his own great-hearted spirit" as though it were
another person helping him make the right decisions.)
Communal honor was vital to the Homeric hero's status; his whole world revolved around his relationship with his
family and city. If he lost the personal honor or glory that was accorded him by his community, he felt that life had
lost its meaning. Achilles, for example, feels that he has lost his honor when Agamemnon takes Briseis from him.
He feels a sense of rejection, and even Agamemnon's later offer of gifts in order to bring Achilles back to the
fighting is futile because Achilles realizes that he will lose even more honor if he accepts Agamemnon's gifts.
The hero's social responsibility was essential to maintain his status, but the only way to establish his status was
through his performance as a hero in combat on the battlefield. Furthermore, he had to show respect for and
respond to social situations and mores; he had to respect his superiors and show loyalty to his friends, and he could
in no way disgrace himself, his family, or his community. However, it was no disgrace to withdraw from an
impossible situation because it was all a warrior could do at times. Patroklos, however, forgets this principle, as
well as Achilles' warning not to drive the Trojans back to their city. Patroklos fails because he becomes irrational
and allows pride to overcome his reason.
The Homeric community depended upon their heroes to defend its social and religious rites and all other facets of
community life. Being a hero was a social responsibility that entitled a man to social status, and a warrior defined
and justified his social status only on the battlefield.
The hero in Homeric culture recognized the rightness of his community's anger. For example, when Agamemnon
strips Achilles of his war prize, Agamemnon places the responsibility for his actions on Zeus and Destiny. He says,
"It is the god who accomplishes all things" and he claims that "Delusion" entangled him. Similarly, when Achilles
ponders whether or not to draw his sword against Agamemnon, Athena grabs him by the hair and warns him
against fighting with Agamemnon. Clearly, Achilles does not assume responsibility either for his anger or for his
not killing Agamemnon. In fact, neither Achilles nor Agamemnon recognizes a personal responsibility for their
emotional and physical responses, even though both men are on the edge of violence. To the Homeric hero, an
outside force initiates action and thought — hence, personal responsibility is not an issue for a hero's decision to
follow the dictates of an outside force.
A hero always had two choices: He could follow an external force, or he could make his own personal decisions.
This idea derives from the concept that a man became a hero because he possessed certain qualities. Among those
qualities is heroic balance, which requires a hero to insist upon his greatness and maintain a proper modesty before
the gods. He had to know himself and be able to evaluate and act upon a situation. He also had to recognize the
time when the gods withdrew their help, and at that time the hero had to withdraw from battle. If he failed to
recognize how much his action was ruled by the gods, he lost his heroic balance and made a tragic error. If he
failed to follow the gods and made his own decisions, he had to live with the shame of his mistake, and when he
erred, he lost approval and honor.
The hero's fear of disgrace (aidos) governed his response to all social situations and to the judgements of others. If
he acted incorrectly, society would scorn him. Yet despite the threat of others' judgements, note the actions of both
Agamemnon and Achilles during the quarrel in Book I. Both men are at fault. Agamemnon breaks the bond of hero
and community by insulting Achilles and claiming Briseis in lieu of Chryseis. Likewise, Achilles' threat to kill
Agamemnon is a social act which, if carried out, would not only show disrespect for his superiors, but would force
his Achaian community of soldiers to leave Troy. The disorder that is created by this crisis demands a restoration of
order.

Heroes were constantly in fear of disgrace; they feared the judgement of their community. The hero did not
distinguish between personal morals and conformity to the morals of the greater society; he concerned himself
wholly with acceptance by the people, for if he failed to conform in any way, he risked the anger of his
community and, consequently, shame.
 11

Iliad - Homer  - Summary in Bangla 

ইলিয়াড - 

গ্রীক বীর একিলিসের ক্রোধের ঘটনার বর্ণনার মাধ্যমেই ইলিয়াড মহাকাব্যের সুচনা হয়েছে। বছর ধরে চলছে গ্রিক আর ট্রয়পক্ষে যুদ্ধ।

একাদশ বর্ষে গ্রিক শিবিরে চরম বিপর্যয় নেমে আসে গ্রিক বীর আগামেমনন ও একিলিসের মাঝে নারীঘটিত বিবাদের জের ধরে। দেবতা

আ্যাপোলোর পুরোহিত ক্রাইসেসের কন্যা ক্রাইসেইসকে বন্দী করে আনে গ্রিকরা। ক্রাইসেস কন্যাকে ফেরত চাইলে আগামেমনন তাকে অপমান

করেন। আর এ কারণে ক্রোধে ক্ষিপ্ত হয়ে অ্যাপোলো মহামারি রোগ ছড়িয়ে দেন গ্রিক শিবিরে। আগমেমনন শেষে তার বন্দিনীকে ফেরত দিতে

বাধ্য হন এবং একিলিসের ভাগের বন্দিনী ব্রিসেইসকে ছিনিয়ে নেন। এতেই শুরু হয় দুজনের দ্বন্দ্ব। একিলিস ক্রোধে ক্ষিপ্ত হয়ে যুদ্ধে যোগদানে

বিরত রইলেন। আর এ কারণে গ্রীক বাহিনী রীতিমতো পর্যুদন্ত হতে লাগল ট্রয় বাহিনীর হাতে। গ্রিক বীর ডায়োমিডাস অত্যন্ত সাহসিকতার

পরিচয় দিলেন যুদ্ধক্ষেত্রে। তিনি ট্রয়পক্ষ সহায়তাকারী দেবী আফ্রোদিতি ও যুদ্ধদেবতা আ্যারেসকে আহত করলেন।

ট্রয়বীর হেক্টর প্রচণ্ড গতিতে এগোতে লাগলেন গ্রিক শিবির লক্ষ্য করে। তার অন্যতম উদ্দেশ্য গ্রিকদের জাহাজগুলোতে আগুন ধরিয়ে দেয়া।

দুই পক্ষের ঘোরতর যুদ্ধে গ্রিক পক্ষে আগামেমনন, ডায়োমিডাস, অডিসিউস প্রমুখ এসব বীর আহত হয়ে শিবিরে অবস্থান করতে লাগলেন

আর এ সুযোগে ট্রয়বাহিনী এগিয়ে এল গ্রিক জাহাজের কাছে এবং গ্রীক জাহাজে উঠে পড়ল অনেকেই। এদিকে অলিম্পাস পর্বতের দেবতারা দুই

পক্ষে ভাগ হয়ে দু’দলকেই সমর্থন দিতে লাগলেন। দেবরাজ জিউস প্রথম দিকে ট্রয়পক্ষ অবলম্বন করলেও শেষে নিষ্ক্রিয় হয়ে যুদ্ধ অবলোকন

করতে লাগলেন। গ্রীকরা যখন ট্রয়বাহিনীর হাতে রীতিমতো পর্যুদস্ত তখন তারা বাধ্য হয়ে উপঢৌকনসহ চলে গেলেন একিলিসের জাহাজে

আগামেমননের অনুরোধ নিয়ে। একিলিস নিজে না এসে তাঁর বর্মটাসহ তার বন্ধু ও সহযোদ্ধা প্যাট্রোক্লাসকে পাঠালেন। যুদ্ধে প্যাট্রোক্লাস বহু ট্রয়

সেনা নিহত করে হেক্টরের হাতে নিজেও নিহত হলেন। প্যাট্রোক্লাসের শবদেহের দখল নিয়ে দুই পক্ষে লড়াই আরো তু ঙ্গে উঠল। একিলিস তার

সহকর্মীর মৃত্যুসংবাদে ক্ষিপ্ত হয়ে যুদ্ধে অবতীর্ণ হলেন। একিলিসের মূল উদ্দেশ্য হেক্টরকে খুঁজে বের করে তাকে হত্যা করা।

একিলিস যুদ্ধে অবতীর্ণ হয়ে তার সহযোদ্ধা প্রিয় প্যাট্রোক্লাসের শবদেহটা নিজের আয়ত্তে আনলেন ট্রয়বাহিনীর কবজা হতে। অতঃপর

জাকজমক সহকারে সম্মানের সাথে অন্ত্যেষ্টিক্রিয়া সম্পাদন করলেন। এবার একিলিস হেক্টরের মুখোমুখি হলেন। বহুদূর পর্যন্ত তাড়া করে

জ্যানথাস নদীর মোহনায় এসে পাকড়াও করলেন হেক্টরকে এবং হত্যা করলেন। হেক্টরের মৃতদেহটাকে রথের সাথে বেধে যুদ্ধক্ষেত্রের চারপাশে

ছু টে বেড়ালেন। ট্রয়বাসী শুধু অসহায়ের মতো এটা প্রত্যক্ষ করল। শেষে রাজা প্রায়াম এলেন একিলিসের শিবিরে। তিনি এসে একিলিসের কাছ
 12

থেকে তার পুত্রের শবদেহটা প্রার্থনা করলেন। একিলিস বৃদ্ধ রাজার হাতে অর্পণ করলেন তার প্রিয় পুত্রের শবদেহ। ট্রয়নগরীতে রাজা প্রায়াম

পৌছালে শোকের মাতম উঠল সর্বত্র। শেষে উপযুক্ত মর্যাদাসহকারে ট্রয়বাসীরা হেক্টরের অন্ত্যেক্টিক্রিয়া সম্পাদন করলেন। এখানেই সমাপ্তি

ঘটেছে ইলিয়াড মহাকাব্যের।

Agamemn

Aeschylus

Play Summary

A generation before the Trojan War, two brothers, Atreus and Thyestes, contended for the throne of
Argos. Thyestes seduced his brother's wife and was driven out of Argos by Atreus, who then
established himself as sole king. Eventually Thyestes returned and asked to be forgiven. Atreus
pretended to be reconciled with his brother but secretly planned to avenge the seduction of his wife
and at the same time to eliminate a rival for the crown by rendering Thyestes unclean in the eyes of
the citizens of Argos. Atreus murdered the two young sons of Thyestes, cut their bodies into
unrecognizable pieces, and had them served to their father at a banquet given in honor of his return.
Thyestes was horrified when he learned what he had dined on. He cursed Atreus and all his
descendants, and fled from Argos with his only remaining child, the infant Aegisthus.

When Atreus died, the throne of Argos was inherited by his son Agamemnon, who married
Clytaemestra, the daughter of the king of Sparta. They had three children — Iphigenia, Electra, and
Orestes. The other son of Atreus, Menelaus, married Helen, the sister of Clytaemestra, and in due
course became the king of Sparta when her father died.
Most of the Greek chieftains had been among the suitors of Helen, for she was renowned to be the
most beautiful woman in the world. They had made a pact to accept without protest her choice of a
husband and to come to his aid if anyone attempted to steal Helen from him. Sometime after Helen
and Menelaus were married, Paris, the son of the king of Troy, came to Sparta. He seduced Helen
and carried her back with him to Troy. Faithful to their oaths, the chieftains rallied with their armies
to the call of Menelaus. A great force was mobilized to capture Troy and restore Helen to her rightful
husband. Agamemnon, as leader of the largest contingent, was made commander.
 13

The expedition assembled at Aulis, on the eastern coast of Greece, but was unable to sail for Troy
because of adverse winds. Calchas, a soothsayer who accompanied the army, declared that the
goddess Artemis was responsible and could only be appeased by the sacrifice of Agamemnon's
daughter Iphigenia. Agamemnon was appalled by this command and refused to obey, but finally
gave in to the pressure put on him by the other chieftains. He induced Clytaemestra to send Iphigenia
to Aulis by claiming that the maiden was to be married to Achilles, the greatest of the Greek heroes.
When the young girl arrived at the camp, however, she was sacrificed to the goddess. After this the
wind changed. The army boarded its ships and set sail for Troy.
Meanwhile, Aegisthus returned to Argos in the absence of Agamemnon. He began to plot against his
cousin in the hope of regaining what he considered to be his rightful place on the throne, and of
avenging the treatment his father and brothers received at the hands of Atreus. Aegisthus discovered
that Clytaemestra had developed a bitter hatred for Agamemnon because of the sacrifice of her
daughter. Her enmity for her husband continued to increase as she received reports of his infidelity
with other women while on campaign at Troy. Before long, Aegisthus and Clytaemestra became
lovers. They shared the same hatred for Agamemnon and began to conspire together. They planned
to murder him when he came back to Argos.
The siege of Troy lasted ten years. Finally the city fell and was sacked by the Greek army, its
temples were destroyed, and the surviving inhabitants were sold into slavery. The first play of the
trilogy, Agamemnon, takes place in Argos shortly after the fall of Troy.
Agamemnon returns home with only one ship because his fleet was scattered by a storm at sea. He is
accompanied by his newest concubine, Cassandra, the daughter of the king of Troy. Aegisthus
remains in the background while Clytaemestra gives her husband an affectionate welcome and the
people of Argos applaud their victorious king. Later, Clytaemestra traps Agamemnon in his bath and
kills him with an axe. Cassandra is murdered also. Clytaemestra and Aegisthus announce the
murders to the people, overcome the opposition of the Elders, and set themselves up as the new
rulers of Argos.
The action of The Choephori, the second play, takes place a few years later. Orestes, the son of
Agamemnon, has been living in exile in the nearby kingdom of Phocis. In obedience to a command
given him by the god Apollo, Orestes returns to Argos to avenge his father. He seeks out his sister
Electra, then gains admittance to the palace by disguising himself and kills Clytaemestra and
Aegisthus. Orestes tries to justify the murder of his mother, but in the final scene of the play he is
afflicted with madness and flees in terror from the Furies, hideThe story of The Eumenides, the last
play, begins a few days later. Orestes seeks refuge in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. He is forced
to wander as an outcast for the next few years, with the Furies constantly tormenting him. Finally he
arrives at Athens and throws himself on the mercy of the goddess Athene. The Furies follow him
there and insist that Orestes must be punished for matricide. He claims that he acted according to
Apollo's dictate and is not responsible for the crime. Athene convenes a special court to hear the
case, but the jurors are unable to reach a verdict. Athene casts the deciding vote and Orestes is
acquitted. The Furies angrily threaten vengeance on Athens, but Athene clams them by the offer of a
position of honor in the cult of her city. They accept. The ancient Furies are transformed into
benevolent spirits. Their name is changed to the Eumenides, or "kindly ones," to symbolize their new
character.
The legends about the family of Atreus were among the most popular in the Greek mythological
heritage and many versions of them were known in the ancient world. Some elements of the story are
recounted in the Odyssey of Homer. Pindar and other poets made use of the legend also, and it
provided the plots for many tragedies in addition to the trilogy by Aeschylus, including Electra by
Sophocles, and Electra, Orestes, Iphigenia at Aulis, and Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides. A
complete account of the legend, with reference to all its sources and variant versions, will be found
in Volume II of The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, available in paperback edition, or in any other
good handbook of classical mythology.
 14

Character List
Clytaemestra Clytaemestra is the only character to appear in all three plays of the trilogy. She
dominates the action of Agamemnon but has smaller roles in the other two plays. Many critics
consider Clytaemestra the most impressive and fascinating woman in Greek tragedy. Her most
important characteristic, as pointed out by the watchman in Agamemnon, is her "male strength of
heart." She is proud, efficient, shrewd, and strong, and all these traits come into play when,
practically unaided and without arousing suspicion, she plans and carries out a plot to commit
murder. Indeed, Clytaemestra is so confident and so superior to those around her, including
Agamemnon, that she often alludes to her plans more or less openly without fear of being detected.
Clytaemestra is by far the strongest character in the play. This is most clearly demonstrated when, at
various points, she forces Agamemnon, Aegisthus, and the Elders of Argos to bend to her will.

Although the trilogy covers a period of several years, Aeschylus does not show any changes in
Clytaemestra's personality. This may be because any sign of weakness or remorse on her part would
have lessened sympathy for Orestes in the last two plays, but it should also be remembered that
Aeschylus' main interest as a tragedian was to dramatize conflicts between opposing forces or
individuals, and not to examine the inner development of particular characters.
Orestes Orestes is the central figure of the trilogy. He is the main character of the second and third
plays, and, though he does not appear in Agamemnon, he is mentioned frequently and his return
home is predicted.
Orestes' most important characteristic is his belief in the justice of his cause and his determination to
carry out the command of Apollo despite the moral and emotional qualms he occasionally feels.
After the slaying of Clytaemestra, Orestes is embittered and on the verge of madness, but he never
doubts that he has done the right thing. Even years of torment by the Furies in The Eumenides do not
weaken this belief. Thus, though his dilemma is real and frightening, Orestes is a one-dimensional
character who cannot arouse real empathy. That Aeschylus intended this is shown in The
Eumenides, where Orestes is turned into a human symbol in the great moral conflict that is fought
out on stage between Apollo, as representative of Zeus, and the Furies, as representative of the
primitive, pre-Olympian religion. Orestes drops out of the action before the final scene of the play.
He is completely forgotten while the conflict is resolved by Athene, and the remaining segment of
the play concentrates on glorification of the Athenian way of life.

Electra Electra does not have anything near the importance given her by Sophocles and Euripides in
their plays based on the same legend. Aeschylus uses her mainly to provide information for Orestes
and to help strengthen his resolution by her presence. She has no real part in the plot to kill
Clytaemestra and Aegisthus, and disappears early in The Choephori, the only play of the trilogy in
which she appears.
Agamemnon Agamemnon is a powerful king, a great conqueror and leader of men, but as
characterized by Aeschylus he has certain crucial weaknesses that lead to his downfall. Agamemnon
is complacent, egotistical, and shallow. In his dramatic confrontation with Clytaemestra,
Agamemnon blusters a bit and echoes some conventional religious sentiments, but he is easily
trapped by her wily use of his own defects as weapons against him. Clytaemestra murders
Agamemnon to avenge Iphigenia but would not have succeeded if his other sins — the desecration of
the Trojan temples and his sacrilegious insolence in walking on the tapestry — had not aroused the
wrath of the gods against him.
 15

Aegisthus Aegisthus appears briefly in Agamemnon and The Choephori. Through an old enemy of

Agamemnon and an accomplice in his murder, Aegisthus seems at base to be an ordinary man with
no special attributes. He has common sense and some political ability but is no match for
Clytaemestra, the woman whom he aids and eventually marries. In The Choephori, it is clear that
Clytaemestra is the real ruler of Argos, though she pays Aegisthus some deference for the sake of
appearances since he is a man and therefore officially the king.
Apollo God of the sun and prophecy. He appears as the defender of Orestes in The Eumenides.
Athene Goddess of wisdom and patroness of Athens. In The Eumenides, she establishes the new
court, casts the deciding vote at the trial of Orestes, and afterward placates the Furies.
Cassandra The prophetess daughter of the king of Troy, she is the concubine of Agamemnon
in Agamemnon.
Cilissa The former nurse of Orestes in The Choephori.
A Herald Announces the return of the army in Agamemnon.
Hermes The messenger god and patron of travelers, a mute character in The Eumenides.
A Priestess At the temple of Apollo in Delphi, she speaks the prologue of The Eumenides.
Pylades The companion of Orestes in The Choephori.
A Watchman Speaks the prologue of Agamemnon.
The Elders of Argos The chorus in Agamemnon.
Captive Serving Women The chorus in The Choephori.
The Furies The chorus in The Eumenides.

Character and Summary in Bangla

১। আগামেমননঃ (Agamemnon) গ্রীক বাহিনীর প্রধান ও মেনেলাউস(Menelaus) এর ভাই।   

২। ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রাঃ (Clytemnestra) রাজা আগামেমননের স্ত্রী ও তাঁর অনুপস্থিতিতে রাজ্য শাষন করেছে।

৩। কাসান্দ্রাঃ (Cassandra) রাজা প্রায়ামের কন্যা। ট্রয় এর পতনের পরে রাজা আগামেমনন তাকে সাথে করে নিয়ে আসে।  

৪। কোরাসঃ (Chorus)আরগোসের বৃদ্ধরাই এই নাটকে কোরাসের ভূ মিকা পালন করে। তারা ছিল খুবই দূর্বল তাই তারা যুদ্ধে যায়নি বরং

রানী ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রাকে সাহায্য করত।  

৫। প্রহরীঃ তাকে প্রাসাদের ছাদে বসে থাকার দায়িত্ব দেয়া হয়েছিল। তাঁর কাজ ছিল সতর্ক নজর রাখা, কখন ট্রয়ের পতনের পর দূরে আলোর

সঙ্কেত দেখা যাবে।

৬। সংবাদ বাহকঃ সে কোরাসদেরকে আগামেমননের নিরাপদে বাড়িতে ফিরে আসার সংবাদ শোনায়। সে তাদেরকে যুদ্ধের ভয়ংকর

কাহিনিগুলো শোনায়।   

৭। এজিসথাসঃ (Aegisthus) রাজা আগামেমননের চাচাতো ভাই ও রানী ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রার প্রেমিক। আগামেমননের পিতা এজিসথাসের ভাইকে

হত্যা করে কেটে রান্না করে এজিসথাসের পিতা থাইয়েসটিসকে(Thyestes) খাইয়েছিল।

মূল ঘটনাঃ
 16

আগামেমন নাটকটির শুরুতে আরগোসের প্রাসাদের ছাদে প্রহরীকে পাহারারত অবস্থায় দেখা যায়। কখন ট্রয় নগরী গ্রীকদের হাতে পরাস্ত হবে

তাঁর সঙ্কেত পাওয়ার জন্যে সে অধীরভাবে অপেক্ষা করছিল। বহূ দূরে একটি আলোক সঙ্কেত এর ঝলকানি দেখা গেলো। সেটি দেখে সে

আনন্দে লাফিয়ে উঠল আর রানী ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রার কাছে এই খবর দেয়ার জন্যে দৌড়ালো। আরগোসের বৃদ্ধরা এই নাটকে কোরাস এর ভূ মিকা

পালন করে। সে যখন দৌড়ে যাচ্ছিল সে সময় কোরাস এর বৃদ্ধ লোকেরা আরগোসের প্রাসাদে একত্রিত হয়েছিল আর সেই সকল পুরোনো ঘটনা

অর্থাৎ রাজা মেনেলাউসের স্ত্রী হেলেনকে কিভাবে প্যারিস চু রি করে নিয়ে যায় এবং কিভাবে গ্রীকরা দশ বছর তাদের সাথে যুদ্ধ করেছে ইত্যাদি

নিয়ে আলোচনা করছিল। কোরাসরা সে সময় রাজা আগামেমননের সেই ন্যাক্কারজনক ঘটনাও স্মরন করেন অর্থাৎ আগামেমনন যাত্রাপথে

যাতে সাগরে অনুকূল বায়ু লাভ করে সে জন্যে তাদের দেবতা আর্টে মিস এর জন্যে তাঁর কন্যা ইফিজিনিয়াকে উৎসর্গ করার জন্যে হত্যা করে।

এ সময় রানী ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রা ধন্যবাদসূচক উৎসর্গ করে। কোরাস তাঁর কাছে জানতে চায় তাঁর উৎসর্গের কারন। তখন সে জানায় এক

আলোক সঙ্কেতের ঝলকানীর মাধ্যমে সে জানতে পেরেছে গত রাতে ট্রয় নগরীর পতন ঘটেছে। বৃদ্ধরা শুনে খুশি হয় কিন্তু তাঁর কথা

পরিপূর্নভাবে বিশ্বাস করতে পারে না। সংবাদ বাহক সেখানে এসে পৌছায় এবং এই খবরের সত্যতা প্রকাশ করে। তাদেরকে আরো বলে

সেখানে তাদেরকে অনেক কষ্ট করতে হয়েছে কিন্তু তারা বিজয়ী হয়েছে। রানী ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রা তাকে রাজা আগামেমননের বহরের দিকে যেতে

বললেন এবং তাকে খবর দিতে বললেন, রাজা আগামেমনন যেনো তাড়াতাড়ি ফিরে আসে। সে চলে যাওয়ার আগে বৃদ্ধরা রাজা

আগামেমননের ভাই মেনেলাউসের খবর জানতে চায়। সে তাদের বলে রাজা মেনেলাউসের বহর দেখা যায় নি কারন পথিমধ্যে একটা ভয়ঙ্কর

সমূদ্র ঝড় ওঠে সে সময় অনেকেরই জাহাজ দিক বিদিক ছু টে যায়। ঝড়ের পরে মেনেলাউস সহ অনেককেই খুজে পাওয়া যাচ্ছে না।  

এবার কোরাসেরা হেলেনের সৌন্দর্যের ভয়ঙ্করত্ব নিয়ে গান গাইলো। অবশেষে আগামেমনন ফিরে এলো। রাজা প্রায়ামের (Priam) কন্যা

কাসান্দ্রাকে নিয়েই রাজা আগামেমনন ফিরে আসে এবং রথ থেকে অবতরণ করে। কাসান্দ্রাকে সে দাসী হিসেবে গ্রহন করেছে। রানী

ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রা তাদেরকে অভ্যর্থনা জানায় ও রাজাকে বলে তাঁর ভালোবাসা আগের মতই অটু ট আছে। রাজার প্রাসাদে প্রবেশের জন্যে একটি

বেগুনী কার্পেট বিছিয়ে দেয়। রাজা তাঁর প্রতি খুব ঠান্ডা আচরণ করে আর বলে এই কার্পেট দিয়ে হাটা তাঁর জন্যে এক প্রকারের অহংকার। সে

রাজাকে এটা দিয়ে হেটে প্রাসাদে প্রবেশের জন্যে ক্রমাগত জোরাজুরি করতে থাকে। যাই হোক অবশেষে রাজা আগামেমনন প্রাসাদে প্রবেশ

করলেন।

এ সময় কোরাসের বৃদ্ধরা এক প্রকার অমঙ্গলের পূর্ব লক্ষণ অনুধাবন করলেন। ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রা বেরিয়ে আসে যাতে কাসান্দ্রা ভিতরে যেতে

পারে। ট্রয়ের এই রাজকন্যা এ সময় একেবারে চু প মেরে যায় আর রানী ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রা তাকে এই রকম নৈরাস্যজনক অবস্থায় ফেলে যায়। এ

সময় কাসান্ড্রা কথা বলতে শুরু করে আর সে কিছু অসংলগ্ন ভবিষ্যৎবানী করে। সে আগামেমননের বাড়ির উপর অভিশাপ রয়েছে বলে

মন্তব্য করে। সে কোরাসদের বলে তাদের রাজা খুব শিঘ্রই মারা যাবে এবং এরপর সেও মারা যাবে। এরপর আরো ভবিষ্যৎবানী করে সামনে
 17

একজন প্রতিশোধ গ্রহনকারী আসবে। তাঁর কথা কেউ বিশ্বাস করে না। সে এ সময় ভাগ্যের কাছে নিজেকে সপে দেয় এবং ঘরে প্রবেশ করে।

এক সময় কোরাসদের ভয় বেড়ে যায়। পরের দৃশ্যে আগামেমননের ব্যাথায় চিৎকার শোনা যায়। কোরাসের দল এ সময় কি করবে তা নিয়ে

এক প্রকার দ্বন্দে পড়ে যায়। রানী ক্লাইটেমনেস্ট্রা দরজা খোলে। তাকে তাঁর স্বামীর মৃতদেহ ও কাসান্দ্রার মাঝে দাঁড়িয়ে থাকতে দেখা যায়। সে

তাদের বলে সে তাঁর কন্যা ইফিজিনিয়াকে হত্যার প্রতিশোধ নিয়েছে। এরপর সে তাঁর প্রেমিক আগামেমননের চাচাতো ভাই এজিসথাস এর

সাথে যোগ দেয়। তারা দুজনে রাজ্যভার গ্রহন করে। কোরাসের বৃদ্ধরা বলাবলি করে আগামেমননের ছেলে অরেস্টিস তাঁর পিতার হত্যার

প্রতিশোধ নিতে আসবে।  

Critical Essay Aristotle on Tragedy

In the Poetics, Aristotle's famous study of Greek dramatic art, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) compares
tragedy to such other metrical forms as comedy and epic. He determines that tragedy, like all poetry,
is a kind of imitation (mimesis), but adds that it has a serious purpose and uses direct action rather
than narrative to achieve its ends. He says that poetic mimesis is imitation of things as they could be,
not as they are — for example, of universals and ideals — thus poetry is a more philosophical and
exalted medium than history, which merely records what has actually happened.

The aim of tragedy, Aristotle writes, is to bring about a "catharsis" of the spectators — to arouse in
them sensations of pity and fear, and to purge them of these emotions so that they leave the theater
feeling cleansed and uplifted, with a heightened understanding of the ways of gods and men. This
catharsis is brought about by witnessing some disastrous and moving change in the fortunes of the
drama's protagonist (Aristotle recognized that the change might not be disastrous, but felt this was
the kind shown in the best tragedies — Oedipus at Colonus, for example, was considered a tragedy
by the Greeks but does not have an unhappy ending).
According to Aristotle, tragedy has six main elements: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle
(scenic effect), and song (music), of which the first two are primary. Most of the Poetics is devoted
to analysis of the scope and proper use of these elements, with illustrative examples selected from
many tragic dramas, especially those of Sophocles, although Aeschylus, Euripides, and some
playwrights whose works no longer survive are also cited.
Several of Aristotle's main points are of great value for an understanding of Greek tragic drama.
Particularly significant is his statement that the plot is the most important element of tragedy:

Tragedy is an imitation, not of men, but of action and life, of happiness and misery. And life consists
of action, and its end is a mode of activity, not a quality. Now character determines men's qualities,
but it is their action that makes them happy or wretched. The purpose of action in the tragedy,
therefore, is not the representation of character: character comes in as contributing to the action.
Hence the incidents and the plot are the end of the tragedy; and the end is the chief thing of all.
Without action there cannot be a tragedy; there may be one without character. . . . The plot, then, is
the first principle, and, as it were, the soul of a tragedy: character holds the second place.
 18

Aristotle goes on to discuss the structure of the ideal tragic plot and spends several chapters on its
requirements. He says that the plot must be a complete whole — with a definite beginning, middle,
and end — and its length should be such that the spectators can comprehend without difficulty both
its separate parts and its overall unity. Moreover, the plot requires a single central theme in which all
the elements are logically related to demonstrate the change in the protagonist's fortunes, with
emphasis on the dramatic causation and probability of the events.
Aristotle has relatively less to say about the tragic hero because the incidents of tragedy are often
beyond the hero's control or not closely related to his personality. The plot is intended to illustrate
matters of cosmic rather than individual significance, and the protagonist is viewed primarily as the
character who experiences the changes that take place. This stress placed by the Greek tragedians on
the development of plot and action at the expense of character, and their general lack of interest in
exploring psychological motivation, is one of the major differences between ancient and modern
drama.
Since the aim of a tragedy is to arouse pity and fear through an alteration in the status of the central
character, he must be a figure with whom the audience can identify and whose fate can trigger these
emotions. Aristotle says that "pity is aroused by unmerited misfortune, fear by the misfortune of a
man like ourselves." He surveys various possible types of characters on the basis of these premises,
then defines the ideal protagonist as

. . . a man who is highly renowned and prosperous, but one who is not pre-eminently virtuous and
just, whose misfortune, however, is brought upon him not by vice or depravity but by some error of
judgment or frailty; a personage like Oedipus.

In addition, the hero should not offend the moral sensibilities of the spectators, and as a character he
must be true to type, true to life, and consistent.
The hero's error or frailty (harmartia) is often misleadingly explained as his "tragic flaw," in the
sense of that personal quality which inevitably causes his downfall or subjects him to retribution.
However, overemphasis on a search for the decisive flaw in the protagonist as the key factor for
understanding the tragedy can lead to superficial or false interpretations. It gives more attention to
personality than the dramatists intended and ignores the broader philosophical implications of the
typical plot's denouement. It is true that the hero frequently takes a step that initiates the events of the
tragedy and, owing to his own ignorance or poor judgment, acts in such a way as to bring about his
own downfall. In a more sophisticated philosophical sense though, the hero's fate, despite its
immediate cause in his finite act, comes about because of the nature of the cosmic moral order and
the role played by chance or destiny in human affairs. Unless the conclusions of most tragedies are
interpreted on this level, the reader is forced to credit the Greeks with the most primitive of moral
systems.
It is worth noting that some scholars believe the "flaw" was intended by Aristotle as a necessary
corollary of his requirement that the hero should not be a completely admirable
man. Harmartia would thus be the factor that delimits the protagonist's imperfection and keeps him
on a human plane, making it possible for the audience to sympathize with him. This view tends to
give the "flaw" an ethical definition but relates it only to the spectators' reactions to the hero and does
not increase its importance for interpreting the tragedies.
The remainder of the Poetics is given over to examination of the other elements of tragedy and to
discussion of various techniques, devices, and stylistic principles. Aristotle mentions two features of
the plot, both of which are related to the concept of harmartia, as crucial components of any well-
made tragedy. These are "reversal" (peripeteia), where the opposite of what was planned or hoped
for by the protagonist takes place, as when Oedipus' investigation of the murder of Laius leads to a
catastrophic and unexpected conclusion; and "recognition" (anagnorisis), the point when the
protagonist recognizes the truth of a situation, discovers another character's identity, or comes to a
 19

realization about himself. This sudden acquisition of knowledge or insight by the hero arouses the
desired intense emotional reaction in the spectators, as when Oedipus finds out his true parentage and
realizes what crimes he has been responsible for.
Aristotle wrote the Poetics nearly a century after the greatest Greek tragedians had already died, in a
period when there had been radical transformations in nearly all aspects of Athenian society and
culture. The tragic drama of his day was not the same as that of the fifth century, and to a certain
extent his work must be construed as a historical study of a genre that no longer existed rather than
as a description of a living art form.
In the Poetics, Aristotle used the same analytical methods that he had successfully applied in studies
of politics, ethics, and the natural sciences in order to determine tragedy's fundamental principles of
composition and content. This approach is not completely suited to a literary study and is sometimes
too artificial or formula-prone in its conclusions.
Nonetheless, the Poetics is the only critical study of Greek drama to have been made by a near-
contemporary. It contains much valuable information about the origins, methods, and purposes of
tragedy, and to a degree shows us how the Greeks themselves reacted to their theater. In addition,
Aristotle's work had an overwhelming influence on the development of drama long after it was
compiled. The ideas and principles of the Poetics are reflected in the drama of the Roman Empire
and dominated the composition of tragedy in western Europe during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and
nineteenth centuries.

Medea
Euripides .
Summary

Greek audiences would have known the story of the ill-fated marriage between Jason, hero of the
Golden Fleece, and Medea, barbarian witch and princess of Colchis. The modern reader, to fully
understand the events of Medea, needs to be familiar with the legends and myths on which the play
is based.
Medea was of a people at the far edge of the Black Sea; for the Greeks of Euripides' time, this was
the edge of the known world. She was a powerful sorceress, princess of Colchis, and a granddaughter
of the sun god Helias. Jason, a great Greek hero and captain of the Argonauts, led his crew to Colchis
in search of the Golden Fleece. King Aeetes, lord of Colchis and Medea's father, kept the Fleece
under guard. A sorcerer himself, he was a formidable opponent. This legend takes place quite early
in the chronology of Greek myth. The story is set after the ascent of Zeus, King of the gods, but is
still near the beginning of his reign; Helias, the ancient sun god before Apollo's coming, is Medea's
grandfather. Jason's voyage with the Argonauts predates the Trojan War, and represents the first
naval assault by the Greeks against an Eastern people.
The traps set by Aeetes made the Golden Fleece all but impossible to obtain. By Medea's aid, Jason
overcame these obstacles, and Medea herself killed the giant serpent that guarded the Fleece. Then,
to buy time during their escape, Medea killed her own brother and tossed the pieces of his corpse
behind the Argo as they sailed for Greece. Her father, grief-stricken by his son's death and his
daughter's treachery, had to slow his pursuit of the Argo so he could collect the pieces of his son's
body for burial.
Medea and Jason returned to his hereditary kingdom of Iolcus. Jason's father had died, and his uncle
Pelias sat, without right, on the throne. Medea, to help Jason, convinced Pelias' daughters that she
knew a way to restore the old king's youth. He would have to be killed, cut into pieces, and then put
 20

together and restored to youth by Medea's magic. The unwitting daughters did as Medea asked, but
the sorceress then explained that she couldn't really bring Pelias back to life. Rather than win Jason
his throne, this move forced Jason, Medea, and their children into exile. Finally, they settled in
Corinth, where Jason eventually took a new bride.
The action of the play begins here, soon after Medea learns of Jason's treachery.
A Nurse enters, speaking of the sorrows facing Medea's family. She is joined by the Tutor and the
children; they discuss Jason's betrayal of Medea. The Nurse fears for everyone's safety: she knows
the violence of Medea's heart. The Tutor brings the children back into the house. The Chorus of
Corinthian women enters, full of sympathy for Medea. They ask the Nurse to bring Medea out so
that they might comfort her; the unfortunate woman's cries can be heard even outside the house. The
Nurse complies. Medea emerges from her home, bewailing the harshness with which Fate handles
women. She announces her intention to seek revenge. She asks the Chorus, as follow women, to aid
her by keeping silent. The Chorus vows.
Creon (not to be confused with the Creon of Sophocles' Theban cycle), king of Corinth and Jason's
new father-in-law, enters and tells Medea that she is banished. She and her children must leave
Corinth immediately. Medea begs for mercy, and she is granted a reprieve of one day. The old king
leaves, and Medea tells the Chorus that one day is all she needs to get her revenge.
Jason enters, condescending and smug. He scolds Medea for her loose tongue, telling her that her
exile is her own fault. Husband and wife bicker bitterly, Medea accusing Jason of cowardice,
reminding him of all that she has done for him, and condemning him for his faithlessness. Jason
rationalizes all of his actions, with neatly enumerated arguments. Although he seems to have
convinced himself, to most audience members Jason comes off as smug and spineless. He offers
Medea money and aid in her exile, but she proudly refuses. Jason exits.
Aegeus, king of Athens and old friend of Medea's, enters. Aegeus is childless. Medea tells him of her
problems, and asks for safe haven in Athens. She offers to help him to have a child; she has thorough
knowledge of drugs and medicines. Aegeus eagerly agrees. If Medea can reach Athens, he will
protect her. Medea makes the old king vow by all the gods.
With her security certain, Medea tells the Chorus of her plans. She will kill Jason's new bride and
father-in-law by the aid of poisoned gifts. To make her revenge complete, she will kill her children to
wound Jason and to protect them from counter-revenge by Creon's allies and friends. Many scholars
now believe that the murder of Medea's children was Euripides' addition to the myth; in older
versions, the children were killed by Creon's friends in revenge for the death of the king and
princess. The Chorus begs Medea to reconsider these plans, but Medea insists that her revenge must
be complete.
Jason enters again, and Medea adapts a conciliatory tone. She begs him to allow the children to stay
in Corinth. She also has the children bring gifts to the Corinthian princess. Jason is pleased by this
change of heart.
The Tutor soon returns with the children, telling Medea that the gifts have been received. Medea then
waits anxiously for news from the palace. She speaks lovingly to her children, in a scene that is both
moving and chilling, even as she steels herself so that she can kill them. She has a moment of
hesitation, but she overcomes it. There is no room for compromise.
A messenger comes bringing the awaited news. The poisoned dress and diadem have worked: the
princess is dead. When Creon saw his daughter's corpse, he embraced her body. The poison then
worked against him. The deaths were brutal and terrifying. Both daughter and father died in
excruciating pain, and the bodies were barely recognizable.
Medea now prepares to kill her children. She rushes into the house with a shriek. We hear the
children's screams from inside the house; the Chorus considers interfering, but in the end does
nothing.
Jason re-enters with soldiers. He fears for the children's safety, because he knows Creon's friends
will seek revenge; he has come to take the children under guard. The Chorus sorrowfully informs
 21

Jason that his children are dead. Jason now orders his guards to break the doors down, so that he can
take his revenge against his wife for these atrocities.
Medea appears above the palace, in a chariot drawn by dragons. She has the children's corpses with
her. She mocks Jason pitilessly, foretelling an embarrassing death for him; she also refuses to give
him the bodies. Jason bickers with his wife one last time, each blaming the other for what has
happened. There is nothing Jason can do; with the aid of her chariot, Medea will escape to Athens.
The Chorus closes the play, musing on the terrible unpredictability of fate.

Themes
Passion and Rage
Medea is a woman of extreme behavior and extreme emotion. For her passionate love for Jason, she
sacrificed all, committing unspeakable acts on his behalf. But his betrayal of her has transformed
passion into rage. Her violent and intemperate heart, formerly devoted to Jason, now is set on his
destruction. The Greeks were very interested in the extremes of emotion and the consequences of
leaving emotion unchecked; they also tended to see strong passion and rage as part and parcel of
greatness. Medea is an example of passion carried too far, in a woman perversely set on choosing
rage over mercy and reason.

Revenge
The seductive appeal of revenge is part of the play's enduring popularity. Medea is willing to
sacrifice everything to make her revenge perfect. She murders her own children, paradoxically, to
protect them from the counter-revenge of her enemies; she also kills them to hurt Jason, although in
slaying them she is dooming herself to a life of remorse and grief. But part of Medea's appeal is its
power as a revenge fantasy; just like Medea, all have at one time or another been beset by enemies
whose power is institutionally protected and unfair. And like Medea, we have fantasized about the
satisfaction of a perfect revenge. Like the Chorus, we watch Medea with a mixture of horror and
excitement.

Greatness and pride

The Greeks were fascinated by the thin line between greatness and hubris. Throughout their
literature, there is a sense that the same traits that make a man or woman great can lead to their
destruction. Euripides plays with the idea of greatness here, often to surprising effects. Medea has
some of the makings of a great hero, but Euripides distorts and dislocates these traits, twisting some
of the conventions of his art. Her greatness of intellect and self-absorption are beyond doubt, but the
reduced field for these talents makes her into a monster.
Pride, closely connected to greatness, is likewise distorted. While many tragedies give us a kind of
clean satisfaction in the tragic, any satisfaction gained from watching Medea takes perverse form.
Medea's pride drives her to unnecessarily brutal action. There is a tremendous sense of waste. She
fully exacts her revenge, and then takes the brutality a step further, beyond the bounds of myth, by
 22

slaying her own children (Euripides' addition to the story). Hers is the damaged and distorted pride of
a woman, condescended to for her sex and her barbarian origin, who is nonetheless superior to
everyone around her. After all she has suffered, in some ways Medea is most infuriated when she is
ridiculed by fools.

The position of women

Euripides was fascinated by women and the contradictions of the Greek sex-gender system; his
treatment of gender is the most sophisticated one to be found in the works of any ancient Greek
writer. Medea's opening speech to the Chorus is Classical Greek literature's most eloquent statement
about the injustices that befall women. He also recognizes that the position of women, and their
subordination to men, is inextricable from the very core of social order in Greece. Greek society
functions thanks to injustice. Athens, a city that prided itself as a place more free than the
neighboring dictatorships, was nonetheless a city that depended on slave labor and the oppression of
women. (The typical apology offered by admirers of Athens is that all ancient societies were sexist
and dependent on slave labor; this generality is untrue. Many societies were more generous in their
treatment of women than the Greeks were; and many societies functioned, even in the ancient world,
without slave labor.) Euripides was aware of these hypocrisies, and he often pointed out the ways
that Greek society attempted to efface or excuse the injustices it perpetrated.
At the same time, Medea is not exactly a feminist role model. Euripides shows the difficulties that
befall women, but he does not give us tinny virgin heroines. He gives us real women, who have
suffered and become twisted by their suffering. What we see is not a story of female liberation, but a
war between the sexes in which all emerge scarred.

The Other
The Other is a key theme. Medea's foreignness is emphasized from the start: the Nurse, from the very
opening lines, reminds us that Medea comes from a distant and exotic land. Several points should be
born in mind when reflecting on this aspect of the play. Remember that the Other is a complex and
multifaceted concept: it comprises the foreign, the exotic, the unknown, the feared. The Other is also
essential for self-definition: as the Greeks ascribe certain traits to barbarians, they are implying
certain things about themselves. Barbarians are savage; we Greeks are not. Barbarians are
superstitious; we Greeks are rational. But throughout the course of the play, Euripides destabilizes
these easy binaries. He will show, as he does in other plays, that the Other is not exclusively
something external to Greece. The ideas Greeks have about themselves are often false. There is
much, for the Greeks and for us, that we do not know about ourselves.

Exile
Modern audiences have difficulty conceiving of how horrible exile was for the ancient Greeks. A
person's city-state was home and protector; to wander, without friends or shelter, was considered a
fate as horrible as death. Medea, for the sake of her husband, has made herself an exile. She is far
from home, without family or friends to protect her. In her overzealous advocacy of her husband's
interest, she has also made their family exiles in Corinth. Because of her actions in Iolcus, Jason
cannot return home. Their position is vulnerable. Jason, hero of the Golden Fleece (although
Euripides emphasizes that Medea was the true agent behind the success of the quest) is now a
wanderer. His marriage is shrewd and calculating: he takes a bride of Corinth's royal family. He is
 23

faithless, but he has a point when he argues to Medea that something needed to be done to provide
their family with security.
Euripides links the themes of exile and the position of women. When emphasizing the circumstances
women must bear after marriage (leaving home, living among strangers), Medea is reminding us of
the conditions of exile. Her position, then, is doubly grave, as she is an exile in the ordinary sense
and also an exile in the sense that all women are exiles. She is also a foreigner, and so to the Greeks
she will always be "barbarian."

Cleverness
Euripides emphasizes Medea's cunning and cleverness. These traits, which should be admired, also
cause suffering for Medea. This theme is linked to the theme of pride and the theme of woman's
position. Medea tells Creon that it is better to be born stupid, for men despise the clever. Part of her
difficulty is that she has no real outlet for her gifts. Eleanor Wilner calls Medea "a Machiavel
without a country to rule" (4). Her force, her intellect, and her strength of will all exceed her station.
The Greeks, though they have some respect for her, often treat her smugly because of her sex and her
barbarian origins. She is surrounded by people less intelligent and resourceful than she, but social
power and respect is theirs. Remember that Aristotle considered the "unscrupulously clever" woman
so distasteful as to be a subject unfit for drama; his statement reflects typically Greek attitudes.
Medea is despised for talents that should win her praise; she is also terrifyingly free. Because she is
an outsider to normal order, she behaves without restraint or morality. Her genius, denied an empire
to build, will instead be used on the smaller playing field of personal revenge.

Manipulation
Manipulation is an important theme. Medea, Jason, and Creon all try their hand at manipulation.
Jason used Medea in the past; he now manipulates the royal family of Corinth to secure his own
ends. Creon has made a profitable match between his daughter and Jason, hoping to benefit from
Jason's fame as the hero of the Golden Fleece. But Medea is the master of manipulation. Medea
plays perfectly on the weaknesses and needs of both her enemies and her friends. Medea plays to
Creon's pity, and to the old king's costly underestimation of the sorceress. With Aegeus, she uses her
skills as a bargaining chip and takes advantage of the king's soft-heartedness to win a binding oath
from him. Against Jason, she uses his own shallowness, his unmerited pride, and his desire for
dominance. She plays the fawning and submissive woman, to her husband's delight and gratification.
Jason buys the act, demonstrating his lack of astuteness and his willingness to be duped by his own
fantasies.

Character List
Medea
Princess of Colchis. Wife of Jason. Barbarian, sorceress, woman of passion and rage. Clever,
powerful, and ruthless, Medea enabled Jason to complete his quest for the Golden Fleece. For his
 24

sake, she murdered her own brother; because of this act, she can never return home. Now, in Corinth,
she has been betrayed by Jason, and she refuses to suffer in silence. She is fiercely proud, unwilling
to allow her enemies to have any kind of victory; she murders her own children in part because she
cannot bear the thought of seeing them hurt by an enemy. She is also a cunning and cold
manipulator: she sees through the false pieties and hypocritical values of her enemies, and uses their
own moral bankruptcy against them. Her revenge is total, but it comes at the cost of everything she
holds dear.

Jason
Son of Aeson. Hero of the Golden Fleece. Leader of the Argonauts, Jason met Medea during his
quest for the Golden Fleece. Although he has received credit for retrieving the treasure, Medea is the
one who killed the monster guarding the Fleece. She also saved Jason's life during the escape. Jason
married her, and fathered two children by her; however, due to her overly ardent actions on Jason's
behalf, Jason and his family were exiled from his native kingdom of Iolcus. Here in Corinth, Jason
has gone behind Medea's back and taken another bride. He is depicted as an opportunistic and
unscrupulous man, full of self-deception and repugnant smugness. He condescends to his wife,
although she is in every way superior to him.

Creon
King of Corinth. New father-in-law to Jason. Not to be confused with Creon of Sophocles' Theban
plays. Creon exiles Medea, fearing that the dangerous witch will seek vengeance against his family.
Medea takes advantage of Creon's underestimation of her: she begs for one day to make preparations,
and the king grants it. This day is enough fro Medea to destroy Creon and his daughter.

Aegeus
King of Athens. Friend of Medea. Kindly and trusting ruler. He runs into Medea by chance, on his
way back from the great oracle of Apollo. Aegeus remains childless, and Medea promises to help
him. Not aware of her plans, Aegeus vows to grant her safe haven in Athens, providing Medea with
the means to ensure her own survival.

Nurse
Servant to Medea and Medea's children. Her worries for the children foreshadow the children's
deaths. She is loyal to Medea and disapproves of Jason's decisions. Along with the tutor, she is an
outside commentator on the events of the play. As a slave, she is a canny but powerless observer.

Tutor
Tutor to Medea's children. The Tutor is another slave of Medea's household. Along with the Nurse,
he comments on the behavior of his masters, although he has a different perspective on events.

Messenger
He brings the news of the deaths of Creon and the Corinthian princess.
 25

Chorus of Corinthian Women

The women of Corinth. Medea enlists their loyalty, extracting a vow of silence. They watch the
horrific events unfold, but do not interfere. Though they condemn Medea at times, on the whole they
seem to be more enthralled than disgusted by her. Like Medea, they are subject to the injustices that
befall women; there is a part of them that seems to live vicariously through Medea's terrible revenge.

Summary in Bangla
ইউরিপেডিজের মেডিয়া দ্বন্দ্বের অবস্থায় খোলে। জেসন তার স্ত্রী, মেডিয়া এবং তাদের দুই সন্তানকে ত্যাগ করেছেন। তিনি গ্রীক নগরীর
করিন্থের রাজা ক্রিওনের কন্যা গ্লাউসের সাথে পুনরায় বিয়ে করে তাঁর স্টেশনটি এগিয়ে নেওয়ার আশা করছেন advance খেলার সমস্ত ইভেন্ট
এই প্রাথমিক দ্বিধা থেকে বেরিয়ে আসে এবং জড়িত দলগুলি এর কেন্দ্রীয় চরিত্র হয়ে ওঠে।

রাজপ্রাসাদের বাইরে, একজন নার্স এমন ঘটনাগুলির জন্য শোক প্রকাশ করেছেন যা বর্ত মান সংকটের দিকে নিয়ে গেছে। দীর্ঘ ধারাবাহিক
পরীক্ষা এবং অ্যাডভেঞ্চারের পরে, যা শেষ পর্যন্ত জেসন এবং মেডিকে করিন্থে নির্বাসনের জন্য বাধ্য করেছিল, এই জুটি স্থির হয়ে তাদের
পরিবার প্রতিষ্ঠা করেছিল, একাধিক খ্যাতি ও সম্মান অর্জ ন করেছিল। জেসনের সাম্প্রতিক সেই পরিবারকে বিসর্জ ন মেডিকে মানসিকভাবে
এমনভাবে পিষ্ট করেছে যে তিনি তার নিজের অস্তিত্ব এবং তার দুই সন্তানেরও অভিশাপ দিয়েছেন।

প্রতিশোধ নেওয়ার সম্ভাব্য চক্রান্তের ভয়ে ক্রিওন মেডিয়া এবং তার বাচ্চাদের শহর থেকে বের করে দেন। করুণার জন্য আর্জি জানানোর
পরে, মেডিয়াকে যাওয়ার আগে একদিন আগে তাকে মঞ্জুর করা হয়, সেই সময় তিনি "ন্যায়বিচার" পাওয়ার জন্য তার অনুসন্ধান শেষ করার
পরিকল্পনা করেন - এই পর্যায়ে তাঁর চিন্তাভাবনা, ক্রিওন, গ্লাউস এবং জেসনকে হত্যা করা হয়েছিল। জেসন মেডিয়াকে অত্যধিক আচরণের
অভিযোগ এনেছে। প্রকাশ্যে তার অভিযোগ প্রকাশ করে তিনি তার জীবন এবং তাদের সন্তানদের জীবন বিপন্ন করে তু লেছেন। তিনি দাবি
করেন যে তাঁর পুনরায় বিবাহ করার সিদ্ধান্তটি সবার আগ্রহের মধ্যে ছিল। মেডিয়া তাকে মেরুদণ্ডহীন অবস্থায় খুঁজে পায় এবং তিনি তার
টোকেন সাহায্যের প্রস্তাব গ্রহণ করতে অস্বীকার করেন।

করিন্থে সুযোগ পেয়ে হাজির, অ্যাথেন্সের রাজা, এজিজিয়াস তার কিছু টা ওষুধের জ্ঞানের বিনিময়ে তার নিজের শহরে মেডিয়ার অভয়ারণ্য
সরবরাহ করেছিলেন যা তার জীবাণুটিকে নিরাময় করতে পারে। এখন অ্যাথেন্সের একটি শেষ আশ্রয়স্থলটির গ্যারান্টিযুক্ত, মেডিয়া তার
প্রতিশোধ গ্রহণে সমস্ত বাধা মুছে দিয়েছে, এমন একটি পরিকল্পনা যা তার নিজের বাচ্চাদের হত্যার অন্তর্ভু ক্ত করে; যে ব্যথা তাদের ক্ষতির
কারণ হবে জেসনকে ভোগাতে তিনি যে সন্তুষ্টি অনুভব করবেন তার চেয়ে বেশি নয়।

নাটকটির ভারসাম্যের জন্য, মেডিয়া একটি ধর্মান্তরিত হয়; তিনি জেসনের প্রতি সহানুভূতি দেখানোর ভান করে (তাকে তার আত্মবিশ্বাসে
নিয়ে আসে) এবং তার স্ত্রীকে "উপহার," একটি করোনেট এবং পোশাক সরবরাহ করে। স্পষ্টতই, উপহারগুলি হ'ল গ্লাউসকে তার বাবাকে
বাচ্চাদের করিন্থে থাকার অনুমতি দিতে বলার জন্য বোঝানো। করোনেট এবং পোশাকটি আসলে বিষযুক্ত, তবে তাদের প্রসবের ফলে গ্লাউসের
মৃত্যু ঘটে। নিজের মেয়েটিকে বিষের কবলে পড়ে দেখে ক্রিওন তাকে নাটকীয়ভাবে জড়িয়ে ধরে এবং বিষ নিজেই শুষে নিয়ে তার পাশে মরতে
বেছে নিয়েছিল।

একজন ম্যাসেঞ্জার এই মৃত্যুর ভয়াবহ বিবরণ বর্ণনা করে, যা মেডিয়ার মনোযোগ সহকারে শোষণ করে। তার পূর্বের উদ্বেগের পরিস্থিতি, যা তিনি
শিশু হত্যার সিদ্ধান্তের সাথে লড়াই করতে গিয়ে তীব্র হয়ে উঠেছিল, এখন তার পরিকল্পনাগুলি বাস্তবায়নের জন্য একটি দৃ assured়প্রতিজ্ঞার
পথ ধরেছে। গোষ্ঠীর বিক্ষোভের বিরুদ্ধে, মেডিয়া তার বাচ্চাদের খুন করে এবং তার দাদা, সান-গডের দেওয়া ড্রাগন-টানা রথে উঠে সেখান থেকে
পালিয়ে যায়। জেসন তার লটকে অভিশাপ দেয়; মেডিয়া ত্যাগ করে এবং গ্লাউসকে বিয়ে করার মাধ্যমে তাঁর স্টেশনকে এগিয়ে নেওয়ার তার
আশা নির্মূল করা হয়েছিল, এবং ট্র্যাজেডির অবসান ঘটিয়ে মৃত্যুর মধ্য দিয়ে তার সমস্ত মূল্যবোধ হারিয়ে গেছে।
 26

The Frogs
Aristophanes

Summary
Frogs, or The Frogs, is one of Aristophanes's greatest comedies and is justly celebrated for its wit
and keen commentary on Athenian politics and society. It is the last surviving work of Old Comedy
and is thus also notable for heralding a passing era of literature. While it is a comedy, it is also a
trenchant political satire and expresses Aristophanes's views on Athenian democracy, the value of
poetry The play begins with Dionysus, dressed up as Heracles, and his servant Xanthias, riding a
donkey, traveling to Heracles' house. Heracles is amused at Dionysus's costume. Dionysus asks him
how they can get to the underworld to fetch the poet Euripides for Athens, and what sort of obstacles
they might expect to encounter. Heracles provides them with information, and the travelers depart.
Dionysus is ferried across the lake by Charon, but Xanthias has to travel around because he is a
slave. Along this journey, a chorus of frogs bursts out into song, annoying Dionysus. However, the
god then joins in their boisterous song.
Dionysus and Xanthias join up on the other side of the lake, but before they can go very far they
encounter the monster Empusa. Dionysus is extremely frightened and soils his clothing. The Chorus
of Initiates, part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, enters and sings a song to Iacchus, Demeter, and her
daughter Persephone.
Arriving at Pluto's house, Dionysus and Xanthias knock on the door. Thinking he is Heracles, the
doorman, Aeacus, curses him. Dionysus tells Xanthias to wear his disguise, but asks for it back once
a beautiful woman comes outside and invites "Heracles" to a banquet with other ladies. The
innkeeper and Plathane come out and lambast the supposed Heracles as well, prompting Dionysus to
once more give the costume back to Xanthias.
Aeacus returns and orders the seizure of Heracles for past his bad deeds. Xanthias-as-Heracles says
Aeacus ought to torture his slave (Dionysus) to prove his own innocence. Eventually both claim to
be gods, and Aeacus tortures both to see if this is true. Both Xanthias and Dionysus feel pain but
pretend not to, as gods normally are not supposed to feel bodily pain. Finally, Aeacus says he will
see if Pluto and Persephone will vouch for their divinity.
Inside, Aeacus talks to Xanthias about how Aeschylus and Euripides are fighting over who is the
most accomplished tragic poet. Aeschylus already possesses the chair but Euripides is challenging
him for it. Pluto calls a contest and Dionysus is made the judge. Both poets criticize each other, and
then pray to their respective gods. The competition begins.
In a series of contests, Aeschylus and Euripides discuss who is better at prologues, lyrics, and
making their audience better citizens. Euripides claims to have slimmed tragedy down from its
ponderousness and made it more accessible to the common person. He also says Aeschylus is
verbose. Aeschylus, for his part, criticizes the meter of Euripides' work and claims that his verse is
wanton.
Dionysus cannot seem to come to a conclusion, so he orders the two poets' verses to be weighed.
Because he refers to lofty things such as death and rivers, Aeschylus wins the weighing.
Finally, the two poets are asked to comment on how the Athenians should deal with the statesman
Alcibiades. Dionysus decides Aeschylus is the overall winner, and he, the poet, and Pluto return to
Pluto's house for a banquet. Aeschylus tells Pluto to give his chair to Socrates once he departs for the
upper world. The chorus praises Aeschylus and proclaims that it hopes he will assist Athens with
sound advice.
 27

Themes
The value of poetry
Poetry does not exist simply to entertain; rather, according to Aristophanes, it can impart a moral
message and instruct its listeners to be better citizens and human beings. The works of the great
tragic poets live on (dramatized in the play by Aeschylus being brought back to life) and can shape
the characters of Athenians. In their contest, Euripides and Aeschylus boast of their own verse and
what it can do: Euripides claims he teaches people to think critically and rationally, and Aeschylus
taught them to be bold and yearn to defeat their enemies. Furthermore, as Aeschylus narrates, the
noble poets "revealed mystic rites to us", "gave us oracles and cures for diseases" and "good
instruction / in tactics, virtues, and weaponry of men" (80). Poetry thus offers life lessons, and is not
merely an art form.

The decline of Athens

Aristophanes wrote Frogs during a period of Athens's decline, and his play reflects such tensions.
Athens was in the midst of the Peleponnesian War with Sparta, and faced a myriad of troubles with
politicians and demagogues. The democracy faced internal and external troubles, and Frogs asserts
Aristophanes's view that one of the ways to save it was to bring the poet Euripides (later Aeschylus)
back from Hades to counsel the Athenians. Throughout the text Aristophanes attacks those who seek
to harm Athens, those who put the wrong people in charge, those who are self-interested, and those
who do not help morale. His anxiety for his city-state is apparent even amidst his keen lampooning
of officials.

Identity
Identity is a major concern of the first part of the play, with a focus on costumes, disguise,
misidentification, and concomitant confusion. It is used for humorous purposes and also offers
insights into character and the play itself. Dionysus travels in the guise of Heracles, allowing him to
ignore any associations with himself and to hopefully attain the same success as Heracles in his
underworld tasks. He is keen to slough off the costume, though, and give it to Xanthias when it
serves him. Dionysus's identity would have been quite obvious to contemporary viewers, but his
attempt to don different disguises and flit between such disguises and his own identity serves to
further the assertion that Dionysus has not yet come into his own in the first part of the play, and is
on a journey to attain real authority. Aristophanes's focus on identity also allows the audience to
grasp the nature of theater itself, as it is self-reflecting device.

Ambition
Several of the prominent figures in the play display a heightened sense of ambition. Dionysus and
Xanthias butt heads as each tries to assert their dominance: Xanthias is trying to resist
insubordination by his master, and Dionysus is trying to keep his slave in his place. The balance of
power shifts frequently, destabilizing their identities. Aeschlyus and Euripides also seek to exercise
 28

their ambitions to be considered the foremost tragic poet, and engage in a lengthy and vitriolic
contest. Their literary and political perspectives are put to the mettle, and the result of their clashing
ambitions is a clear message regarding what Athens needs to regain its former glory: Aeschylus and
his wise counsel. Ambition is thus not always negative, and can be illuminating.

Tradition and morality

While Dionysus originally intended to bring Euripides back with him from the underworld, he
realizes that it would be far better for the city of Athens to have Aeschylus, whose works embody
tradition and morality. The play espouses the idea that, while Euripides's works might be amusing or
technically accomplished or clever, they will not suffice to retain order, good behavior, and procure
stability in the demos. Aeschylus, on the other hand, offers intelligence and wisdom, and, as the
Chorus says, can "grant fine idea that will bring fine blessings" (107). It is part of Dionysus's journey
(both literal and intellectual) that he realizes that tradition and morality are virtues, particularly in a
time of unrest.

Dionysus' evolution
Dionysus, unsurprisingly as the god of wine and mystical ecstasy, is a wild, energetic, and pleasure-
seeking character. He is also crass, boastful, self-indulgent, and cowardly. Although he is wise
enough to venture down into Hades for a poet, he does not yet know whom he needs. Along his
journey he reveals his flaws and limitations, and is tested. He is chosen to judge the poets' contest
and is thus given his own test: can he wisely arbitrate between Euripides and Aeschylus, and choose
the one whose verse will help Athens out the most? Thankfully for Athens, Dionysus evolves and
matures throughout this contest as he is forced to think deeply about Athens's needs. He chooses the
poet that will be best for Athens, thus indicating that while he will no doubt always be a little
uncouth and fanciful, he can also be perspicacious and wise.

The value of comedy

Aristophanes was a paragon of Old Comedic literature, keen-witted, clever, insightful, and masterful
in his construction of humorous themes. In Frogs he makes a case for bringing back a great tragic
poet to assist Athens, but, significantly, he does so through the lens of comedy. In this crass,
sometimes silly, play, weighty themes are dealt with in a very effective manner. Aristophanes makes
the case that comedy can also be a vehicle for truth and moral messages, that is does not have to
simply be lighthearted entertainment.

Character List
Dionysus
The god of both wine and ecstatic mystical religion, Dionysus is the protagonist of the play, first
seeking to travel to Hades to bring back a poet of wise counsel to help Athens, and then judging the
poetic contest between Euripides and Aeschylus. He is cocky but cowardly, self-seeking and crass.
 29

Xanthias
The keen-witted and ambitious slave of Dionysus, Xanthias likes to complain about and compete
with his master.

Heracles
The famous son of Zeus who completed the Twelve Labors. Heracles in this play provides Dionysus
with advice on traveling to the underworld. Heracles's past deeds there are vilified by Aeacus and the
innkeepers.

Charon
The ferryman on the river Styx; in the play he takes Dionysus across the lake to Hades.

Aeacus
The doorman of Pluto's house in Hades; he hates Heracles for stealing Cerberus and thus tries to
torture Dionysus and Xanthias when they are disguised as Heracles.

Maid of Persephone
Thinking Heracles has arrived at Pluto's house, she invites him in for Persephone's meal and dancing
girls.

Innkeeper
The woman who runs the inn in Hades; he dislikes Heracles for his behavior on his visit there.

Plathane
Another female innkeeper in Hades who dislikes Heracles for his bad behavior when he traveled
there.

Slave of Pluto
Speaks with Xanthias about how he criticizes his master behind his back, and gives information
about the upcoming contest between Aeschylus and Euripides.

Pluto
The god of the underworld and husband of Persephone, Pluto calls the contest between poets and
allows the winner to return to Athens.

Euripides
 30

The recently deceased poet whom Dionysus originally intends to bring back from the underworld.
Euripides was a tragic poet who often wrote of the common people. Aeschylus criticizes him for
wanton verse and witty but decadent intellectualism.

Aeschylus
The renowned tragic poet who engages in a contest with Euripides to see who holds the chair of
honor next to Pluto. While Euripides mocks him as stentorian and verbose, Dionysus finds his verse
more traditional, sagacious, and necessary to help Athens in their time of need, and thus brings him
back to the world above.

Chorus of Frogs
Sings for Dionysus while he takes Charon's boat across the Styx, jesting and teasing with their
rambunctious croaking and singing.

Chorus of Initiates
Part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Initiates help Dionysus and Xanthias on their path and also sing
of the rites and members of the Mysteries, the glories of Demeter and Iacchus; they also poke fun at
notable politicians and poets.

Persephone
The daughter of Demeter and the wife of Pluto

Summary in Bangla
Aristophanes এর The Frogs নাটকটি অ্যাথেন্সের বার্ষিক নাট্যোৎসব Lenaia তে হজরত ঈসা (আঃ) এর জন্মের ৪০৫ বছর আগে

মঞ্চায়িত হয়। এর এক বছর পূর্বে বিখ্যাত নাট্যকার Euripides মৃত্যু বরণ করেন।

অ্যারিস্টোফেনিস রচিত কমেডি গুলোর মাঝে অন্যতম শ্রেষ্ঠ হচ্ছে ফ্রগস। এ নাটকের মূল বিষয় হচ্ছে ট্রাজেডী রচয়িতাদের ব্যর্থতা। নাটকের

শুরুতেই আমরা প্রত্যক্ষ করি, ডায়োনিসাস বর্ত মান কালের ট্রাজেডী রচয়িতাদের ট্রাজেডী কর্মগুলোতে মোটেই তৃ প্তি না পেয়ে হেরাক্লিসের

ছদ্মবেশ ধারণ করে পাতালপুরীর উদ্দেশে যাত্রা করেছেন, তাঁর প্রধান উদ্দেশ্য হচ্ছে ইউরিপিডিসকে ফের জীবিত করে তাকে নাট্যজগতে

ফিরিয়ে নিয়ে আসবেন। দেবতা ডায়োনিসাস গ্রীক ট্রাজেডীর গুণগত মানের ব্যর্থতা ও অধঃপতন দেখে শেষ পর্যন্ত হেরাক্লিসের ছদ্মবেশ ধারণ

করে তার ক্রীতদাস ও ভাড় জ্যানথিয়াসকে সাথে নিয়ে নিজ প্রিয় নাট্যকারের সন্ধান করতে মৃতের রাজ্য- মৃত্যুপুরীতে বা পাতালপুরীতে

(Hades) যাত্রা করেন। তাঁর মূল উদ্দেশ্য হল, নাট্যকার ইউরিপিডিসকে (Euripides) জীবিত করে ফের পৃথিবীতে ফিরিয়ে এনে আবার নাটক

রচনা করাবেন।
 31

তখন তিনি হারকিউলিস বা হিরাক্লিস এর কাছে পাতালপুরীর রাস্তা জিজ্ঞাসা করলেন। কারন সে এর আগে Cerberus নামক হাউন্ড কে

আনতে সেখানে গিয়েছিল। মজার ব্যাপার হল সে যখন হিরাক্লিসের বাড়ির দরজায় Hades এ যাওয়ার দ্রুততম পথ সম্পর্কে জানতে যাচ্ছিল,

তখন সে হিরাক্লিসের ছদ্মবেশে সেখানে গিয়েছিল, তার নিজের মতই অন্য কাউকে দরজায় দেখে হিরাক্লিস খুব মজা পায়।

হিরাক্লিস তখন তাকে কারন জিজ্ঞাসা করলে সে জানায় ভালো মানের কবি আনতেই সে সেখানে যাচ্ছে। হিরাক্লিস তার কাছে সফোক্লিস পূত্র

আইয়োফোম, অ্যাগাথন, যেনোক্লিস, পাইথান জেলাস সহ আরো অনেক কবির খবর জানতে চায়। ডায়োনিসাস সবার খবর বলে যায়।

ডায়োনিসাস বাকি কবিদের পাতাহীন গাছের সাথে তু লনা করে। আর এজন্যেই সত্যিকারের কবি ইউরিপিডিসের দরকার।

হিরাক্লিস তখন তাকে জানায় সেখানে যাওয়ার সবচেয়ে সহজ রাস্তা হচ্ছে, গলায় ফাস দিয়ে ঝু লে যাওয়া, হ্যামলক বিষ খাওয়া অথবা উঁচু

দালান থেকে লাফ দেয়া। তার যেটা পসন্দ হয় সে সেটাই করতে পারে।

ডায়োনিসাস রেগে গেলে সে তাকে সেই রাস্তা বলে দেয়। মৃত্যুপুরীতে যাওয়ার আগে পার হতে হয় স্টিক্স নদী, স্টিক্স নদীর খেয়া নৌকার মাঝি

ক্যারণ তাদেরকে পার করে দেয়, তারা এসে পৌছান মৃত্যুপরীতে। নৌকার দু’পাশে অনবরত ব্যাঙের ডাকের আওয়াজ পাওয়া যায়।

অতঃপর পাতালপুরীতে পৌঁছার পর একের পর এক হাস্যরসাত্মক ঘটনা ঘটতে থাকে। এদিকে ডায়োনিসাস নাট্যকারদের সন্ধান করতে গিয়ে

দেখলেন এক জায়গায় নাট্যকার ইউরিপিডিস আর এস্কাইলাস দুজনে বিবাদ করছেন।

এ নাটকের সবচাইতে চিত্তাকর্ষক দিক হচ্ছে এস্কাইলাসের সাথে ইউরিপিডিসের প্রতিযোগিতা। কে পাবেন শ্রেষ্ঠ নাট্যকারের মর্যাদা, আর যিনি

শ্রেষ্ঠ হবেন তিনি পাতালের ভোজসভায় রক্ষিত শ্রেষ্ঠ আসনটিতে আসন নেবেন।

দুজনের মাঝে কে শ্রেষ্ঠ এটা প্রমাণ করার জন্য প্রতিযোগিতার আয়োজন করা হল, লড়াই হবে দু কবির মাঝে। যিনি জিতবেন তিনিই পাবেন

শ্রেষ্ঠ আসন। বিচারক হিসেবে বসলেন ডায়োনিসাস নিজেই। প্রতিযোগিতাটা এমন কোন বিষয় নয়, শুধু একটি দাঁড়িপাল্লা ঝু লিয়ে ওদের

দুজনের নাটকের লাইনগুলো দুপাশে বসিয়ে ওজন করা হবে। ওজনে যার শব্দাবলী ও বিষয়বস্তু ভারী হবে সেই জয়ী বলে বিবেচিত হবেন।

অবশ্য এ লড়াই শুরু হওয়ার আগে দুজনে বেশ কিছু সময় ধরে বাকযুদ্ধ চালালেন। এখানে একে অপরকে তীব্র শ্লেষের ভাষায় আক্রমণ

করলেন।

অ্যারিস্টোফেনিস এ নাটকে ইউরিপিডিসকে নিয়ে বিদ্রুপ করেছেন। অ্যারিস্টোফেনিস ইউরিপিডিসকে অভিযুক্ত করেছেন ট্রাজেডীর নৈতিক

দিকের অধঃপতন ঘটানোর জন্য। ইউরিপিডিসের মৃত্যুর পরপরই অ্যারিস্টোফেনিস তার ফ্রগস নাটকটি রচনা করেন। 

আসলে এ বাকযুদ্ধের দ্বারা অ্যারিস্টোফেনিস দুজনের নাট্যকর্মকে মূল্যায়ন করতে প্রয়াসী হয়েছেন। মূলত ইউরিপিডিসের নাট্যকর্মের

সমালোচনা করতে প্রয়াসী হয়েছেন অ্যারিস্টোফেনিস। নাট্যকার ইউরিপিডিস তাঁর পূর্বসূরী নাট্যকার এস্কাইলাস সম্পর্কে অভিযোগ তু লে

বলেন যে, এস্কাইলাসের নাটক খুবই দুর্বোধ্য, বারবার একই বিষয় তিনি উচ্চারণ করেন তার সৃষ্টি কর্মে, তিনি বড়ই উচ্চস্বরে তার বক্তব্য তু লে

ধরেন এবং তিনি যুদ্ধের স্বপক্ষে সর্বদা তার মত প্রকাশ করতে প্রয়াসী হন শিল্পকর্মের মাধ্যমে। এস্কাইলাস এই অভিযোগের জবাবে জানান যে,
 32

ইউরিপিডিসের নাটকে প্রাণ বলতে কিছু ই নেই, একেবারেই প্রাণহীন বিবর্ণ, আর শুষ্ক, শুধু হালকা যুক্তিতর্ক দ্বারা তাঁর নাটক পরিপূর্ণ, মহৎ

কোন নৈতিক দিক তার নাটকে প্রত্যক্ষ করা যায় না। বিচার কার্য শুরু হলে তাদের দুজনের নাটকের বিষয়গুলো যখন দু'পাশের পাল্লায় তু লে

দেয়া হল তখন দেখা গেল এস্কাইলাসের দিকে পাল্লা ঝু লে পড়েছে, সেদিকটাই ভারী। ডায়োনিসাস তাকে বিজয়ী ঘোষণা করলেন আর

ইউরিপিডিসকে না নিয়ে এস্কাইলাসকে সাথে নিয়েই এথেন্সে ফিরে যাওয়ার উদ্যোগ নিলেন। 

Pheadra
Seneca .

Summary

Phaedra opens with Hippolytus, son of Theseus and stepson of Phaedra, setting off on a hunt. He
prefers the woods to the palace, and invokes Diana, goddess of the hunt, to help his luck. After his
departure, Phaedra appears, racked with despair. Her wet-nurse inquires what it is that ails her;
Phaedra confesses that she is in love with Hippolytus, and recalls her own mother Pasiphae’s lust for
a bull – a lust that gave birth to the infamous Minotaur, which Theseus himself slew. She claims she
is cursed by Venus, who is angry against Apollo, Phaedra’s ancestor, for having exposed Venus’
love for Mars.
The nurse pleads to Phaedra to control her passion and check her emotions, but it is no use. Phaedra
speaks of herself as though of a ship caught in a storm and heading for the rocks: try as she may to
change course, the waves will inexorably pull her toward her doom. Realizing the hopelessness of
the situation, the nurse resolves to try to help her mistress.
Hippolytus, biological son of the Amazonian Antiope (former wife of Theseus) is known to detest all
women and forsake the pleasures of civilization. When he returns from the hunt, the nurse attempts
to soften his heart, arguing that he should make use of his good fortune and enjoy fine food, wine,
and the company of women. Hippolytus roundly rejects the idea, proclaiming that nature is where
man is at his most free and innocent and that womankind is the cause of much evil.
At that moment, Phaedra appears, and swiftly collapses in a swoon. Hippolytus wakes her, then asks
why she is so ill at ease. Unsure how to proceed at first, Phaedra summons the courage to tell
Hippolytus the truth, hoping he may reciprocate her feelings and lend her “success” to cover up her
“sins.” As it turns out, however, Hippolytus flies into a rage, railing against Phaedra and declaring
her worse than her “monster-bearing mother.” He draws his sword on her, but when she says she
hopes to die, he casts the weapon away and flees into the woods.
Phaedra’s nurse hatches a plan to conceal Phaedra’s guilt by accusing Hippolytus of attempting to
rape his stepmother. His abandoned sword will serve as evidence. Shortly thereafter, Theseus
returns, freshly escaped from the underworld. He sees Phaedra in distress, seemingly prepared to kill
herself, and demands an explanation. Phaedra tells him someone he would least expect tried to rape
her; she then points to Hippolytus’ sword. Theseus is aghast, and immediately calls on his father
Neptune to kill his son.
A Messenger arrives, bearing news of Hippolytus’ death. As we learn, a monster emerged from the
windswept sea and pursued Hippolytus’ horses; caught up in the reins, the young man was dragged
 33

and torn limb from limb. Seeing Hippolytus’ mangled corpse, Phaedra confesses the truth to
Theseus, then falls on her sword and dies. Theseus curses himself for his foolhardy decision, then
orders Hippolytus’ remains be gathered for a proper burial. “As for her,” he says, turning to
Phaedra’s body, “let her be buried deep in earth, and heavy may the soil lie on her unholy head!”

Character List
Hippolytus
Son of Theseus and the Amazonian Antiope. A lover of the hunt and of the woods, he is known to
despise women. He prefers the freedoms of the wilderness to the comforts (and constraints) of
civilization.

Phaedra
Theseus' wife and Hippolytus' stepmother. Daughter of Pasiphae, who fell in love with a bull and
gave birth to the Minotaur, she too becomes stricken with a "sinful" desire - a lust for Hippolytus.

Theseus
King of Athens, famed for his heroic exploits, trapped in the Underworld at the play's beginning, on
a quest with his friend Pirithous to capture Persephone and bring her to the mortal world. Known for
his harshness, he killed his former wife Antiope, mother of Hippolytus.

The Nurse
Phaedra's wet-nurse, an old woman who at first seems a vessel of wisdom in her attempts to console
and advise her mistress, but then reveals a more sinister side when she hatches a plan to falsely
accuse Hippolytus of trying to rape his stepmother.

Themes
Lust
Phaedra’s lust for Hippolytus is the play’s catalyst, the engine that drives the tragedy. But lust
appears in other guises throughout the narrative, sometimes more subtly. The Chorus expounds on
examples of lust throughout history, pointing in particular to Diana – the goddess of chastity, no less
 34

– driven to abandon her lunar perch to seek love with the shepherd Endymion. If the goddess of
chastity can fall victim to Cupid’s arrows, then anyone can. Phaedra’s mother mated with a bull, less
by choice than by a mad desire to do so which she could not control; Theseus married the
Amazonian Antiope, then killed her, then married Phaedra, then abandoned her to pursue Persephone
in the depths of the underworld. Lust drives these characters and their gods and goddesses, and more
often than not it spells calamity.

Womankind
Phaedra might be considered an heir to the tradition of scheming, wicked women in Greek
mythology, chief among them Medea, who is frequently referred to in Seneca’s play. Yet, she is
undeniably presented as an empathetic character, more victim than victimizer. If anything, it is her
nurse who receives the brunt of the play’s blame, for it is she, despite her age and perceived wisdom,
who first hatches the plan to accuse Hippolytus of raping his stepmother. That said, to view Phaedra
as a story about innocent men deceived and attacked by women, is simplistic at best. Theseus
succumbs to a passion far more destructive than Phaedra’s – the passion for revenge, the desire to
kill. Without stopping to think, he calls on Neptune to kill his own stepson. At the play’s close,
Phaedra condemns him for his “harshness” – the same harshness that led him, we learn, to kill his
former wife, Antiope, Hippolytus’ mother. Villainy runs across the sexes.

Nature v. Civilization
The drama in Phaedra occurs in two distinct locations – the palace in Athens, and the woods
bordering the city. Civilization and wilderness are clearly pitted against one another, and although
the on-stage action is restricted to Athens, the vision of the outlying forest looms large. We learn of
Hippolytus’ preference for the wild over the urban, and Phaedra is often on the brink of racing into
the woods after her loved one, donning Amazonian garb. Ironically, however, Hippolytus, though
compared to a wild beast at times, behaves more rationally than his peers; he rejects Phaedra’s lust,
and then falls victim to Theseus’ deluded wrath. The Athenians fall prey to their own emotions,
while the Amazonian, though he does perhaps behave rashly by fleeing into the forest, is
comparatively reasoned in his actions. Civilization corrupts, as Hippolytus himself argues in a
speech to the wet-nurse; the “primal age” was a time of peace, and with the rise of the city has come
warfare and crime. It is doubly ironic, then, that Hippolytus’ bloody death should come not by way
of the city, not by way of manmade weapons, but by way of frenzied horses, a monstrous bull, and
the merciless forest terrain. Hippolytus’ beloved nature ultimately does him in.

Language
Seneca was renowned as an orator, and Phaedra is filled with eloquent monologues and clever
pieces of rhetoric. The characters wield language as a weapon, as when Phaedra deceives her
husband, then rubs the cruel truth in his face. Language can also be used to muddle, as when Theseus
calls a response from the wet-nurse “riddling words” and demands she “speak plainly.”

Hunting
Phaedra begins with a man setting out to hunt, and proceeds to examine various ways in which the
notion of hunting might manifest itself within the walls of a city. Phaedra and her nurse seek to
seduce Hippolytus, luring him to satisfy Phaedra’s designs; they emerge as predators, he as prey.
 35

Phaedra, however, is likewise prey – prey to Cupid, that merciless hunter who targets all living
beings with his arrows. At the end of the play, Hippolytus sees his role as hunter reversed, a bull
from the sea plummeting toward him and his horses, eyes locked on the target ahead. Seneca
portrays the machinations that accompany love as games akin to a forest hunt, replete with traps,
snares, feints, and unexpected reversals.

The Gods
Though the gods never appear in person in Phaedra, they are continually invoked. Phaedra blames
Venus and Apollo for her and her mother’s impure lusts; Neptune follows Theseus’ directive and
slays Hippolytus, via a monstrous sea-bull. The Chorus notes, in one of the play’s most intriguing
passages, that the gods target those mortals of whom they can feel jealous. The poor and “humble”
rarely feel the gods’ wrath; instead, it is those in power who fall prey to the heavens. The passage is a
sort of meta-moment, reflecting on the very stuff of tragedy – that is, the fall of great men and
women.

Beauty
Hippolytus’ beauty drives Phaedra wild with desire, then forsakes her. Gazing upon the young man’s
corpse, she cries: “O Hippolytus, is it such I see thy face, such have I made it? What savage Sinis,
what Procrustes, has scattered thy members so, or what Cretan bull, fierce, two-formed monster,
filling the labyrinth of Daedalus with his huge bellowings, has torn thee asunder with his horns? Ah,
woe is me! whither is thy glorious beauty fled, and thine eyes, my stars?” Hippolytus’ tragic end is in
fact foreshadowed by the Chorus’ ominous allusion to beauty’s fragility and the caprice of time: “O
beauty, doubtful boon to mortals, brief gift for but a little time, how swiftly on quick foot thou dost
slip away! […] Beauty is a fleeting thing. Who that is wise would trust so frail a blessing? Enjoy it
while thou mayest. Time is silently undermining thee, and an hour, worse than the last, is ever
creeping on.”