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EuripidesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“I envy you, old man,
I am jealous of men who without peril
Pass through their lives, obscure,
Unknown; least of all do I envy
Those vested with honors.”
Summoning the Old Man to his tent in the middle of the night, Agamemnon cryptically expresses envy for those who are not burdened, as he is, with power. With power, after all, come duties that are often unpleasant. In Agamemnon’s case, this is a duty to lead the Greek army to Troy at any cost, even his daughter’s life. Those without power need not shoulder such heavy responsibilities, though they also cannot hope for the same glory that the powerful may win (as the Old Man promptly reminds Agamemnon).
“No mortal man has happiness
And fortune in all ways. He is
Born, every man, to his grief!”
Agamemnon gives voice to a sentiment that would have been familiar to the ancient Greeks of Euripides’ time, the idea that all mortals must experience happiness as well as happiness throughout their lives. Agamemnon may be fortunate in his lofty position and power, but for this loftiness he must pay an equally lofty price, for to retain his position and power he must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia.
“Through the sacrificial grove,
Artemis’ grove, I came swiftly running;
In my eagerness, my cheeks
Blushing with young modesty—in my yearning to see
The Danaans’ wall of shields,
The war gear by each tent,
And the great host of their horses.”
Here, the Chorus embark upon their rich description of the Greek camp—a description that engages closely with earlier literary treatments of the subject and thus becomes highly metaliterary.
By Euripides
Alcestis
Euripides
Cyclops
Euripides
Electra
Euripides
Hecuba
Euripides
Helen
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Heracles
Euripides
Hippolytus
Euripides
Ion
Ed. John C. Gilbert, Euripides
Medea
Euripides
Orestes
Euripides
The Bacchae
Euripides
Trojan Women
Euripides