Review: The Bacchae and Other Plays

The Bacchae and Other Plays by Euripides
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Some personal notes for each play, since Goodreads doesn't give me enough space under "Private notes". Definite Spoilers, if that matters for you here:

Ion

Nice play, with a happy ending. I liked it. 

The Women of Troy

Well this was the complete opposite. It describes the fate of the various women of Troy. None of them is a good one. 

Helen

So apparently the Helen in Troy was a hologram or a ghost or something. So they all killed each other over nothing. I guess this could be an allegory to the futility of war. Regardless, maybe my antipathy for Helen is too hardly engrained (or I'm on Team Troy) but I found myself not really rooting for her or Menelaus. 

Bacchae

Man, these Gods are mean

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Review: Alcestis and Other Plays

Alcestis and Other Plays by Euripides
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quite a fun read, even for someone with no particular knowledge of Greek myths and tragedies (except for what I read from time to time).

Alcestis seems like a Greek tragedy, but actually has a happy ending (although quite frankly the husband deserved to be punished imho)

Medea was the juicy, scandalous and ultimately tragic one. Although Jason totally deserved it, but not his children.

The Children of Heracles was just ok. Also, I'm not sure about the timeline. Heracles's brother is an old man, but his mother is still around and kicking, and his kids are young, although his son who appears toward the end is grown. This confused me a tad.

Hippolytus was probably the most tragic (Medea was more evil). Although, once again here, when he started badmouthing aphrodite you could almost hear the ominous soundtrack of foreboding in the background.

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