Medea and Other Plays brings together four tragedies by Euripides: Medea, Alcestis, The Children of Heracles and Hippolytus. Each examines a different conflict between family duty, personal desire, civic responsibility and divine power.
Medea centres on Jason’s abandonment of the woman who enabled him to win the Golden Fleece; Alcestis asks what sacrifice within marriage means when one spouse can die for another; The Children of Heracles turns the protection of refugees into a question of public obligation; and Hippolytus follows the fatal consequences of Phaedra’s desire and Theseus’s judgement. Across the collection, attempts to preserve honour or fulfil duty repeatedly produce irreversible harm.
Aeschylus
1 book
Homer
2 books
Ovid
4 books
Madeline Miller
3 books