Imagism: hilda doolittle, ezra pound

Children of Heracles

The plot of Children of Heracles (430 BC; Greek Hērakleidai) concerns the Athenians’ defense of the young children of the dead Heracles from the murderous intentions of King Eurystheus of Argos. The play is basically a simple glorification of Athens.

Hippolytus

In Hippolytus (428 BC; Greek Hippolytos) Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexual desire, destroys Hippolytus, a lover of outdoor sports who is repelled by sexual passion and who is instead devoted to the virgin huntress Artemis. Aphrodite makes Phaedra, wife of Theseus, the king of Athens, fall violently in love with her stepson Hippolytus. Phaedra is deeply ashamed of her illicit passion, but when Hippolytus angrily rejects her love she is so mortified by his denunciation that she cannot forbear from falsely accusing him of rape before she kills herself. Her accusation provokes Theseus into pronouncing a curse on his son that eventually leads to Hippolytus’ death. But Artemis reveals Hippolytus’ innocence before he dies, and the young man is able to forgive his father, thus freeing Theseus from the dreadful stain of bloodguilt. Given the nature of its plot, the play is remarkable for its propriety.

Andromache

This play is set in the aftermath of the Trojan War. After an exciting beginning marked by strong anti-Spartan feeling, most of the original characters in Andromache (c. 426 BC) disappear and the interest is dissipated.

Hecuba

Also set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, Hecuba (c. 425 BC; Greek Hekabē) shows the double disaster that reduces the aged Trojan queen Hecuba, now a widowed slave, by sheer weight of hatred and misery to a mere animal ferocity. Hecuba first loses her daughter Polyxena, who is taken off to be sacrificed to the ghost of Achilles. Hecuba then discovers the corpse of her last son, Polydorus, who has been murdered by his Thracian host, Polymestor. Hecuba eventually persuades the Greek commander Agamemnon to allow her to take vengeance; she and her women then blind Polymestor and murder his two young sons. Such is the power of misery to deprave, and the play’s closing prophecy of Hecuba’s future transformation into a bitch seems appropriate.