41 pages • 1 hour read
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.
Helen, the titular character of the play, dominates the narrative from beginning to end. She is a well-known character from the mythic history of Greece, the daughter of Tyndareus and Leda, although the story of her conception by Zeus, rather than by her father, Tyndareus, was commonly accepted. She was known as the most beautiful woman in the world, and she was married to Menelaos, the King of Sparta. The goddess Aphrodite then offered Helen as a prize to Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy, if he should decide in her favor in a bet between the goddesses as to who was the most beautiful. Paris, as the story goes, chose for Aphrodite and then went to collect his prize, the Spartan queen, who accompanied him back to Troy. Euripides, however, amends this backstory and claims that the Helen whom Paris stole to Troy was in fact a lookalike phantom created by the goddess Hera in an attempt to undermine Aphrodite’s plans.
By Euripides
Alcestis
Euripides
Cyclops
Euripides
Electra
Euripides
Hecuba
Euripides
Heracles
Euripides
Hippolytus
Euripides
Ion
Ed. John C. Gilbert, Euripides
Iphigenia in Aulis
Euripides
Medea
Euripides
Orestes
Euripides
The Bacchae
Euripides
Trojan Women
Euripides