Four Tragedies and Octavia

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Product Information

ISBN9780140441741
AuthorsSeneca
PublisherPenguin Books Ltd
FormatPaperback
Number of pages320
Weight (kg)0.223
Publishing Date24/02/2005
Price (excl. tax)€13.87
Tax€0.83
Price (incl. tax)€14.70
Availability5 units in external warehouse

Product Description

Based on the legends used in Greek drama, Seneca''s plays are notable for the exuberant ruthlessness with which disastrous events are foretold and then pursued to their tragic and often bloodthirsty ends. Thyestes depicts the menace of an ancestral curse hanging over two feuding brothers, while Phaedra portrays a woman tormented by fatal passion for her stepson. In The Trojan Women, the widowed Hecuba and Andromache await their fates at the hands of the conquering Greeks, and Oedipus follows the downfall of the royal House of Thebes. Octavia is a grim commentary on Nero''s tyrannical rule and the execution of his wife, with Seneca himself appearing as an ineffective counsellor attempting to curb the atrocities of the emperor.