Seneca’s Hercules furens is written on the model of Euripidean Heracles: the jealous Juno, working through Eurystheus, has imposed twelve mighty and destructive tasks on Hercules, her hated stepson. But these, even to the last and worst, the bringing of Cerberus to the upper world, he has triumphantly accomplished. Abandoning her plan of destroying him by tools like these, she will turn his hand against himself to accomplish his destruction. When he comes back from hell, she brings a madness on him, and so precipitates the tragedy which forms the action of the play. The hero kills his wife and children. When he is again conscious, he wants to commit suicide, but he changes idea and goes to Athens to purify himself.
Hercules’madness is an example of terribile horror. Seneca modifies the Euripidean model following a different interpretation of reality: human impotence in front of divine hostility is not enough to justify the loss of reason. Seneca goes further and finds it in the complex personality of Hercules, the real heart of madness.
Hercules’madness is an example of terribile horror. Seneca modifies the Euripidean model following a different interpretation of reality: human impotence in front of divine hostility is not enough to justify the loss of reason. Seneca goes further and finds it in the complex personality of Hercules, the real heart of madness.
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