Greek Tragedy XXXI: Euripides’s Phoenician Women, or Not Your Grandpa’s Oedipus Assuming Your Grandpa is Sophocles or Aeschylus

Posted byTriumvir ClioPosted inBackground

Forget everything you thought you knew about Oedipus.  Euripides has a whole new version in The Phoenician Women.

Discussion Prompts
  1. We have seen three different visions of the Oedipus myth, one from each of our tragedians. Which one do you prefer? Why?
  2. If you were directing this play, when and where would you set it? Why?
  3. Why do you think the chorus is a group of foreigners, and women at that?
  4. Are the men or the women stronger in this version of the story? Why?
  5. Is the entrance of Oedipus necessary? Does that section help or hurt the play? Why or why not?
  6. Which Antigone is your favorite? The one we see in Sophocles or the one we see here in Euripides?
  7. What does this play have to say about parenthood?
  8. What does this play have to say about fate?

Published by Triumvir Clio

I have a BA in History and Classical Civilization from Loyola University Chicago and an MPH from Western Michigan University. I've been a geometry teacher, a religion teacher, a writing tutor. I'm a writer, a knitter, a dancer, a singer, an actor. And, yes, for fun I like to reread everything that was assigned while getting my classics degree.

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