This is a very welcome addition to the Bloomsbury (formerly Duckworth) Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy series: Euripides’ Hecuba is an important play and this compact volume offers everything you would expect. Following the pattern of others in the series, it consists of four main parts: contextualising information; an analytical step-through of the play which summarises the themes and action; the interpretation of the play presenting the major strands of current critical thought; and lastly, the play's reception history is discussed. Also included is a chronology, a glossary, a guide to further reading, plus a more extensive bibliography and index.
Coverage of the context begins with an introduction (Chapter 1) to the characters and the Euripidean storyline, and – in setting the play against Euripides’ contemporary background of the Peloponnesian War – the relevance to conflict and its aftermath in our own times is noted. Hecuba's journey from victim to avenger is highlighted. This is followed (Chapter 2) by a brief description of theatrical practice in Athens at the time with F. admirably conveying its all-pervading influence in ancient Greek society. Then a more detailed explanation is presented of the mythological tradition, starting by emphasising the malleability of the material in the hands of the tragedians. F. offers a comprehensive overview of the pre-existing evidence for Euripides’ plot and hence indicates the probable areas of innovation in the play.
The action of the drama is broken down into its constituent episodes (Chapter 3) leaving the choral songs for a later chapter, which in this case – given their comparatively loose connection to the stage events either preceding or following – proves a helpful approach. Also incorporated here is a discussion of the play's structure, particularly with regard to the perceived problems of its Aristotelian unity. In addressing the points of contention, F. takes the opportunity to introduce some of the key arguments that occupy scholars, such as whether the chain of events is necessary or probable, or whether instead we should be seeking unity on a thematic level, the evolution of Hecuba's character, the role of rhetoric and the differing reactions to the excessive violence to which the heroine resorts. These are expanded upon in later chapters.
Next (Chapter 4), F. embarks on the task of interpreting the action, pursuing further the significance of rhetoric in the play, sometimes its power and sometimes its impotence. Odysseus prevails over Hecuba, but I am not persuaded that it is necessarily because he ‘wins the argument’ (p. 41); rather his position of power over the former queen of Troy means he is able to exercise his will whether or not his case is the stronger. This is true again when Hecuba faces Agamemnon, but the subtlety of her arguments is perceptively explained here and this time she is not altogether defeated.
The varied responses to Polyxena's willing sacrifice – particularly the reasons for her reported stripping to the waist – are neatly summarised, though in my view this gesture remains difficult to defend.
Another bone of contention considered is Hecuba's supposed prostitution of her daughter Cassandra in her attempts to persuade Agamemnon. The comparisons with the Homeric Briseis and others help to contextualise such a relationship and justify Hecuba's claim to kinship on the basis of it (p. 49).
Hecuba's revenge is treated next (Chapter 5) and F. turns chiefly to the text in order to interrogate it in some depth. She delivers a very careful and close reading of the issues surrounding Polymestor's punishment before addressing the difficulties of interpretation raised by the play's ending. F.'s sensitivity to language and metre is typical of her thoroughness and greatly enriches the reader's feel for the original material. The conflicting analyses of the final scene that have been advocated are sampled. Burnett's view that the play pronounces positively on Hecuba is propounded at length (p. 59) to counter those more negative readings (for example, Orban, Rabinowitz) which focus on Hecuba's degradation and dehumanisation, but what is implied is that none of these extreme positions captures the deep ambiguity of the play's final moments.
The separate chapter devoted to the chorus (Chapter 6) allows F. to clarify its function and characterisation in general terms, dismissing in passing the (unfortunately) still popular notion of the chorus as ‘ideal spectators’ (p. 61). F. demonstrates not only the relation of the stasima to the surrounding action but also shows how the choral element builds throughout the play as with each stasimon the women of the chorus return to their themes of the recent fall of Troy, the imminent voyage they now face and the prospect of a life of slavery in the hands of their new Greek masters. The exposition enables the reader to see how the drama works as a whole and to appreciate more fully the mechanics of the poet's art.
F. then looks at the play's reception, starting (Chapter 7) by reflecting on the prevalence of the theme of revenge in ancient Greek culture and the way in which it has subsequently permeated Western literary tradition. The play has enjoyed a much higher reputation in the past than it has in more recent times, and I suspect F. is right to focus on changes in attitude towards the concept of revenge by way of explanation, the extremity of Hecuba's action suiting Renaissance tastes but latterly finding less ready approval.
The choice of performances on which to concentrate (Chapter 8) cannot be other than highly selective given the quantity of translations and adaptations, but F. strives to deliver an overall picture by taking into account comparisons with other Euripidean tragedies, especially Trojan Women, the most closely related, as well as references to works of contemporaries and later authors, among them Seneca and Ovid. In addition, offerings from the fields of opera and dance are noted alongside the straightforwardly dramatic. The inclusion of any pre-twentieth century production is inevitably limited by whatever details happen to have been preserved so this section is unavoidably brief. For the modern era, a range of influential English-language versions that cover a spectrum of different interpretations is singled out for closer analysis. In each case the most telling details that are brought out in the performance are identified and related to the real-world situations to which they are responding.
The volume is far superior to many of its type. F. provides a pithy summing up of the play when she notes the ‘unending repetition of violence in Hecuba and the struggle to respond to it in persuasive language’ (p. 73). An introductory work will never succeed in satisfying every critic that all issues of interest have received due attention, but F. manages to convey much of the complexity contained in Euripides’ lines and much of the uncertainty over their interpretation. What F. does so well throughout is to provide a wealth of factual detail and informed opinion resulting from a very deep level of research. This is not a book which dictates to the reader what to think, but rather provides a solid foundation on which can be built one's individual response.
