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Outrider
May 5, 2005, 03:57 AM
So.

I'm writing a paper on Euripides' Heracles and I'm having a bit of a problem.

I'm sure a fair amount of you know about Heracles (aka Hercules) and his twelve trials. He kills his wife and kids (though sometimes just his kids) in a fit of madness, and to atone for his sins he performs twelve trials for his arch rival/enemy. The first trial is to kill this invincible lion and the last is to bring Cerberus up from Hades.

So.

I'm reading Euripides play. In it, Heracles saves his family from being execute by the evil king Lycus, but then goes into his fit of madness and kills them. So that means he's gonna go do his twelve trials, right?

WRONG.

In the beginning of the play, Heracles is nowhere to be found... because he's busy trying to bring Cerberus up from Hades, which means he's completing his last trial long before he kills his family.

The hell!?

I'm so confused. Either Euripides isn't really considered mythological canon, or Heracles is stuck inside some sort of time loop.
Wyndham
May 5, 2005, 04:12 AM
I read that guy's work, and he's a bit of a nutter.
but just write on what you read, they can't fail you for that.
Outrider
May 5, 2005, 11:42 AM
On 2005-05-05 02:12, Oran1324 wrote:
I read that guy's work, and he's a bit of a nutter.
but just write on what you read, they can't fail you for that.



I'm thinking about it now, and pointing out this flaw might actually help me extend the length of the paper.

It just doesn't make one lick of sense.
Sef
May 5, 2005, 04:32 PM
You're cool enough to figure it out on your own. http://pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_nono.gif
Zzzzzz
May 5, 2005, 08:43 PM
Just tell them Alexander the Great went back in time to help Hercules out, and that it's Alexander, not Hercules, you see at the beginning of the play.
Ta-da.
Outrider
May 5, 2005, 08:53 PM
On 2005-05-05 18:43, Zzzzzz wrote:
Just tell them Alexander the Great went back in time to help Hercules out, and that it's Alexander, not Hercules, you see at the beginning of the play.
Ta-da.



I don't... I don't think that will work.
_Ted_
May 5, 2005, 08:58 PM
On 2005-05-05 18:53, Outrider wrote:


On 2005-05-05 18:43, Zzzzzz wrote:
Just tell them Alexander the Great went back in time to help Hercules out, and that it's Alexander, not Hercules, you see at the beginning of the play.
Ta-da.



I don't... I don't think that will work.



Write that it follows the same path as the playwright's logic and that you're sure it was left out of the play only because the playwright feared the criticisms that such an innovation might have attracted.