Orestes and Other Plays

Excellent text with full notes and readable translation

The book is good, and has plenty of good plays, including Orestes, which is the one I bought it for, allowing me to study it to help with LAMDA. However, I'm giving it three stars because it has notes written in it in pen. I don't mind this, and some of them are helpful, but it was described as new/good condition, and it isn't.

These plays feature legendary figures - Andromache (Hector's wife), Orestes, son of Agamemnon (Tojan war) - and some legendary situations. However, the characters are very human and emotional, and so can speak to us immediately on that level. All the more because the translation is in modern English, and so easy to read. It's not important to digest the scholarly introduction to enjoy them: though it's true it does enhance the experience. There are some brilliant quotable lines: "If gods are wise, wisdom should not let misery, Settle unchangeably upon one mortal's life" There are sustained appeals for morality, peace, and spirit raising bravery.(I think in particular of Iphigenia, facing being sacrificed!) A hundred times more accessible to this reader than Shakespeare, and if I were the judge, I'd say no less of an accomplishment. Here's another, judge for yourself: "Life is a brief affair; such as it is, we should Seek to pass through it gently, not in stress and strain."

as shown

thanks