The lesser known Euripides' Helen

Helen was first performed in 412 BCE and according to Edith Hall "has caused even more problems of generic categorization than Electra (xxiii). Being one of the lesser known plays of Euripides', I am particularly intrigued by Helen's presentation and depiction and its relationship with the categorization of the play.

I think there can be a similarity drawn between Euripides' Helen, the character, and Homer's Penelope from The Odyssey. Both are dutiful wives and symbolise cunningness and intelligence. For example, Helen pretends to grieve for her supposed dead husband, even when she eventually learns of him being alive.

Consequently, the complexity of Helen as a female character could be interpreted to mirror the complexity of the genre of the play. There are various scholarly debates about whether Helen conforms to either a tragedy or a comedy. As Edith Hall comments "Nobody dies (except some Egyptian sailors the audience has not met), the ending is happy, and there are many laughs" (xxiii). As a result of this complexity, Edith Hall notes the play could be a satyr play and comments, "It may, therefore, be that Helen's genre-transgressive quality has more to do with satyric than comic drama" (xxiii).

These are just a couple of thoughts that may be added to later!

Works Cited

Hall, Edith. Introduction. Medea and Other Plays, Translated by James Morwood, OUP Oxford, 2008.