Euripides was accused by his contempories of being a woman hater. Why do you think this so, and how justified do you think the accusation was?

The first 200 words of this essay...

EURIPIDES WAS ACCUSED BY HIS CONTEMPORIES OF BEING A WOMAN HATER. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS SO, AND HOW JUSTIFIED DO YOU THINK THE ACCUSATION WAS?

CLASSICAL CIVILISATION ESSAY

BY DANIEL HORTON

W

ITH SOME OF HIS PLAYS, EURIPIDES DID NOT PLEASE HIS MAINLY MALE, Athenian audience with the references made to Athenian hypocrisy and the challenges and questions he raised on some of the moral issues of the time and the questions that he asked in his plays were sometimes ill received such as the role of women etc. Despite this, Euripides did win the tragedy prize with 'Hippolytus' and is revered as a great playwright in present day drama.

From some of the female characters that Euripides develops in his plays, one could assume that Euripides was a misogynist. However, it is wrong to say that all of his female characters are wicked and evil; Euripides has created some wonderful and interesting female characters as well as the wicked ones. Perhaps 'The Assembly Women' actually had wrong motive for their revolt!

In 'Alcestis', the title character, the wife of Admetus (the King of Pherae) sacrifices herself for her husband's life.