Contemporary Theatre (5) (Research on "Hecuba")

"Hecuba" is a tragedy written by Euripides in 424BC. The play takes place between the Greeks departure from Troy and the Trojan War, and is about Hecuba's grief over the death of her daughter (Polyxena) and the revenge she takes for the murder of her youngest son (Polydorus). Hecuba is the main character - she if the wife of King Priam and former Queen of (the now fallen) Troy. The play is 1295 lines long and premiered in Athens. It is set in a Greek camp upon the shore of Thracian Chersonese.

Characters and backgrounds:

• Hecuba - Wife of King Priam.  Had 13 children with him (10 male: Hector, Paris, Deiphobus, Helenus, Polydorus, Troilus, Polites, Antiphus, Pammon, Hippnous // 3 female: Cassandra, Laodice, Polyxena).
• King Priam - Husband to Hecuba. Had 68 sons and 18 daughters in total from several wives!
• Agamemnon - Son of King Atreus and Queen Atrope. Brother of Menelaus. Husband of Clytemnestra. Father of Iphigenia, Electra, Orestes and Chrysothemis. He commanded the United Greek forced to begin the war after Paris abducts Helen.
• Polyxena - Daughter of Hecuba and King Priam. Gets sacrificed.
• Odysseus - Killed Deiphobus during the Sack of Troy (an episode of the Trojan War).
• Polymestor - The Thracian man who was supposed to keep Polydorus safe until the Trojan War was over.
• Talthybius - Friends with Agamemnon.
• Polydorus / Ghost of Polydorus - Son of Hecuba and King Priam. Murdered.
• Chorus of captive Trojan women - Slaves to the Greeks as a result of the war.
• Therapaina - Maid to Hecuba.
• Achilles - Killed Hector (the central Trojan hero in the Trojan War) by attaching his body to a cart and dragging him around town.
• Cassandra - Daughter of Hecuba and King Priam.
• Clytemnestra

Plot summary:




I found this plot summary from the following website: http://web.randolphcollege.edu/greekplay/education/studyguidehecuba.pdf