How Did Euripides Influence Ancient Greek Drama

Ancient Greek times enveloped many revolutionary discoveries and creations, especially in the world of literature. Literature flourished in Greece with the help of poetry and drama. Three profound playwrights left a significant impact on Greek culture: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Out of the three most influential playwrights of ancient Greek times, Euripides turned out to be the most distinct. Euripides was born in 480 BCE on the island of Salamis. He lived during the time of the Peloponnesian War. Throughout his life, Euripides did not have a good reputation merely because of the fact that he wrote out of the ordinary. Euripides drifted away from the beliefs and standards of plays during his time. Euripides's new style of tragedy
Playwrights before Euripides presented characters in a heroic, bold, fairytale like way. Agamemnon in "Agamemnon," Antigone from "Antigone" were all heroic upperclass men who were the only ones considered as being worthy enough to be on stage. In contradiction, Euripides portrayed common men and women as the protagonists of his play. The characters in his plays would be beggars, slaves, and even children (Gill). Euripides introduced heroes in rags and on crutches, one of the first to do so. Yet it is this very quality which has in all ages made him a much greater favorite than Aeschylus[->0] or Sophocles[->1]; it is this which made tragi-comedy so easy and natural under his treatment; which recommended him to Menander as the model for his new comedy, and to Quintilian as the model for oratory.Euripides was the first one to introduce women on the stage, not as heroines but as they are in actual life. Yet he is often far from complimentary to the other sex, the result, probably, of his two unhappy marriages (Fort; Kates). An example of a powerful woman lies in Euripides's play "Medea." Euripides tells a tale of a strong, determined woman who murders her own children in the attempt to gain freedom. Euripides portrays Medea as a powerful and clever women instead of helpless. Her words give readers a sense of her personality. For instance, she says "I would rather take my stand three times behind the shield in war than
In ancient Greek society the most important part of their culture was religion and Gods. The people looked to Gods for everything. On the contrary Euripides had his own view of the Gods (Fort; Kates 18). Euripides believed that Gods did not allow people to have mental freedom and created chaos and violence in the attempt to get worshipped by the people. the In the Greek tragedy of The Bacchae of Euripides, the religious bacchant women are forced to do terrible deeds, which in the end, destroy their lives (Bates). The women in the play are forced to think and act how the Greek god Dionysus chooses for them to think and act. Euripides displays religion in the Greek tragedy of The Bacchae through both the bacchant women and the violence that they create while hypnotized under the rule of Dionysus. (Bloom